McGill Debating Union Winter Bonanza High School Tournament (Online) March 18 &19, 2023
Dear Coach,
On behalf of the McGill Debating Union we are pleased to invite you to our upcoming Winter Bonanza High School Tournament. Following is important information regarding this year’s tournament:
Date: Saturday March 18 and Sunday March 19, 2023
Location: Discord (Tournament) / Zoom (Seminars)
Registration fee: $40 per team with Seminars, $30 per team without Seminars, $10/person for Seminars alone
Registration Open: Monday, February 20th, 2023 at 11:30 AM EDT.
Registration Deadline: Friday, March 4, 2023 at 11:59 PM EDT.
Team Cap: 4 teams per institution (more teams will be added to the waitlist)
Format:
The tournament will consist of four rounds of British Parliamentary impromptu debate, three rounds on Saturday and one round on Sunday, breaking to semi-finals, junior finals, and senior finals.
Registration: A second email was shared with Registration Information that is located further down after the original invitation and schedule.
Registration will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. The Google Form to register for the tournament will be sent out by email on Monday, February 20th, 2023 at 11:30 AM EDT. The deadline to register is March 4th, 2023 at 11:59PM EDT. Schools are permitted to register up to four teams initially, and may submit additional teams who will be placed on the waiting list.
Please inform us of the number of teams you would like to send by the registration deadline (March 4th, 2022). To secure your spot, please send your full registration payment via E-Transfer to mcgill.debating@gmail.com. Teams must pay to secure their deposit within 3 days of registering, or their spots will be reallocated. This is due to the high volume of teams reserving spots and dropping them with little notice. If you cannot make payments via E-Transfer please send us an email and we will make alternate arrangements.
Teams from the waiting list may be permitted to attend if the tournament registration cap for the tournament is not met by March 4th, 2022. Priority will be given to those who do not already have teams (from the same institution) registered.
We will try to accommodate as many teams as possible. We will send you an email when your requested spots are reserved (or if they are waitlisted for the time being). Following this invitation, we request that you send names of the debaters attending the tournament by Monday, March 13, 2023. This information is to be filled in a Google Form (which will be sent to registered teams). If you need financial aid, please email us.
Refund Policy
We have had issues at previous tournaments with teams that request and pay for spots, later dropping out at the last minute. This makes it difficult to coordinate judging and other logistical aspects on our end. Therefore, we will only be sending refunds, a) if requested before March 4th, 2023 or b) with valid proof of inability to attend (ex. doctor’s note, positive COVID test). For institutions who reserve an excess amount of spots and find themselves unable to fill them after March 4th, we will refund the payment for the spots only if you or we can find a replacement team to fill their place.
Seminars
We will be hosting debate skills seminars, taught by two of Canada’s top debaters. The seminars will cover a range of discussion on skills and content relevant to motions set by the adjudication core. More information on this will be made available shortly.
Should there be any questions related to registration, payments, or the tournament, please do not hesitate contacting us on this email (mcgilldebating.highschool@gmail.com).
We look forward to seeing you (virtually) at McGill University!
Sincerely,
Joseph Liang and Zachary Handelsman
Tournament Directors
McGill Winter Bonanza High School Tournament 2023
Tentative Schedule:
(All times are in EDT)
SATURDAY, 18 MARCH
Registration: 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
HARD DROP: 10:00 AM
Briefings: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Round 1: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Lunch: 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Seminars: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Round 2: 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Round 3: 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM
SUNDAY, 19 MARCH
Registration: 9:00 - 10:00 AM
HARD DROP: 10:00 AM
Round 4: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Lunch: 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM
Break Announcement: 12:30 PM – 12:45 PM
Semifinals, Junior Final: 12:45 PM – 2:30 PM
Senior Final: 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Awards and Final Announcements: 5:00 PM
REGISTRATION LINK AND INFORMATION - mcgilldebating.highschool@gmail.com
Dear Coach,
Thank you for your interest in the McGill Debating Union’s Winter Bonanza High School Tournament 2023! As promised, this email contains registration information and forms.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: March 4th, 2023 at 11:59pm EDT.
REGISTRATION PROCESS:
As a reminder, the registration process has changed this year compared to years previous. Registration will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. Payment for teams must be made in full within 3 days of registration by e-transfer to mcgill.debating@gmail.com, or else your spots will be reallocated. If you cannot pay by e-transfer, please send us an email to make alternate arrangements. This is due to the high number of institutions registering for spots and dropping them later with little notice.
Institutions may register up to 4 teams initially, and may request additional teams who will be placed on a waitlist. Teams from the waitlist will be allocated on a rolling basis depending on whether spots must be redistributed during the registration period, or if the team cap for the tournament has not yet been filled by March 4th. Priority will be given to institutions who do not already have spots registered.
We will send you an email confirming your registration when your payment has been received. If you have teams on the waitlist, we will also notify you if spots become available. Another form will be sent out after the registration deadline to collect debater information.
As part of Winter Bonanza, we are also offering debate skills seminars with two of Canada’s top debaters. You may register for the tournament alone, the seminars alone, or the tournament in addition to the seminars. Separate seminar registration forms should be submitted for each individual debater.
REGISTRATION FEES:
Tournament alone: $30/team
Tournament and seminars: $40/team
Seminars alone: $10/person
REGISTRATION FORMS:
Team Registration: https://forms.gle/Dp1YKBDbzqYk3V978
Seminar Registration: https://forms.gle/qpRh3Ahj1S2MVjuc9
3rd Email Regarding Registration Tracking:
There is a public tracker sheet of registrations, where you can see if your teams have been registered or waitlisted, and also track the status of payment, which confirms the reservation of your spots:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Iec8vxQVkIWSylBXwxpUu3mRqUMblTdJhP3QLIvEbR0/edit?usp=sharing
Yellow - registered teams pending payment
Green - registered teams with confirmed spots
Red - dropped teams (late payment)
Orange - waitlisted teams
The TDs will do their best to update this sheet as regularly as possible. Please don't be alarmed if your information does not appear immediately after registration/payment. However, if it has been a few days and your information still has not been updated, please reach out to the tournament directors.
Please pay ASAP for teams that have been registered so we can confirm the reservation of your spots. As a reminder, payment is due within 3 days of registering your institution's teams, not submitting debater info. This means if you submitted the team spot registration form on February 21, the deadline to pay would be February 24.The payment deadline for each institution is also listed in the sheet above. Please do not submit payment for waitlisted teams.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at mcgilldebating.highschool@gmail.com
We look forward to seeing you all in March!
Joseph Liang and Zachary Handelsman
Tournament Directors