STANFORD

The Stanford Debate Society is pleased to invite you to the 35th annual Stanford National Invitational, which will take place fully online on the Classrooms.Cloud platform. Students from around the world have been joining us for this national level competition since 1987, and we hope that you'll help us build on this tradition and join us this year!

EVENTS AND DIVISIONS OFFERED

Debate events: no cross entry with other events; all competition takes place synchronously

LD: all rounds planned to be single flighted, but we reserve the right to flight early elimination rounds if required
- TOC: 6 prelim rounds, all 4-2s clear with a cap of 64 total elim teams
- Open: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- JV: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- MS: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- Novice: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
Public Forum: all rounds planned to be single flighted, but we reserve the right to flight early elimination rounds if required
- TOC: 6 prelim rounds, all 4-2s clear with a cap of 64 total elim teams
- Open: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- JV: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- MS: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- Novice: 6 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break

Speech events: no cross entry with other events (but up to triple entry in speech events is possible); all competition takes place synchronously

Events: all divisions/levels follow the same patterning & competitors may triple enter
- Pattern A: National extemp, oratory, dramatic, spar, expos, and declamation
- Pattern B: International extemp, duo, humorous, impromptu, oral interp, informative and program oral interp
Varsity: 4 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- open to all students
JV: 4 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- competitors must not have competed in any high school speech events prior to August 2019
Novice: 4 prelim rounds with a generous elimination round break
- open to students who did not compete in any high school speech events prior to August 2020

AWARDS

Champion Awards:

Champions receive an excellent award: Your squad will be excited to know that in addition to their trophy the following students will each receive a special award. The past few years this has been a Kindle Fire, Apple AirPods, and other exciting prizes! For the 2021 tournament we will have another great award for the:
- Champion in TOC Policy
- Champion in TOC LD
- Champions in TOC Parli debate
- Champions in TOC Public Forum debate
- Champions in each Varsity IE event
- Champion in Varsity Student Congress
- Note: Champion is defined as the 1st place winner only & awards are for competitors only

Partial scholarships to the 2021 SNFI Speech & Debate Camp: In addition to their trophy and award, students meeting the criteria outlined below will receive a partial scholarship to attend the 2021 Stanford National Forensic Institute. Scholarships are not combinable for multiple event winners, or transferrable to other students or events.
- Speech events (all IEs):
  - Varsity: Champions in each varsity speech event will receive a 50% scholarship to attend the 2021 Stanford National Forensic Institute in Individual Events.
  - JV: Champions in each JV speech event will receive a 25% scholarship to attend the 2021 Stanford National Forensic Institute in Individual Events.
- Debate events (Policy, LD, PF, Congress):
  - Varsity: specific details TBA
  - JV: specific details TBA

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: Please plan on the fact that this is a two day tournament for IE’s and Congress and a three day tournament for most debate events.

DOUBLE ENTERING: Double-entry in IE events is permissible, but there is NO cross entry between Policy, LD, Public Forum, Congress and IE. The tentative schedule shows why cross-entry between debate and speech is not possible. No special accommodations are made for those students who wish to double-enter in events, however, so students should expect to be rushed if they choose this option.

DROPS: Drops will result in your entry fees being forfeited. No-show will result in you being assessed an additional 25% entry fee penalty, and the judging commitment must still be fulfilled for no-shows.

UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES: At any large tournament, logistical difficulties can on rare occasion occur in any number of matters, from tabulation to rules enforcement, to scheduling issues and judge disputes of various forms. Ultimately, the executive tournament director's sole discretion prevails on these rare occasions or when any sort of logistical difficulties arise.

AWARDS:

Congress: all students competing in the final round receive an award
Speech events: all students competing in elimination rounds receive an award
Debate events: all students competing in elimination rounds receive an award, along with the top 10 speakers in each division

DEBATE EVENTS INFORMATION
ELIGIBILITY: entries into a given event & level are subject to the following eligibility requirements, and beyond the specific requirements listed here, coach's discretion on classification decisions ultimately prevails

LD, Policy, Public Forum & Parliamentary: no cross-entry with other events
- TOC: competitors must be in grades 8-12
- Open (CA in LD only): competitors must be in grades 8-12
- JV: competitors must be in grades 7-12 and must not have competed in any debate events prior to August 2019
- MS: competitors must be in grades 6-8
- Novice: competitors must be in grades 6-12 and must not have competed in any debate events prior to August 2020
- *The tournament reserves the right to combine/collapse divisions in any event due to low enrollment or for logistical reasons in order to provide a better competition experience for competitors

