NATIONAL SPEECH AND DEBATE SEASON OPENER

    11-13 September 2026

    DEADLINE
    6 Sept 2026
    NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE
    ELIGIBILITY
    middle and high school students
    LOCATION
    Online through NSDA Campus

    Information

    Tournament Disclaimer
    ​
    Prior to registering for the National Speech and Debate Season Opener tournament, Tabroom asks registering individuals to approve a disclaimer in lieu of uploading individual honor code and media release forms for each competitor like prior years. 
    ​
    The disclaimer states: 
    1. I certify that I have read and understand the requirements in the following Tournament Invite and Tournament Policy/Procedure Document.
    2. I certify that all competitors, coaches, judges, and stakeholders have read, understand, and will abide by the tournament's honor code.
    3. I certify that all competitors, coaches, judges, and stakeholders read, understand, and will abide by the tournament’s education and openness policy.
    4. By agreeing to this disclaimer, the registering individual certifies that they are authorized to act on behalf of the registrants and grants permission to the University of Kentucky and its affiliates and subsidiaries, including but not limited to the UK Alumni Association, UK Athletics Association, and UK Research Foundation, to interview, photograph, and/or videotape event participants and/or to supervise any others who may conduct such interviews, photography, and/or videotaping and/or to use and/or permit others to use information from the aforementioned interviews and/or the aforementioned images in educational and promotional activities.
    5. By agreeing to this disclaimer, I understand that violation of any of the agreements above could result in disqualification of my program’s entries with no refund of registration fees.

    Important Updates
    • The 2026 tournament will be held entirely online. There will be no in-person divisions. 
    • International breakout elimination rounds will be offered in the open/varsity divisions of Public Forum.

    Adult Supervision
    • Participants should be aware that tournament staff may periodically enter competition rooms, including while competitors are speaking; this should not be a cause for concern, nor delay or stop an ongoing round.

    Definition of Team Info
    This document provides guidance regarding team affiliations, conflict disclosures, and judge conflicts. The Tournament of Champions requires school-based entry; however, conflict determinations often extend beyond a competitor’s school affiliation. This document’s purpose is intended to promote transparency, consistency, and competitive fairness by establishing a common understanding of how team relationships are evaluated for conflict-of-interest purposes.

    Events, Divisions, and TOC Bids
    • Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD): Three divisions are offered: Open (Varsity), Novice, and Middle School.
    • Public Forum Debate (PF): Three divisions are offered: Open (Varsity), Novice, and Middle School. 
    • Speech/Individual Events: One open division is offered with all events being synchronous. Varsity, Novice, and Middle School entries are invited and allowed to compete, and all entries are in one division.

    Division Eligibility
    • Open (Varsity): All students in grades 6–12 are eligible to compete.
    • Novice: Students grades 6–10 are eligible to compete. All competitors entered in this division should have fewer than 2 full years of experience.
    • Middle School: All students in grades 6-8 are eligible to compete. 
    *We will not merge Middle School with Novice divisions due to low numbers; we will cancel divisions with low entry numbers. However, coaches can independently choose to re-enter their competitors in a different division as long as the competitor still meets the division eligibility.

    Tournament Bid Levels for the 2027 TOC
    Only the varsity/open divisions are eligible for bids. 
    • Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Quarterfinals
    • Public Forum Gold Debate: Octafinals
      • Public Forum Silver Debate: Double Octafinals
    • Speech Events: TBD based on entries using qualification requirements.

    Topics and Formats
    All events are governed by the rules in the tournament procedures documents posted on Tabroom. Coaches, judges, and competitors should familiarize themselves with these documents prior to the start of the tournament. Please note that any sources read or cited as evidence in competition must be available upon request.

    Cross Entry/Double Entry Policy: No cross entry with any events. Speech competitors can do up to 3 speech events (no more than 2 in one pattern). 

