SAPPHIRE

NOF SAPPHIRE INVITATIONAL

20 September 2025

DEADLINE

14 Sept 2025
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to middle and high school students

PLATFORM

Online through
forensicstournament.net and 8x8

Information

Dear Forensics Community,

We are excited to welcome you to the National Online Forensics Regular Season online tournaments. These monthly synchronous and asynchronous competitions are a fantastic way to prepare your students for Nationals and provide additional rounds for team members throughout the year. With our condensed schedule, competitors get high-quality practice without spending the entire day waiting for rounds. Plus, with $0 travel costs, these tournaments are both convenient and cost-effective. Run by experienced tournament directors, our events are among the best online tournaments your competitors will attend.

Tournaments are offered across all grade levels—from kindergarten to college—in a wide variety of events. Our highly qualified tournament staff is committed to delivering a smooth, engaging day of competition. The schedule takes only half a day to complete (see schedule below), and winners receive Bronze, Silver, or Gold medals.

Key Points:

Technology: Synchronous tournaments use video conferencing. See the Best Practices section of this invitation for guidance on preparing to compete online.
The tournament will use synchronous video conferencing on the 8x8 platform. Please see the Best Practices section below for tips on how to effectively prepare for competing online.
Rules: The complete set of NOF rules is available here.
Competitors may triple-enter in IE events (except Extemp, which is limited to double-entry).
Competitors may enter only one debate format and no IE events if entered in debate.
In small-entry scenarios, events may be combined within their category (e.g., “Interp” events).

Individual Events (Speech)

Three prelim rounds; one final (two elims if entries exceed 30).
Entry Limit: 3 events per competitor (Extemp limited to 2).
Prelim Ranking: Ranks / Decimal / Drop High Rank
Elim Ranking: Total Rank / # of 1sts / Elim Rank / Elim Decimal / Judge Pref
No speaker points will be used.
Competitors will be recognized with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honors awards.
See the NOF Bylaws for more details.

Debate

High School LD, PF will follow the current NSDA topic. Middle schoolers will need to compete in the HS division of PF & LD as they use a different topic for their MS debate divisions.

Prelims are randomly paired; brackets broken in elims.
One final round (two if entries exceed 30).
Debate entries are single-entry only.
Judging Requirement: 1 judge per 2 debate entries.
Speaker Point Scale: 70–100
Prelim Ranking: Wins / Total Points / HL Points / Z Score / Opp Wins
Speaker Ranking: Total Points / HL Points / Ranks / Z Score
Top speakers (top 15%) will be recognized.
A 5-minute forfeit rule applies to all debate rounds.
Awards: Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honors
See the NOF Bylaws for more details.

High School Events:
Info, Persuasive, OI/Declamation, POI, Duo, DI, HI, Extemp, Impromptu, LD, PF, SPAR, Congress

Middle School Events:
Info, Persuasive, OI/Declamation, POI, Duo, DI, HI, Extemp, Impromptu, LD, PF, SPAR, Congress

Elementary Events:
Info, Persuasive, OI/Declamation, Duo, Impromptu, SPAR, PF, Congress

Judges

Judges may be asked to accept ballots outside their registered events. Flexibility is appreciated.
Judges must remain in the Judges Room until dismissed or until their ballot is picked up via email. Failure to do so will incur a fine.
Incomplete eBallots (minimal or no feedback) may incur a judge no-show fee.
The tournament reserves the right to assign ballots to judges which are scheduled:
Due to the complex nature of the schedule, judges may be asked to accept ballots in events they did not initially register. For example, if a judge is signed up to accept debate ballots, but the tournament needs more Impromptu judges, then that judge would be expected to take the Impromptu ballot. We will do our best to accommodate event requests, but may not be able to do so.

