2023 Summer Royale

Dear Forensics Community,

 Phew! What a season! As our attention turns to summer, National Online Forensics is proud to offer you and your program a summer forensics experience - the 2023 Summer Royale.  This will be a synchronous video conference tournament held Saturday, August 26, 2023. It’s a great opportunity to dust off those public speaking and debating skills to get ready for a great 2023-2024 season! 

 The tournament will offer competition at all levels, from kindergarten to college,  in a wide range of events. We have the very best tournament staff assembled to ensure a smooth day of fun competition.  Our schedule will include three prelims and a final (using Bronze/Silver/Gold award system) with each competition level taking only half the day (see schedule below). 

 Key Points:

• Registration is due by Monday, August 21, 2023 at 6pm Pacific time on ForensicsTournament.net
• Super low entry fees ($5-$10/event) are payable by credit card.
• Students will need to compete with the authorization and support of their school or program’s coaching staff.  No independent student entries will be accepted. 
• Gold Medalists will receive online gift cards while silver and bronze will receive recognition during the awards ceremony.
• Each school is required to provide one judge for every 5 IE entries per pattern/2 debate teams. At the discretion of the Tournament Director, uncovered entries may be allowed but penalty fees will apply.
• NOTE: Students may both compete and judge divisions (if eligible) during the tournament. For example, college students who compete in the afternoon may judge high school and elementary  rounds in the morning. Contact us if you are interested in being hired as a judge.
• The tournament will use synchronous video conferencing on the 8x8 platform. Please see the Best Practices section on the website for tips on how to effectively prepare for competing online.
• There will be a single division for all events offered.

 We hope you and your team can join us on August 26 for a day of summer forensics fun.  If you have any questions please feel free to email us at info@nationalonlineforensics.org 

Sincerely,

Robert Cannon and Danny Cantrell

National Online Forensics

2023 Tentative Schedule - Saturday August 26*

• Students may triple enter in IE events

• Students may single enter in Debate events

Individual Events

• Three prelims will be held; one final round will be held.

• Students may enter a maximum of three IE events

• 1 Judge is required for every 5 entries per pattern

• Prelim Ranking: Ranks/Decimal/Drop High Rank  

• Elim Ranking: Total Rank/Decimal in Elim/Ranks in Elim

• Speaker Points will not be used.

• Students will be recognized with Gold, Silver, and Bronze (see NOF Bylaws for a breakdown of awards depending on the size of the event *** updated for 2023-2024)

• Gold Medalists in each individual event will be recognized as the Summer Champion and awarded a $5 only amazon gift card. 

• See the NOF Bylaws for more information about NOF individual events.

Debate

• Standard pairing will be used with 2 random rounds followed by 1 HL rounds. In Elims, brackets will be broken to facilitate debating. 

• One  final round will be held Phi Rho Pi Style.  Teams winning the elimination round will be awarded a gold award; teams losing the elimination round will be awarded a silver award.  

• Students may only enter one format of debate.

• 1 Judge is required for every 2 debate entries.

• Speaker Point Scale will be 100-70. 

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

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

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

• Gold medalists in debate will be recognized as the Summer Champions and awarded a $5 amazon gift card.

• See the NOF Bylaws for more information about NOF debate events.

Sweepstakes

• No sweepstakes will be awarded for the Summer Royale.

Fees

• School Fee: $25

• Single person Event Entries: $5/entry

• Two person (Duo, team debate) Entries: $10/entry

• Changes after the entry deadline: $20 per change (subject to tournament director approval) 

• Judges: First Missed Ballot - $20 / Subsequent Missed Ballots - $50

• Judge drops within 24 hours of the tournament will be charged a $100 judge no-show fee.  

• Uncovered IE Slot (with Tournament Director Approval): $30/slot

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

• 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.

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. 

To ensure timely pickup of ballots, all judges should wait in the Judge Room (https://8x8.vc/NOFJudgeRoom) until dismissed or they have picked up a ballot. This will ensure judges are not missing ballots pushed to them during the tournament.