2024-2025 Elm Asynchronous Invitational

(all times Pacific)

Synchronous Elm Tournament homepage link

Schedule:

Events Offered:

• Competitors may enter as many events as they would like! 

• In the event of small entry sizes, we may need to collapse events within their event category (so interp events collapse to an “interp” event).

Individual Events

• Three prelims will be held; one final round will be held, unless the number of entries exceeds 30 per event, in which case, a second elimination round will be added.

• Competitors may enter a maximum of three IE events except competitors in Extemp who may only double-enter.

• 1 Judge is required for every 5 entries.

• Prelim Ranking: Ranks/Decimal/Drop High Rank  

• Elim Ranking: Total Rank/# of 1st in Event/Rank in Elim/Decimal in Elim/Judge Pref in Elim

• Speaker Points will not be used.

• Competitors will be recognized with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honors awards.

• See the NOF Bylaws for more information about NOF events and awards.

Debate

• The current NSDA topic will be used for LD, Public Forum, and Policy.

• All preliminary rounds will be randomly paired. In Elims, brackets will be broken to facilitate debating. 

• One  final round will be held, unless the number of entries exceeds 30 per event, in which case, a second elimination round will be added.

• Competitors may only enter one format of debate and no individual events.

• 1 Judge is required for every 2 debate entries.

• Speaker Point Scale will be 70-100. 

• Prelim Ranking: Wins/Total Points/HL Points/Z Score/Opp Wins. 

• Speakers Ranking: Total Points/HL Points/Ranks/Z Score.

• An award for the top speakers in debate events shall be given. The top 15% of competitors shall be recognized.

• A 5 minute forfeit rule will be put in place for all debate rounds.

• Competitors will be recognized with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honors awards.

• See the NOF Bylaws for more information about NOF events and awards.

Awards

• School sweepstakes: Top schools will be recognized at each division (college, high school, middle, and elementary school).

• Competitors winning Gold, Silver, or Bronze will receive physical awards that will be shipped to coaches following the tournament.

• Coaches will be asked to verify their shipping address at registration. Please contact the tournament director ASAP if you would like your awards shipped to a different address than on file.  Additional shipping costs may be assessed if an incorrect address is supplied.

Judging

Any schools seeking to buy out of their judging requirements must have approval by the Tournament Director. Please contact the tournament early to request uncovered entries.  

The tournament reserves the right to assign ballots to judges when they are scheduled:

Due to the complex nature of the schedule, judges may be asked to accept ballots in events they did not initially register.  For example, if a judge is signed up to accept debate ballots, but the tournament needs more Impromptu judges, then that judge would be expected to take the Impromptu ballot.  We will do our best to accommodate event requests, but may not be able to do so.

To ensure timely pickup of ballots, all judges should wait in the Judges Room until dismissed or they have picked up a ballot via email. This will ensure judges are not missing ballots pushed to them during the tournament.

Fees

• School Fee: $50

• Individual Event Entries: $25/entry

• DUO Event Entries: $45/entry

• Congress Entries: $30/entry

• One person Debate (LD, IPDA, NFA-LD) Entries: $50/entry

• Two person Debate (NOF Parli, PF) Entries: $60/entry

• Three+ person Debate (World Schools) Entries: $75/entry

• Judges: First Missed Ballot - $25 / Subsequent Missed Ballots - $50

• Uncovered IE/Congress Slot (with Tournament Director Approval): $35/slot

• Uncovered Debate Team (with Tournament Director Approval): $125/team

• Changes after entry deadline - $25 per change (subject to tournament director approval)

• Judge drops within 24 hours of the tournament will be charged a $150 judge no-show fee.  

• Judges who submit incomplete eBallots (with little to no substantive feedback) may be charged a judge no-show fee for failing to complete their judge assignment which includes both ranking the speakers along with giving sufficient comments.

• Delay of tournament fees may be assessed from $20-$100 based on the severity of the delay.

• Competitor no-shows (coaches did not notify the tournament prior to the missed round) - $35