PREFS & STRIKES:

TOC/Open Policy & TOC LD: mutual preference judging is offered until semifinals
- Semis & Finals: We will use a pool of judges for TOC LD and TOC Policy semifinals and finals that consists of a combination of those judges (affiliated with schools and attending the tournament) wishing to volunteer to judge in those rounds. Schools in the semi finals will be given a List of judges on it, and competitors/coaching may then opt to strike a very small number of judges from this pool. These judges will make up the panels for the semis and finals. Please understand that even if you struck someone in the prelims, they could end up in the pool for semis and finals. Debaters/coaches may exercise the privilege of striking that person again at this point if they so choose after reevaluating the situation. The tab room will make the final determination of the pools for semis and finals after the sheets are returned in a timely manner, and any teams failing to return their semis/finals strike sheets by the time announced when quarterfinal results are announced forfeit their right to strike any judges for the semis and/or finals.
- More information on the timelines and deadlines for submitting your preferences will be available near the start of the tournament, and all schools with entries in these events are responsible for closely adhering to all deadlines. Your judge rankings and strikes will be due before the tournament begins, and if you do not meet the submission deadline or fail to submit your rankings the tournament is under no oligation to honor your requests although we will make a reasonable effort to do so.
TOC PF, TOC Parliamentary & CA LD: discretionary strikes are offered in addition to conflict strikes; tab staff will rank the judge pools on a rolling basis based on ballots and other feedback so as to allow the most careful judges to be used in 'close call' debates in susequent round
All other events: conflict strikes are accepted; tab staff will rank the judge pools on a rolling basis based on ballots and other feedback so as to allow the most careful judges to be used in 'close call' debates in susequent rounds.

TABULATION PROTOCOLS AND PRIORITIES:

Rounds 1 & 2: preset
Round 3: high-low based on the SOP algorithm calculated by Win-Loss, Total Points, Opponent Seed.
Round 4 and after: high-low based on the SOP algorithm calculated by Win-Loss, High/Low Points, Opponent Seed, Double High/Low Points, Coin Flip

The SOP algorithm to pair rounds is determined in the following manner:

Create rank order of teams based on traditional sorting criteria. This creates a “seed” for each team as of that point in the tournament.
Calculate the average seed of each of a team’s prior opponents.
When necessary due to side skews, teams are advanced to the next higher bracket based in order of the weakest average strength of opposition.
Once brackets are equalized, a team’s own seed and the average seed of their prior opponents are added together to create a hybrid statistic WLQ.
Teams are sorted high to low within brackets based on WLQ.

CLEARING: For clearing, the priorities are: Win-Loss, High/Low Points, Opponent Seed, Double High/Low Points, Coin Flip

TOC Policy & Varsity Worlds Schools: we will break all 4-2 teams up to a maximum of 32 teams (a full double)
TOC LD, TOC PF & TOC Parliamentary: we will break all 4-2 teams up to a maximum of 64 teams (a full triple)
All other debate event divisions: we will break to the following elimination rounds based on the numbers of entries competing in a majority of prelim rounds
- Half-triples (48 teams, 1 judge panels [seeds 17-48 in a "run-off" debate]): 161 or more entries completing in prelims
- Doubles: 81 to 160 teams completing in prelims
- Octafinals: 41 to 80 entries completing in prelims
- Quarterfinals: 40 or fewer entries competing in prelims

OBSERVERS: Stanford tournaments are "open forum" meaning that non-disruptive observers are welcome, but note that recordings are discussed below.
EVIDENCE: Judges are welcome to call for evidence read in the debate - or not - at their discretion. In general judges’ discretion prevails on virtually all matters, except when otherwise indicated by the Executive Tournament Director or their designee.
RECORDING: No one may record video or audio of any speech given during the Stanford Invitational without the consent of all competitors participating in the round.
TABROOM TANSPARENCY: We will provide disclosure of the full results packet and brackets after the start of the first elimination rounds on Sunday (as logistical feasibility allows) so that everyone can be assured that all coaches and teams have access to this vital information at the same time.
IN THE EVENT OF LOGISTICAL DIFFICULTIES: In the event tab staff experience fundamental computer problems such as a serious computer or software malfunction, we will use the listed priorities as best as can be accommodated by the software or the tab staff. Tournament director's discretion ultimately prevails in the rare event of serious logistical difficulties, and proceeding with the tournament schedule takes priority over other considerations should such problems occur.
COMPUTER RULES: We are allowing use of computers per the NSDA Pilot Internet Rules as best as practicable and subject to review by the tournament director. In particular, use of internet to communicate with any outside party during a round are serious rules violations risking a forfeit loss, and expulsion from the tournament.
EVENT RULES:

