Welcome to the home page for the 2023 13th Annual California Middle School State Championship tournament hosted by Online on May 20-21, 2023 for Middle School students.

Status: Tournament Completed

 

*** This tournament schedule has changed ***

 

Worlds prompt schedule:

Worlds R1 = Impromptu

Worlds R2 = Prepared - This house believes that The United States should switch to the metric system.

Worlds R3 = Impromptu

 

If the schedule changes again and we need to add rounds, this is what will be added:

Worlds Round 4: This house believes that Mars colonization should be a priority for humans.

Worlds Round 5: This house believes that Individuals have a moral obligation to serve the greater good.

The 13th Annual California Middle School

Speech and Debate State Championship

Online

May 19-21, 2023

(Invitation Version 3.0)

 

Greetings to all middle school speech and debate clubs and schools!

 

  You may access the invitation and entry system at 

https://forensicstournament.net/CaliforniaMiddleSchoolState/23

 

California Middle School Forensics is proud to announce the 13th annual California State Championship.  This tournament is meant to encourage a healthy competition at the state level and provide an opportunity to sharpen competitive speeches before the national tournament.

 

The schedule may need to be extended, depending on interest in events.  For example, in previous years, additional elimination rounds for Impromptu and SPAR have been needed to accommodate the number of entries.  We will try to notify teams of any schedule changes as soon as possible.

 

 

The tournament will be held on May 19-21, 2023!  Please feel free to pass this invitation along to anyone who might be interested in attending.

 

 

Tab Staff:

Robert Cannon (Wilshire Academy)

Mike Kyle (Nova 42)

Victor Rivas Umana (Golden State)

 

 

Rules/Event Descriptions:

All events will follow CMSF rules.  For full list of event descriptions, tournament procedures, and round design, please go to SCJFL.org and click on the RULES & BY-LAWS.  Please note: some tournament procedures in the by-laws are unique to this state tournament only.  Such rules and procedures are marked as “CMSF,” but in the absence of such indications, all other SCJFL rules will apply.  If you have any questions about rules or procedures, please feel free to reach out through the e-mail below.

 

 

Postings: 

Postings will be sent to each student before the round begins.  Coaches should update their student rosters on ForensicsTournament.net to include the cell numbers or the e-mail addresses for each student.  Once the posting preference is selected, coaches can test that the cell/e-mail is getting through to the student(s).

 

Entries:

Entries are due on Tuesday, May 16th, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) Pacific.

 

  You may access the invitation and entry system at 

https://forensicstournament.net/CaliforniaMiddleSchoolState/22

 

Awards:

All competitors advancing to an elimination round shall be awarded for doing so.  The tournament shall award school sweepstakes awards for the top three overall schools.  Points shall be calculated in accordance to the CMSF rules and by-laws.

 

Eligibility:

This event is run by the California Middle School Forensics(CMSF), which is a subsidiary of the Southern California Junior Forensics League (SCJFL).  All schools, clubs, after-schools, and home schools are permitted entry, provided they are in good standing with both leagues.  No league membership fee is required for this tournament.

Students from 5th grade - 8th grade are permitted to compete at this tournament.

 

 

Wellness:

We have designed the schedule for this tournament with great care.  While we have tried to provide students with the opportunity to compete in as many events as possible, this comes at a potential risk.  We ask that students carefully consider the schedule before deciding to enter multiple events.  The tournament will not delay rounds for students who did not attend a round on time.  Furthermore, students who insist on doing both speech and debate events may risk missing lunch breaks.

 

Judges:

One of our biggest concerns is that we do not run late.  We require each judge to use a laptop or mobile device to record onto ballots.  All judge training shall be the responsibility of the school registering that judge.  Schools who register judges that are not well-equipped or properly trained may be fined delay of tournament fees.

 

 

Events:

 

Pattern A (Students may not enter events in pattern D)

 

- Lincoln-Douglas Debate (Resolved: Government employees have a moral obligation to leak classified information to address injustice.)

 

- Public Forum Debate (Resolved: The United States should adopt ranked-choice voting for its federal elections.)

 

 

 

Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Big Questions will all be randomly assigned for the first two rounds and then power-matched for the remaining preliminary rounds.  All elimination rounds will be standard bracket rounds.  SPAR rounds are paired and run similar to an IE event.  Please see the CMSF Rules & By-laws for more specific information.

 

 

Pattern B

 

(may enter no more than two from the following):

Prose (use of manuscript required, 7 min. maximum)

Humorous Interpretation (10 min. maximum)

Persuasive (visual aids are permitted, 10 min. maximum)

Duo Interpretation (10 min. maximum)

Speech to Entertain (visual aids are permitte, 5 min. maximum)

 SPAR

Impromptu (7 min. bank)

Round 1 - Concrete nouns

Round 2 - Abstract nouns

Round 3 - Proverbs 

Quarterfinal Round - Quotations

Semifinal Round - Quotations

Final Round - Quotations

 

Pattern C

 

(may enter no more than two from the following):

Dramatic Interpretation (10 min. maximum)

Declamation (10 min. maximum)

Poetry (use of manuscript required, 7 min. maximum)

Storytelling (5 min. maximum)

Informative (visual aids are allowed, 10 min. maximum)

Program Oral Interp (use of manuscript required, 10 min. maximum)

 

(may enter only one from the following):

Extemporaneous Speaking (30 min. of prep / 7 min. maximum)

Topic areas (in no particular order):

The Americas

US Economy

Middle East

Domestic News

Science & Technology

 

 

Pattern D (Students may not enter events in pattern A)

- Congress - Congress docket will be made available two weeks before the start of the tournament (Friday, May 5th, 2023).

