Dear Colleagues,

The Vanderbilt University Debate Team, the Department of Communication Studies, and Dialogue Vanderbilt invite you and your teams to the 7^th Annual Vanderbilt British Parliamentary Debate Tournament to be held January 30^th-February 1^st, 2026. All schools are welcome.

The CA team for the tournament will be headed by Isabel Birney (Vermont) and Will Reid (Ball State).

Will Silberman has graciously agreed to run the tab room.

The tournament will have an Open division of BP debate. If numbers warrant, we will have separate elimination rounds and speaker awards for Novice and English-as-a-Second-Language speakers. Entries will be due by 5PM Central on January 23^rd, 2026. Entries will be done through forensicstournament.net. We will post to the BP in North America page on Facebook when we are ready to accept entries.  

We will provide breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Snacks will also be provided throughout the tournament. As part of the entry deadline, please provide any and all dietary requirements no later than January 23^rd.

We have secured a rate of $139 a night at the Holiday Inn Nashville-Vanderbilt (link for reservations on the invite). Rate may display differently initially but should be correct when you select rooms. This is a good rate for the Vanderbilt area and I encourage you to make reservations there. The deadline to make reservations in the room block is January 14, 2026. This hotel is within walking distance (10-15 minutes) of competition rooms, close to several good places to eat, and a quick Uber/Lyft ride away from most of Nashville.

We look forward to seeing you all January 30^th-February 1^st in Nashville.

Sincerely,

M. L. Sandoz                                                John P. Koch

Director of Forensics                                   Director of Debate 

(615) 322-8669 Office                                  (615) 343-6989 Office

(615) 500-6184 Cell                                     (330) 280-3310 Cell

(615) 343-7918 Fax                                     john.p.koch@vanderbilt.edu

ML.Sandoz@vanderbilt.edu