Fines

JUDGE Missed Ballots: $25 (first) / $50 (each additional)
Entry Changes after Deadline: $25/change (with approval)
JUDGE Drops within 48 hours: $150
JUDGE Incomplete eBallots: May result in judge no-show fees
Tournament Delays (caused by judge/student): $20–$100
Competitor No-Shows (without notice): $35

Competitor Logistics / Best Practices

All competitors must have a verified email saved on ForensicsTournament.net. You do this by verifying your email through the notification you receive within 24 hours of signing up for the tournament. If you have verified your email in the past, you do not need to do it again.
Competitors will receive an email with their ePostings information. Postings will be sent approximately 10 minutes prior to each round.
The ePostings will have a link to a Live Video Room where they will perform. Click that link to go to your round. No logins or passwords are required. Judges will be in the same Live Video Room to listen and rank the round. The tournament will be using 8x8 video conference room software.
If double-entered, students should go to each room before competing and type in the chat window that they are double-entered so judges are aware. Request to compete early and leave promptly to join the next event.
Please do not immediately start to talk when entering a Live Video Room. Another student may be performing. Please wait to be recognized by the judge(s).
Students should remain in the Live Video Room as audience members and have video on, as much as possible.
Students can, if it fits their particular setup, sit while performing. Judges are instructed not to penalize students for sitting while speaking since the particular tech setup may work better while sitting.
Students are also encouraged to use a mic/headphones since audio quality is much better than with an external mic. Judges are instructed not to penalize students for having mics/headphones on.
We recognize technological limitations create some challenges for certain events. But we trust in the ingenuity of the forensics community to adapt to the online environment. Some students may have better quality video, lighting, sound, etc. We will all try our best.
If a student’s internet connection drops or audio quality is poor, they will be required to call into the video conference room and give their speech with audio only. While not ideal, it will ensure all student’s speeches are listened to by a judge. You can get the dial-in information from the info icon in the bottom right of the screen.
Request help by going to the help room and communicate promptly if any issues arise.

Judge Logistics / Best Practices

All judges must have a verified email saved on ForensicsTournament.net. You do this by verifying your email through the notification you receive within 24 hours of signing up for the tournament. If you have verified your email in the past, you do not need to do it again.
Judges will receive an email with their eBallot link. Judges should click on that link within 5 minutes of receiving it to indicate that they have “picked up” their ballot.
On your eBallot you will have all of the competitors listed in that round along with a link to a live video room. Click that link to go to your video conference room. Competitors who are double entered, will have that listed adjacent to their name. Please be flexible in accommodating double entered competitors.
Your eBallot has fields where you can add your feedback to the competitor. Feedback can be added while they are performing and added throughout the competition until the awards ceremony. The eBallot also has a timer to make it easy to time each speaker.
If a judge’s keyboard is loud they are encouraged to mute audio during performances but please leave the video feed on so competitors can receive your visual feedback.
Judges are instructed not to penalize competitors for sitting while speaking since the competitor's particular tech setup may work better while sitting.
Judges are also instructed not to penalize students for having mics/headphones on since audio quality is usually much better using a mic/headset.
Judges are also instructed not to penalize students for lighting, video/audio quality, video background to the extent possible.
If a judge’s internet connection drops or audio quality is poor, they will be required to call into the video conference room and listen to speeches with audio only. While not ideal, it will ensure all student’s speeches are listened to by a judge. You can get the dial-in information from the info icon in the bottom right of the screen.
For Impromptu/Extemp, the eBallot will have the quotations/questions listed on it under prompts - or in the case of extemp, the prompts will be provided by the tournament prior to the start of the round and competitors will arrive after their designated prep period.

FAQ

Where is the Extemp Prep Topic announce Room? Video room links will be sent out to competitors on the day of the tournament for these events with instructions. We will use extemproom.com for topic distribution.
How will I get my impromptu prompt/quotation? The judge will have the impromptu prompts/quotations on their eBallot. When it’s your turn to speak your judge will copy/paste the prompts into the chat window in the Live Video Room.
What type of awards will be given out? Awards will be sent out to each school following the tournament.
How will we strike IPDA topics? The judge will have all five IPDA topics on their eBallot. At the start of the round go to your Live Video Room. The judge will copy/paste the resolutions into the chat window. Each team will strike as normal. Turn off your audio/visual feeds in the room during prep. 30 minutes later the round will commence.
What about poor internet connections? In order for the video conference to work, Internet connections should be at least 6 Mbps. Check internet speed here. In the event of a poor Internet connection, each Live Video Room has an option to “call in” via phone. While there will be no visual, competitors can still present the audio portion of their speech.