Policy:
- Teams of two will compete following the regular NSDA rules governing speech times
- Prep time will be 10 minutes
- The NFHS topic will be used
LD:
- Individual competitors will compete following the regular NSDA rules governing speech times
- In California LD ONLY, note that there are specific rules published by CHSAA that includes in particular-
  - [1.E.2.b] Judges should disregard new arguments introduced during rebuttal speeches. Judges should only allow new responses during rebuttal speeches if those responses address an argument first made in the immediately preceding speech. New analysis of prior arguments is allowed in rebuttal speeches.
- Prep time will be 4 minutes
- The Jan/Feb NSDA topic will be used (available from the NSDA office)
Public Forum:
- Teams of two will compete following NSDA pilot rules governing speech times
- Coin flip for side selection and speaker order in each round
- Coin flip in all elimination rounds
- The February NSDA topic will be used (available from the NSDA office)

SPEECH EVENTS INFORMATION
ELIGIBILITY: entries into a given event & level are subject to the following eligibility requirements

Varsity: competitors must be in grades 8-12
JV: competitors must be in grades 7-12 and must not have competed in any speech events prior to August 2019
Novice: competitors must be in grades 6-12 and must not have competed in any speech events prior to August 2020
*The tournament reserves the right to combine/collapse divisions in any event due to low enrollment or for logistical reasons in order to provide a better competition experience for competitors

ROUNDS: all competition takes place synchronously

Prelims: all speech event divisions will have 4 preliminary rounds, and patterns are back to back allowing for 8 rounds for a double-entered student!
Elims: all speech event divisions will proceed to elimination rounds based on the following rubric
- Octafinals: divisions with at least 120 entries will break to octafinals
- Quarterfinals: divisions with 119 to 60 entries will break to quarterfinals
- Semifinals: divisions with 59 to 30 entries will break to semifinals
- Finals: divisions with fewer than 30 entries will break to finals

PATTERNS:

Pattern A: National extemp, oratory, dramatic, spar, expos/informative, and declamation
Pattern B: International extemp, duo, humorous, impromptu, oral interp, and program oral interp
*Note: National and International extemp are in different patterns, allowing serious extemp students to compete in eight prelim extemp rounds!

CROSS ENTRY: There is NO cross entry between debate, LD, Public Forum, Congress and IE; the tentative schedule shows why cross-entry between debate events and speech events is not possible.
DOUBLE/TRIPLE ENTRY: Competitors may enter up to 3 IE’s with no more than 2 in any one pattern, but they are responsible for getting to their rounds. The tournament does not recommend double entering in Extemp or Duo and another event in the same pattern. Extemp prep time/speaker position will not be adjusted for competitors double entered in the same pattern. Any double-entered individual events competitor is responsible for hustling to and from rounds and making judges aware of possible lateness. If a judge must wait more than 15 minutes for any competitor, that individual risks being ranked last in that round..
COMPUTERS: We are allowing use of computers per the NSDA Pilot Internet Rules as best as practicable and subject to review by the tournament director. In particular, use of internet to communicate with any outside party during a round are serious rules violations risking a forfeit loss, and expulsion from the tournament.
AWARDS:

IE CHAMPIONS ALSO RECEIVE A PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIP TO CAMP: In addition to their trophy and extra prize the champions in each Varsity IE event will receive a 50% scholarship to attend the 2021 Stanford National Forensic Institute in Individual Events. Champions in each JV event will receive a 25% scholarship to attend the 2021 Stanford National Forensic Institute in Individual Events.
CHAMPIONS RECEIVE A KINDLE/IPOD or similar quality item: Your squad will be excited to know that in addition to their trophy champions in each varsity IE event will each receive a special award. The past few years this has been a Kindle, iPod or iPod Nano, and will once again be something particularly nice. Note: Champion is defined as the 1st place winner only. Awards this year are for students only.