    Debate Events
    • Lincoln-Douglas Debate Sept/Oct 2026 NSDA Topic | 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 Speech Times | 5 Minutes of Preparation/Debater
    • Public Forum Debate Sept/Oct 2026 NSDA Topic | 4-4-3-4-4-3-3-3-3-2-2 Speech Times | 3 Minutes of Preparation/Team 
    Speech Events
    • Speech Pattern A: Extemp Speaking, Humorous Interp, Informative Speaking, Poetry, Program Oral Interp
    • Speech Pattern B: Dramatic Interp, Duo Interp, Impromptu, Original Oratory, Prose
    Maximum Total of 3 Speech Events per Competitor | Only 2 Speech Events in Any Single Pattern

    ​Topic Areas
    1. Lincoln-Douglas Debate - Sept/Oct 2026 NSDA Topic
    2. Public Forum Debate - Sept/Oct 2026 NSDA Topic
    3. Extemp Speaking Topic Areas
      - Round 1: Science and Technology
      - Round 2: Europe
      - Round 3: Environment and Energy
      - Round 4: Asia
      - Round 5: United States 2026 Elections
      - If an additional round needs to be added due to high entry numbers, that round's topic area will be Africa.
    4. Impromptu Speaking Round Prompts (in alphabetical order)
      - Abstract Concepts
      - Contemporary Public Figures
      - Events
      - Everyday Objects
      - Famous phrases and quotations
      - Idioms and Proverbs
      - Depending on entry numbers, we may not use all round prompts.

    Judge Information
    Competitors at UK Debate/TOC-hosted tournaments deserve the highest quality judging throughout the tournament. Consequently, judges must be available to fulfill their commitment during all scheduled rounds on the day(s) they are obligated. 

    Judge Eligibility
    • All open/varsity and novice division judges must be 18 or older and be a high school graduate (or equivalent).
      • High school students in grades 11 and 12 with at least two years of experience are eligible to serve as judges in the Middle School divisions of Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, as well as the World Schools Debate - Juniors division. 
    • Open and Novice Lincoln-Douglas judges must have prior experience in the event. Prior experience can be as a competitor and/or coach or judge. 
    • Public Forum Debate judges must complete the Level 2: Judging Public Forum Debate course offered through the National Speech and Debate Association. The course is ~15 minutes. Judges must also attend the pre-tournament judge meeting if one is scheduled on the tournament schedule. 
    • Judges may not be entered in more than one competition event. Judges cannot enter themselves to judge at a different tournament during this tournament without the express written permission of the Tournament Directors of both tournaments.
    • LD and PF judges must post a paradigm on Tabroom before judge preferences/strikes open.
    • Judges must have functioning technology to judge online tournaments: cameras on during rounds, ability to use Tabroom.com and NSDA Campus infrastructure, etc. Tournament staff will cycle through rooms throughout rounds to check camera-on compliance; non-compliance may result in fines and removal from the tournament. 
    • Tournament staff have the right to dismiss any ineligible and/or unqualified judge, unless the judge is the program director or coach of record officially employed by that school or academy.

    Judge Conflicts
    Non-disclosure of judge conflicts, or preclusions, is an ethical concern. Non-disclosure creates competitive imbalances and is taken very seriously by the National Speech and Debate Season Opener.
    Please indicate all conflicts, for all judges, on Tabroom. Judges should preclude themselves from judging any competitors whom they have previously coached, whether online or in person, paid or unpaid; with whom they have had a close, friendly, and/or personal relationship; and/or toward whom they feel that they cannot be objective for any reason. Judges affiliated with any college or other institution should preclude themselves from judging competitors whom they have seriously recruited, and judges should preclude themselves from judging entries from programs they attended or coached within the last 5 seasons. For additional guidance on what constitutes a judge conflict in a given event, please refer to the tournament procedures documents available on Tabroom. 
    In the case that a judge and/or competitor reports a conflict after a pairing is distributed, resulting in a change to the pairing—the associated program will be assessed a $500 fine and risks losing judge preferences/strikes for the remainder of the tournament.

