The Maine Forensic Association is pleased to invite you to the Tournament of Lights on December 19, 2020. 

Registration deadline: 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 16
Judge entry deadline: 8 p.m. Friday, December 18
Fees and judge obligations frozen (nonrefundable): 8 p.m. Friday, December 18
Drop deadline: 8:45 a.m. Saturday, December 19
Nuisance fees for drops applied: 8:30 a.m. Saturday, December 19

Any questions, please contact Jason Curry, MFA President, by clicking here.

Registration

Minimum requirements for virtual competition

As this is a virtual tournament that will be hosted on Tabroom.com and NSDA Campus, there are three core requirements for participating in a virtual competition with the MFA:

1. All participants (coaches, students, and judges) each must have an account on Tabroom.com as posting and competition is all completed online. New students can register with Tabroom.com and ensure they are linked to their team’s roster.
2. Prior to tournament day, ensure each participant (students, judges, and coaches) have access to campus.speechanddebate.org on the network from which they will be participating. If necessary, work with respective network managers to whitelist the domain.
3. Registration must be completed through Tabroom.com by 11:55 p.m., Wednesday, December 16.

Entry Fees

Members of the Maine Forensic Association (join here)

• $5.00 per entry (New schools $2.50)
• Teams (Duo and PF) are two entries ($10 or $5)

Non-members

• $7.00 per entry (New schools $3.50)
• Teams (Duo and PF) are two entries ($14 or $7)

Entry fees will not be capped for this tournament.

Drops

Coaches can drop and change entries until Saturday, December 19 at 8:45 a.m. In the event you need to drop or make a change after that time, contact Tabulation and each will be assessed a $10 fine. Late add requests are not encouraged and will be accepted only at the discretion of the tournament hosts. Late adds will be assessed an additional charge of $10 per entry.

Events

• LD: 3 levels, if numbers allow
• PF: 2 levels, if numbers allow
• Congressional Debate: Senate and House, as needed
• Speech: All Maine State Tournament categories

Event/division definitions

Novice level is for students competing in their first year of high school forensics (i.e. first year competitors). Note that Oratorical Declamation is limited to freshmen and sophomore students only.

Junior varsity level is primarily for second-year competitors, but also first year competitors who have enjoyed success.

Varsity level is for competitors with more than one year of experience who wish to try a higher level of competition.

Maverick in Public Forum Debate is a single-person team. A maverick WILL NOT be allowed at this tournament.

Topics

Extemporaneous Speaking topics

Review carefully the high level topics for Extemporaneous Speaking here. Prompts will focus only on these topics.

NOTE: Competitors will be allowed to access sources on the web during preparation.

Congressional Debate

The docket is accessible by clicking here.

LD resolution

Resolved: The United States ought to provide a federal jobs guarantee.

PF resolution

Resolved: Maine state government should approve and allow the construction of the New England Clean Energy Connect Project proposed by Central Maine Power.

Judge Requirements

All judges must have an account on Tabroom.com as all balloting is completed online. New judges can register with Tabroom.com and ensure they are linked to your judge roster. Missing a judge results in a $60 fine.

Help the meet run smoothly and fairly by supplying your required, trained judges, including unaffiliated, in accordance with MFA rules. Have all your judges finalized by 8:00 p.m. Friday, December 18.

Note judge conflicts or shadow needs in your judge registration on Tabroom.com. Email the tournament host for any complex judge situations. Remember a parent cannot judge the category in which their child is competing.

Fractional entries round up (i.e. three LD entries = 2 judges). Third, fifth, and seventh judge must be neutral/unaffiliated for Speech, LD, PF.

• LD: one judge for every 2 LD entries
• PF: one judge for every 2 teams
• Speech or Congressional Debate: one judge for every 5 entries

Judges are expected to be available for ALL rounds of competition. Fines will be assessed for judges departing early unless cleared through Tabulation.

Meeting your judge burden

If you are struggling to fulfil your judge burden, many coaches have success by announcing their need to the Maine list serv and negotiating an exchange, including pay rate. In this case, add a negotiated judge to your Tabroom roster using the judge’s email address so they are appropriately linked.

If you still can’t fulfill your judge buden, the tournament may have extra judges available for you to hire. If so, fees for purchasing judges will be $60 per judge. Contact the Tournament Director for support.

If you have extra judges, contact the Tournament Director so the judge can be added to the judge hire pool.

Checking into the tournament

To complete online check-in:

1. Confirm that each of your students, judges, and yourself are logged into the following (opening multiple tabs recommended):
   1. maineforensic.org/onlinetournament. Passwords will be emailed to all participants the morning of the tournament.
   2. Tabroom.com
   3. Respective e-mail accounts associated with Tabroom.com. All Tabroom announcements are issued by email and/or text depending on user preference.
2. Once you have confirmed that everyone is present and prepared, follow these instructions to check into the tournament. Check-in closes promptly to accommodate paneling of rounds.

Awards

Tournament sweeps will be awarded to the top three teams each in Speech, Debate, and Congressional Debate.

Individual awards for first through third in each category, and honorable mention as determined by Tab.

Note that ties in record will be broken first by MFA guidelines. Tabulation of awards follows standards adopted by MFA.

Tentative schedule

7:30-8:30 a.m. Online check-in (see below)

• It is the coach’s responsibility to validate that all students are ready for online competition.
• Tabulation will close check-in promptly to then panel rounds.
• Note that delays or errors in affirming your check-in may delay the tournament.

8:35 a.m. Virtual breakouts for judge and student briefings. Keep an eye out for an email blast with a link to your respective virtual briefing.

9:00 a.m. Rounds begin following briefings

5:00 p.m. Awards announcements

Debate round schedule

• Round 1 9:00-9:50 a.m.
• Round 2 10:30-11:20 a.m.
• Lunch 11:30-12:45 p.m.
• Round 3 1:00-1:50 p.m.
• Final round 2:30-3:20 p.m.

Speech round schedule

• Round 1 9:00-10:30 a.m.
• Round 2 10:45-noon
• Lunch Noon-1:00 p.m.
• Round 3 1:00-2:30 p.m.
• Final round 3:00-4:30 p.m.

Congressional Debate session schedule

• 9:15-noon Session 1
• Noon lunch
• 1:00-3:00 p.m. Session 2