Entry Price

These fees assume that you (parent) will be judging,
One Speech Event $75
Two Speech Events $100
Three Speech Events $125
LD Only $100
PF Only $80

If your child is doing speech and you are opting out of speech judging, you will pay an additional $70.
If your child is doing debate and you are opting out of debate judging, you will pay an additional $110.

Parent Judges: First Missed Ballot - $25 / Subsequent Missed Ballots - $50
*please accept all ballots or wait in the standby room when you don't get one to avoid these charges

Other fines - please read:

Judge drops after the registration deadline will be charged a $150 judge no-show fee on top of the opt-out fee.
Changes or student drops after the deadline will be charged a $25 nuisance fee for each change or drop.
Teams who supply grossly unprepared judges will be charged a nuisance fee of $50.
Judges who submit incomplete eBallots (with little to no substantive feedback) may be charged a judge no-show fee for failing to complete their judge assignment which includes both ranking the speakers along with giving sufficient comments.
Delay of tournament fees may be assessed from $20-$100 based on the severity of the delay.
Competitor no-shows (coaches did not notify the tournament prior to the missed round) - $35

Registration will not be complete until payment is received.

Schedule
(all times Pacific)

Round 1: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Round 2: 10:45 AM – 12:15 PM
Round 3: 12:30 PM – 2:15 PM
Elim Round 1: 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Elim Round 2 (if needed): 4:45 PM – 6:00 PM
Awards: 6:30 PM (earlier if possible)

Although the tentative schedule lists the start and end times, please keep in mind that there are various factors that may arise during a tournament that can cause rounds to be delayed. Therefore, if you are signing up for this tournament, please make sure you do not double book yourselves on these dates. Keep your schedule open and DO NOT leave the tournament without notifying the GSA chaperones first.

Drop Fee

All changes or student drops after the deadline will be charged a $25 nuisance fee for each change or drop. Judge drops after the registration deadline will be charged a $150 no-show fee.

Please do not drop out last minute to avoid being charged these fees.

Contact Info

Victor Rivas Umana
Contact email: [email protected]
Nadia Budiman
Contact email: [email protected]
Or [email protected]

Registration Form

STUDENT INFORMATION
Suggested attire for the tournament can be found here.

Competitor Guide
Judge Guide
Tournament Best Practices

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email *

Student Phone Number *

If I had not done so in the past, I need to verify my email and agree to the competitor waiver. A notification for these will be sent to the competitor email within 24 hours of signup. *

YES I UNDERSTAND AND WILL DO

PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION
Your email address will be the one included when we send the logistics email.

Parent Name *

First

Last

Parent Email *

Parent Phone Number *

EVENT SELECTION

If double-entered, students should go to each room before competing and type in the chat window that they are double-entered so judges are aware. Request to compete early and leave promptly to join the next event.
Debate does not allow double entry, even with speech, so don't choose a second event if you are doing PF/LD
Extemp does not allow triple entry, so don't choose a third event if you are doing Extemp
For tournament purposes, any 6-8th grader is considered middle school, regardless of how their school categorizes them. So, if a school considers a 6th grader an elementary student, this tournament would consider them in middle school.
NO CROSS ENTRY, SO PLEASE DO NOT CHOOSE SPEECH AND DEBATE
Middle schoolers will need to compete in the HS division of PF & LD as they use a different topic for their MS debate divisions.

JUDGE PROVISION

If you are signing up to judge, you must be available for the entire tournament schedule.
For this tournament specifically, debate judges may be asked to adjudicate speech rounds as well and vice versa.