    Fines and Penalties
    • Any violation of the tournament judge policies (i.e. eligibility and/or conflicts) will result in a $500 fine to the program, loss of judge preferences/strikes, and potential sanctions at future UK Debate/TOC-hosted tournaments.
    • Judges who are obligated but fail to appear on time for a prelim round will be assessed a $100 fine per missed round.  
    • Judges who are obligated but fail to appear on time for an elim round will be assessed a $150 fine per missed round. 
    • Individual event tab staff may require judges who were not assigned a round to report to an online judge room or judge lounge (often utilizing Zoom) prior to the round’s start time. Failure to report can result in being fined (as per above) as if they missed the round. Details regarding this are shared via tabroom email blasts leading up to the tournament. Not all events utilize online judge rooms/lounges. 
    • The fines are levied when a judge is obligated to the tournament for judging and fails to report to a scheduled round even if a replacement judge is secured. The associated program may also face potential sanctions at future UK Debate/TOC-hosted tournaments.
    • Judges who fail to have operating cameras and/or fail to keep the camera on throughout a round or the tournament may be replaced, assessed a fine, and/or removal from the tournament. 
    • Speech judges who fail to submit ranks and/or provide constructive feedback comments in a timely manner (~2 hours post round) will be assessed a $75 fine per round lacking ballot feedback.
    • All penalties must be paid before a team is allowed to advance to the next stage of elimination debates (e.g., if a prelim fine is incurred, the team will not be able to clear unless the fine is paid).

    Judge Obligations

    Preliminary Rounds
    • LD, PF: The number that appears on your Tabroom account, in association with your judging obligation (i.e. number of rounds owed), represents preliminary rounds only—this number does not count toward your judging commitment in elimination rounds. Judges are allowed to split obligations, but programs are required to have the requisite number of judges every round. One judge can cover a maximum of 6 rounds of obligation since there are 6 prelim rounds scheduled. 
    • Speech: All judges are obligated for all preliminary and elimination rounds.  Judges are allowed to split obligations, but programs are required to have the requisite number of judges each day. If the program needs two speech judges, two judges could serve on Saturday and two different judges could serve Sunday. 
    • Judges who are obligated but fail to appear on time for an assigned preliminary round will be assessed a $100 fine per round. 

    Elimination Rounds
    • All of a program’s judges are obligated to these minimum obligations in the event they are registered to judge. This means parents are not obligated just to their child (or their child’s PF or Duo partnership).
    • Lincoln-Douglas Debate: All judges are obligated through the first full elimination round and then one round beyond the elimination of the program’s last entry. For example, if the program’s last LD student is eliminated in quarterfinals, the program’s LD judges must be available to judge the LD semifinal round.
    • Public Forum Debate: All judges are obligated through the first full elimination round on Sunday and then one round beyond the elimination of the program’s last entry. For example, if the program’s last PF team is eliminated in quarterfinals, the program’s PF judges must be available to judge the PF semifinal round. 
    • Speech: All judges are obligated for all preliminary and elimination rounds. 
    • All Events: Any judges willing to volunteer for late elimination rounds should email the proper event tab staff helpline email indicating their interest. Judges who are obligated but fail to appear on time for an assigned elimination round will be assessed a $150 fine per round.

    Participant Conduct
    All participants, observers, judges, coaches, and other guests attend the 2026 National Speech and Debate Season Opener at the invitation of the University of Kentucky, and must abide by all applicable rules in the tournament invitation and procedures, as well as those set by the University of Kentucky. Furthermore, coaches should review any honor codes and school or program policies with all participants prior to the tournament. 
    Participants—including coaches, competitors, and judges—certify that all entries, forms, disclaimers, and other materials submitted for the National Speech and Debate Season Opener are accurate and complete. Submission of any National Speech and Debate Season Opener-related materials grants permission to distribute and verify the information contained therein among National Speech and Debate Season Opener administrators, tournament staff, and/or UK Debate staff.

    Honor Code
    The National Speech and Debate Season Opener Honor Code conveys the significance and importance of competitive integrity to all members of our community, in the interest of maintaining the highest standards of conduct. Participants must act with dignity and respect, and refrain from undermining the integrity of speech and debate as an institution. Participants should neither seek, nor encourage others to seek unfair assistance or advantage in competition. All participants, including observers, are expected to act in good faith and preserve the competitive integrity of the National Speech and Debate Season Opener.
    PledgeAs a participant in the National Speech and Debate Season Opener, I pledge not to lie, cheat, steal or otherwise undermine the fairness of the tournament. I understand that competitive integrity and fairness is important to all tournament participants, and I promise to uphold the highest standards of honesty and integrity in competition.
    ​
    Awards
    Awards are tentative based on prior years.  Final entry numbers may adjust award levels. We will share a form after the tournament for award claims and addresses. 
    Lincoln-Douglas Debate
    • Open Division: Finalists, Semifinalists, Quarterfinalists, Octafinalists; Top 20 Speakers 
    • Novice Division: Finalists, Semifinalists; Top 5 Speakers
    • Middle School Division: Finalists, Semifinalists; Top 5 Speakers
    Public Forum Debate
    • Open Division: Finalists, Semifinalists, Quarterfinalists, Octafinalists; Double Octafinalists; Top 20 Speakers 
    • Novice Division: Finalists, Semifinalists, Quarterfinalists, Octafinalists; Top 10 Speakers
    • Middle School Division: Finalists, Semifinalists Quarterfinalists, Octafinalists; Top 10 Speakers
    Speech/Individual Events
    • Finalists ​

