Friends and Colleagues,

I’m pleased to invite you to the 2020 Seattle Academy Invitational, this November 6-7 hosted digitally on NSDA Campus and Tabroom.com. This year’s tournament will feature competition in both speech and debate, and we are pleased to report our tournament will once again be recognized as a TOC Finals bid qualifier in Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum, a Tier-1 Congressional Debate tournament, and a TOC and NIETOC bid tournament.

We will initially have registration open for open, junior, and novice divisions in Policy, Lincoln Douglas, and Public Forum debates. Please note that it is possible that the junior divisions will be collapsed into the open divisions; however, we would like to offer junior varsity level debate if there is sufficient interest. At the 2019 tournament, we had JV competition in LD and PF. We will have open and novice divisions in Congressional Debate, Dramatic Interpretation, Dual Interpretation, Extemporaneous, Humorous, Impromptu, Informative, Program Oral Interpretation, and Original Oratory. We will collapse divisions as necessary. We will additionally run open divisions of Editorial Commentary and Oral Interpretation/IR. 

We will also offer competition in one additional speech event: Original Performance. Original Performance is an event that allows students to present fiction, both prose and poetry, of their own creation. Competition in the event is free (though you must still supply judging).

Some key details:

-Speech will be asynchronous. Recordings will be submitted well ahead of the traditional Friday start of the tournament, so please consult the schedule to prepare.

-Speech judges will receive pre-recorded preliminary ballots Thursday night, and they must be returned Friday at 6:00 PM. Speech judges must also be available to adjudicate finals on Saturday within two four-hour windows. Please be intentional in entering your judge time conflicts.

-Debate will be synchronous, using NSDA Campus on Friday and Saturday. Congress might use a separate platform due to user limitations- we will send info if it becomes necessary.

-Please note that we will have caps in OLD, OPF, and OSC; please consult that section of the invitation for more information. All entries must have names- no TBA entries will be admitted.

This year, given the electronic tournament format, we will have an ombudsperson available for competitors and coaches alike during the course of the tournament. We believe that debate should be a safe and fair space for all participants, and we will do our best to make this happen. Ombudsperson contact info will be prominently featured on the Tabroom page.

If you have questions about the tournament, please contact Brad Thew at brad.thew@highlineschools.org. The tournament website can be found at seattleacademy.tabroom.com, and the official invitation can be found here. Please note that due to the changing landscape, changes to procedures may be necessitated. Please review the rules in advance.

Thank you for all you do, and have a great season!