 

- Policy Debate (Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, and/or providing a basic income.)

 

Worlds prompt schedule:

Worlds R1 = Impromptu

Worlds R2 = Prepared - This house believes that The United States should switch to the metric system.

Worlds R3 = Impromptu

 

If the schedule changes again and we need to add rounds, this is what will be added:

Worlds Round 4: This house believes that Mars colonization should be a priority for humans.

Worlds Round 5: This house believes that Individuals have a moral obligation to serve the greater good.

 

Policy/World Schools will be randomly assigned for the first two rounds and then power-matched for the remaining preliminary rounds.  All elimination rounds will be standard bracket rounds.  The schedule for outrounds may be adjusted depending on entry numbers.  In the case that additional Policy outrounds are added, competitors may have to choose between competing in the additional outround or competing in pattern C events.

 

 

Saturday: May 20, 2023

8:00 a.m. Round 1 Pattern B (Pro, HI, Per, Duo, STE, Imp, SPAR)

9:30 a.m. Round 2 Pattern B (Pro, HI, Per, Duo, STE, Imp, SPAR)

11:00 a.m. Round 1 Pattern A (PF, LD) / Pattern D (WS, Cong, Po)

1:00 p.m. Round 3 Pattern B (Pro, HI, Per, Duo, STE, Imp, SPAR)

2:30 p.m. Round 2 Pattern A (PF, LD) / Pattern D (WS, Cong, Pol)

4:00 p.m.  Elim 1 Pattern B (Pro, HI, Per, Duo, STE, Imp, SPAR) 

6:00 p.m. Round 3 Pattern A (PF, LD) / Pattern D (WS, Cong, Pol)

7:30 p.m. Round 4 Pattern A (PF, LD)

 

Sunday: May 21, 2023

8:00 a.m. Round 1 Pattern C (DI, Dec, Poe, Sty, Info, POI, Ext)

9:30 a.m. Round 2 Pattern C (DI, Dec, Poe, Sty, Info, POI, Ext)

11:00 a.m. Round 3 Pattern C (DI, Dec, Poe, Sty, Info, POI, Ext) 

12:00 p.m. Round 5 Pattern A (PF, LD)

1:30 p.m. Elim 1 Pattern C (DI, Dec, Poe, Sty, Info, POI, Ext)

3:30 p.m. Semifinals Pattern A (PF, LD) 

5:00 p.m. Finals Pattern A (PF, LD)

8:30 p.m. Awards

 

*This schedule is subject to change based on the need for more rounds because of entry size.

Fees will be assessed on Friday May 12th, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. PST.  Any changes after this date will be subject to the following penalties. 

Students who drop from the tournament will be charged a $20 no show fee for each student if the coach notifies the tournament before the dropped round.  Students who drop without notifying the tournament will be charged a $30 no show fee. 

Judge adds will no longer be permitted after registration close; all judges must have names and contact information in the school’s roster. 

 

Please pay all fees to an account below by Wednesday, May 17th, 2023 at noon Pacific. Fees must be paid through the registration page by clicking on the ‘Tournament Fees’ tab on the left side of the page.  All fees will be frozen at the time of registration close.

 

$50 school fee

$20 per IE/Congress/Spar event-entry ($40 per Duo team)

$40 per one-person debate entry

$50 per two-person debate entry

$60 per World Schools entry

$40 judging fee per uncovered IE event-entry (One judge covers 5 IE event-entries)

$100 per uncovered debate event-entry (One judge covers 2 LD/PD/PFD event-entries)

$25 per change after Friday, May 13th, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) Pacific.

$50 No-show fee per competitor (event fees will not be refunded after deadline).

$200 dropped judge fee (per day) after May 18th, 2023 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific.

$20 No-show judge fee (first offense); $40 No-show judge fee (second offense); $50 No-show judge fee (each subsequent offense).*

Judges who do not write sufficient feedback to the competitors will be fined $20 per round.  Unsatisfactory ballots will be determined by the tabulation staff.

 

The tournament reserves the right to deny schools who do not supply at least half of their required judges.  We will do our best to ensure that no schools are denied because of this reason.

 

Coaches’ Meeting:

We will host a coaches’ meeting for all schools on Saturday, May 27th.  The purpose of the meeting is to ask for community guidance and direction.  We will also hold elections during this meeting.  In accordance with our by-laws, the meeting will be audio recorded and then distributed to members after the competition.  We encourage each school to send a representative to the meeting to give voice to your school’s concerns and thoughts. 

 

Contact:

Tournament Director - Robert Cannon: Robert@Cannonballofdeath.com

Individual Events Tabulation - Mike Kyle: mike@nova42.com

Debate Events Tabulation - Victor Rivas Umana: vrivasumana@tgsastaff.com

 




Timetable
  • Wed 02/15/23 12:00 pm
    Start registration (schools can begin registering competitors and judges)
  • Tue 05/16/23 12:01 pm
    Close registration (schools can not edit their registration)

Judge Interest Signups
  • interested in judging at this tournament as an unaffiliated judge?

    Signup Here


Documents