RULES: The Stanford Invitational will use NSDA rules for all "national main event" IEs, CHSSA rules will be used for impromptu and expository, and Stanford Debate rules will be used for SPAR

Judges discretion will prevail in all but extreme cases
The executive tournament director or their designee will be the final authority on any challenges or protests.
General Event Guidelines:
- Original Oratory: a persuasive speech lasting no more than 10 minutes following NSDA rules.
- Dramatic Interpretation: an interpretation of a single dramatic piece lasting no more than 10 minutes following NSDA rules
- Extemporaneous Speaking, National and International: The speaker, having drawn 30 minutes prior, will speak for a maximum of 7 minutes on a current topic following NSDA rules.
- Duo Interpretation: two individuals performing an interpretation of 10 minutes following NSDA rules.
- Expository Speaking / Informative: an informative speech using visual aids lasting no more than 10 minutes following CHSSA rules.
- Humorous Interpretation: an interpretation of a single humorous piece lasting no more than 10 minutes following NSDA rules
- Impromptu Speaking: the speaker will have 2 minutes to prepare and 5 to speak on a given topic following CHSAA rules.
- Oral Interpretation (Prose/Poetry): following NCFL rules - CHSAA OI is equivalent to Declamation
- Declamation: following NCFL rules - CHSAA OI is equivalent to Declamation
- Spontaneous argumentation (Spar): Each spar panel consists of approximately eight competitors. The debaters will be assigned affirmative or negative until all debaters are assigned to a side by the judge prior to the start of the round. Each pair will consider a single issue/resolution which is presented to the debaters by the judge right before each pair debates. The affirmative will have one minute before speaking must commence. The first affirmative speaker will give a two-minute speech in favor of the resolution; immediately after that speech, the first negative speaker will refute the position in a two-minute constructive. Strict adherence to the exact wording of the resolution is not required, but the debaters should at least regard the topic as a common frame-of-reference.

JUDGE INFORMATION

BASELINE JUDGE REQUIREMENTS:

All judges must have graduated from high school or the equivalent, be 18+, and be proficient in English.
Judges are expected to disclose their decisions.
For online debate, a baseline requirement for any judge is that their video and audio must be on during all speech time and during the post-round decision rendering, but judges may elect to switch off audio and/or video during prep time and while deliberating about their decision.
- We understand that there may be one-off situations which make video and/or audio challenging or impossible for an individual judge, but in such cases it is an affirmative obligation of that judge (or their squad coordinator on their behalf) to request an exception to this requirement with as much advance notice as is possible given the basis of the request for exemption.
The named judge must pick up and judge the rounds assigned to them as we must which adult is judging which round. Squads may not unilaterally replace one judge with another and simply "swap" them out. Every judge swap must be handled directly by the tournament, and the named judge MUST be the judge overseeing their assigned round.
If because of strike/preference sheet results a judge is unable to fulfill the commitment, the tournament reserves the right to refuse the judge. If the tournament refuses your judge, you will have the choice of substituting a judge who is acceptable to the tournament or paying the judge fee.

SPECIFIC JUDGE REQUIREMENTS:

In TOC & Open-level debate divisions, judges must have (substantial) experience judging the event they are judging at the TOC/Open level at invitational-style tournaments and working familiarity of Tabroom.com. This means that the judge should either be an active coach of varsity level competitors in the debate event they will be judging, or should have competed somewhat recently at a high varsity level at major invitationals. Generally speaking, parents of participants are not considered qualified judges for these events, but there are of course always exceptions.
JV Policy judges are expected to have substantial experience.

JUDGE PENALTIES:

If judges are found to not meet any applicable baseline or specific requirement, the judge may be removed from the pool and a penalty fine will be levied equal to or greater than the fee to have fully hired out for that judging oligation. This includes any judges which do not meet our criteria due to false information being provided.
Any ballot assigned to a judge which is missed will result in the assessment of a missed ballot fee, and this fee may escalate for repeat offenders.

See this how to use guide for Classrooms.Cloud: https://doc.clickup.com/d/h/16evb-210/868305ef5eee46c

STANFORD SPEECH AND DEBATE INVITATIONAL

6-8 February 2021

Information

Entry Price

Schedule

Drop Fee

Contact Info

Registration Form

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

School year Hours

Telephone

Email (preferred)

Locations