Judges are obligated to be on standby for each round. If you do not get a ballot, please go to the help room and wait there in case you get called to cover for a no-show judge. This tournament is very strict in using fines for enforcing punctuality and judge presence, so make sure to follow all their rules to avoid getting charged.
Judges who do not accept their assigned ballot will be charged a $25 no-show fee for the first offense. Each subsequent no-show from the judge will warrant a $50 charge. Judges can avoid this fee by coming to the judge standby room for their ballot assignment; sometimes e-mails delay delivery for any number of reasons that are outside the control of the tournament staff. By coming to the standby room, judges can be messaged their ballot directly so that they aren’t marked as having missed the round.
Judge drops after the registration deadline will be charged a $150 no-show fee.
Judges who do not write sufficient feedback to the competitors will be fined per round. Unsatisfactory ballots will be determined by the tabulation staff.
See good ballot examples here

Click here to see the tournament's judge training courses

Will you (parent) be judging at this tournament? *

Judge Name *

Judge email *

Judge phone *

First time judging?
This is a great collection of short videos that one of the leagues have put together to learn each event: click here.
Click here to find other training and official certification resources. Or watch our Youtube playlist here.

Next, we found this judging guideline from the platform that we will be using.
Also, if you are using eBallots for the first time, check out how they work on this link here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.

*Judges changes after the deadline will be charged a $25 judge nuisance fee. Judge drops after the registration deadline will be charged a $150 judge no-show fee.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE REGARDING JUDGE BALLOTS:

We will need to begin implementing a fine for blank/nearly blank ballots.
Oral Critiques: No ballot may be returned without a written reason for decision. Oral commentary is not considered a substitute for the written ballot.
Judges who are unfamiliar with events may be removed from the tournament at the discretion of the tournament staff, and fines may be applied.
A good concept in writing a ballot is the compliment sandwich (write a compliment, add some constructive feedback, and end with another compliment). It is frustrating for students to receive a speech ballot that says, “Great job!” with a 5th place ranking and with no actual useful feedback.

Please confirm that, *

I HAVE READ THE BALLOT UPDATE TO THE RIGHT AND UNDERSTAND THAT I NEED TO WRITE A THOROUGH WRITTEN BALLOT WITH USEFUL AND CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK OR I WILL BE FINED. IF TIME IS RESTRICTED, I WILL MAKE SURE TO SUBMIT A RFD FIRST, THEN RETURN AND FIX MY FEEDBACK ONCE THE OTHER ROUNDS ARE OVER. Not judging

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

I will keep a copy of this form for reference. *

YES

We are signing up with the understanding that my child will work to be ready by the tournament date. If we choose to drop out because my child is not ready that will be considered when making assessments for future classes. *

YES

I understand that if I fail to drop the tournament before the deadline that I will still be responsible for the fees of both my son or daughter, along with that of his or her partner and the fines. *

YES

I understand that if payment is not received we won't be registered and our spot will be given up to someone else. *

YES

I confirm that I have completed all necessary paperwork for this tournament. *

YES

I am a consenting adult. I understand that by submitting this form I agree to all that has been covered. *

YES

I understand that The Golden State Academy has no control over tournament entries other than the initial sign up. I understand that my child's priority will be based on either the last time I signed up OR the date paid, whichever is latest. *

YES

I understand that my child must check in and check out periodically at the tournament with the coach and that if I do not my child will be barred from participating in following tournaments. This is to ensure coaches can see where students are at competitively and to give any initial feedback for improvement. *

YES

I understand that although the tentative schedule lists the start and end times, there are various factors that may arise during a tournament that can cause rounds to be delayed. Therefore, we will not double book ourselves on these dates. We will keep our schedule open and we will make sure to notify the GSA chaperones first before leaving a tournament. *

YES I UNDERSTAND AND WILL NOTIFY THE GSA CHAPERONE WHENEVER I AM ABOUT TO LEAVE A TOURNAMENT

Submit/take to payment

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!

School year Hours

M-F: 3:45 pm - 8:30 pm
Sun: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Telephone

510-270-8480
510-470-0531

Email (preferred)

For more info email us at: [email protected]

Locations

Fremont: 200 Brown Rd #201, Fremont, CA 94539

Cupertino: 20432 Silverado Avenue Suite 211, Cupertino, CA 95014

Aborn Institute: 2804 Riedel Road, San Jose, CA 95135

Dublin: Loving Tree Academy, 6693 Owens Dr, Pleasanton, CA 94588