    ​Entry Price

    One PF event and parent is judging $115
    One PF event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $265

    One LD event and parent is judging $130
    One LD event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $360

    One speech event and parent is judging $100
    One speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $175

    Two speech events and parent is judging $125
    Two speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $250

    ​Three speech events and parent is judging $150
    Three speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $325

    *Judges need to be available on all the days that their event occurs on.
    **Each person in a PF team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one PF team would need to either provide two judges, both pay the judge fee, or one of each option.

    Registration will not be complete until payment is received.
    NOTE: We will charge set up fees if we have to create tabroom.com accounts for judges. It is recommended you do so on your own.

    Schedule - EST

    ​Please note that all times will be in Eastern Time Zone (EST)

    ​
    ONLINE PF
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Idr78-HeyiFFZnJstmLfjoY9Kl5X994_INu8m2mGbUo/edit?gid=1009051287#gid=1009051287&range=A1:B1

    ONLINE LD
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Idr78-HeyiFFZnJstmLfjoY9Kl5X994_INu8m2mGbUo/edit?gid=1534939351#gid=1534939351&range=A1:B1

    ONLINE SPEECH
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Idr78-HeyiFFZnJstmLfjoY9Kl5X994_INu8m2mGbUo/edit?gid=1436278529#gid=1436278529&range=A1:B1
    ​

    ​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

    Drop fees will be the same amounts as the entry fee PLUS any fees the tournament charges us for late drops. Drop requests should be made to Victor and Nadia.

    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
    If this is your first time competing, make sure to first create a Tabroom account here: https://www.tabroom.com/user/login/new_user.mhtml
    It's super simple and quick (<1 minute), but follow the guidelines here in case anything is confusing: ​https://docs.tabroom.com/Sign_Up
    PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION
    Your email address will be the one included when we send the logistics email.
    EVENT SELECTION

    Please email Nadia and Victor ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) if you were planning to attend PF in-person.
    Cross Entry/Double Entry Policy:
    ​    No cross entry between speech and debate.
    ​Speech competitors can do up to 3 speech events (no more than 2 in one pattern).
    ​JUDGE PROVISION
    Judge Philosophies
    All judges must submit a judging philosophy to Tabroom.com (see instructions here). No entry will be considered complete until all affiliated judges have submitted a judge philosophy. This can be a few sentences on your preferences of debating styles, etc. See here for example. It doesn't need to be this long, but make sure to add something before you sign up. For example: "I am a parent, please speak clearly and slowly and avoid technical jargon".

    Public Forum Debate judges must complete the Level 2: Judging Public Forum Debate course offered through the National Speech and Debate Association. The course is ~15 minutes. Judges must also attend the pre-tournament judge meeting if one is scheduled on the tournament schedule.

    Click here to complete the highly recommended Cultural Competency judge training course

    Signing up a judge without having a Tabroom account will result in us charging you for the set up fee.
    ​You can do this easily on your own by going to tabroom.com. It literally takes less than a minute.

    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.
    ​There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.​
    ​Click here to find other training and official certification resources. Or watch our Youtube playlist here.
    ​
    ​Tournaments encourage judges to have a paradigm on their Tabroom account, which can be a few sentences on your preferences of debating styles, etc. See here for example. It doesn't need to be this long, but make sure to add something before you sign up. For example: "I am a parent, please speak clearly and slowly and avoid technical jargon".​

    ​    More tournament resources can be found here.
    TERMS AND CONDITIONS

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​​