Nov 5 Online Jr Tournament
Hosted by Mr. Chris George in Montreal
Dear Debate coach,
I am writing to announce that I will once again be hosting a series of online tournaments with the goal to make debate tournaments accessible to those who might not otherwise have such opportunities. I again will focus on hosting Junior level events ( grades 7 to 9 ), in CNDF format ( with 6-6-6-6-3-3 junior times ), and will be open to all schools in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the four maritime provinces.
I will be hosting three events this year on:
• Saturday, November 5
• Saturday, January 28
• Saturday, April 15
While these events are open to all students in grades 7 to 9, I do encourage schools to use these events to give as many students as possible some tournament experience over the course of the year. For those students who might otherwise be competing regularly such as attending the McGill tournament and/or the U15 BP Nationals for example, these are probably not the events for you.
Please note that these events are open to schools only. "Independent" entries and non-school entities are not allowed to register. I will accept registrations directly from your school's teacher or authorized debate coach ( although at times I have allowed senior students to be the point of contact if the coach is aware of the participation on behalf of the school ). All teams will be expected to be accompanied by their school teacher and/or adult judge who will be the point of contact should there be an issue, and I should know at all times who I can contact easily if I need to address an issue. Teachers / coaches are the only ones allowed access to observe debates ( if they are not otherwise judging ). We cannot manage other spectators or outside private coaches for example will not be allowed to watch debates.
As with all events like this that I have hosted over the past 3 years, there is no cost to attend any tournament.
The first tournament will be held on Saturday, November 5. Once you register, we will send you the link to the tournament page.
The team cap per event will be approximately 60 teams as that is the maximum that I can practically manage for an event like this. I will accept two teams per school, and as a reminder you must send a judge who is available for all four rounds. It is possible that a later date I could accept a third team from a school but only if a second judge is provided. Your first judge must always be an experienced adult judge, but second judges may be experienced high school students.
The prepared topic for the first tournament will be: This House believes that Canada should abolish the monarchy.
The detailed schedule is posted on the google doc. Sign-in time will by 10:00 a.m Eastern. ( I will open zoom calls about 9:30 a.m. ). For all events we will run two prepared rounds back to back, followed by a meal break, followed by two impromptu rounds run back to back, and then a final round for the top two teams. We have consistently been able to finish debates by 6:00 pm Eastern. The tournament format remains the same as previous years.
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN. You may register by emailing me your school name and the number of teams you wish to enter. You will need to send judge(s) names and debaters names in advance of the tournament, but I do not need that for registration. There is no specific registration deadline, but events do fill up, and I will be looking to finalize as much as I can 4-5 days in advance.
I look forward to seeing you at these tournaments. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Chris George