We are delighted to invite you to attend the thirty-ninth annual Harvard National Invitational Forensics Tournament, which will be held in Cambridge on Presidents' Day Weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, & Monday, February 15-18, 2013.

All entries into the tournament will be managed here at Joy of Tournaments. 

Facilities. We are very excited to announce that the renovations at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School have been completed and we will have access to this campus for this year’s tournament.  The decentralization experiment over the past five years did yield many advantages – most importantly allowing us to offer JV divisions of Policy and Public Forum debate.  We will retain the positive elements of decentralization.  The Policy Debate tournament will be held in the quad where it was last year.  The Student Organization Center at Hilles was renovated over the summer and now provides a much more comfortable venue.  The Congress tournament will hold preliminary sessions at the Porter Square campus of Lesley University and move to the Yard for subsequent sessions.  The Speech tournament will be run out of the Science Center as it has for the last several years.  Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas will be centered in CRLS. 

E-registration! We strongly encourage all schools to participate.  This process saves considerable time and headaches upon your arrival in Cambridge. To participate schools must submit an accurate and complete entry and fully pay their fees in advance. Registration materials will be distributed via email. If you elect not to do e-registration you must register in person. You must come to the Harvard Campus -- at Hilles on Friday night. Schools who do not complete e-registration and do not appear for registration on Friday night will be excluded from competition.

Congressional Debate Tournament Announcements. For the first time in the history of the Harvard National Congress, we will break to quarterfinals.  This will require an earlier start time and more compact schedule, but the educational and competitive benefits are well worth the trouble.  The HNC will continue to use NFL rules and procedures for determining who wins and advances.  Students in each chamber will vote to select the winner of a Student Leadership Award to recognize the most effective member in their chamber.  

Computers in the Extemp Prep Room! The NFL has changed its rules to allow computers and we will do so as well. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee that there will be sufficient electrical outlets in the prep room, and there is no access to the University Internet system in the prep room.

There will be two divisions, varsity and junior varsity, of two-person, switch-sides, cross-examination debate, on the national topic. We encourage coaches to enter students in the division that best approximates their skill and experience level, and we leave that judgment up to you. Time limits will be 8-3-5, with eight minutes preparation time per team. In order to maximize opportunities to participate, we must require that all teams have two members: no "mavericks." Both members of the team must attend the same school.

Vital Stats: Prelims-- Varsity: 7, Junior Varsity: 6. Elims--Double Octafinals, both divisions. Entry Limit: Schools limited to 4 teams across both divisions; this will hopefully be raised as we secure more rooms. The two divisions will have to be balanced in size; if this does not occur “naturally,” we may have to negotiate and will appreciate your flexibility.

There will be two divisions of public forum debate, varsity and junior varsity, on the February NFL topic, and using NFL time format and rules. We encourage coaches to enter students in the division that best approximates their skill and experience level, and we leave that judgment up to you. Both members of the team must attend the same school.

VITAL STATS: Prelims: 6 (Varsity and Junior Varsity) Elims: Triple Octafinals for Varsity, Double Octafinals for JV. No Entry Limits.

The tournament will feature competition in five events:

• extemporaneous speaking (no foreign/domestic split),
• original oratory,
• dramatic interpretation,
• humorous interpretation,
• duo interpretation.

The schedule should allow responsible students to enter two of these events, and it is not unheard of to enter three. However, one person may not compete on two different duo-interpretation teams. NFL rules will govern all competitions. It is our understanding that these rules forbid scripts in interpretation events and oratory or interpretation pieces which were performed last year in NFL events.  We will allow computers in the extemp prep room.  We make no guarantees about access to electrical outlets in the room, and no access to the Harvard Internet services will be provided. 

VITAL STATS: Prelims: 4. Elims: Octafinals (top 56 contestants), Double-Octafinals (top 98 contestants) for events with more than 300 entries (last year DI and Oratory broke to doubles).

There will be two divisions, varsity and junior-varsity. Both will use the January-February NFL topic.  We will utilize a mutual preference judging system. 

VITAL STATS: Prelims: 6. Elims: Triple-octas in both divisions (top 64). No Entry Limit.

National Forensic League rules and procedures determine advancement and placing based upon cumulative ranking by judges. Peer-elected Student Leadership Awards will recognize an outstanding member in each chamber. The deadline for entry and legislation submission is Friday, January 25 (early, in order to process and distribute legislation). Fees are set at this time -- no refunds for drops after this date. Legislation must be submitted online, using the form at www.congressionaldebate.org/harvardlegislation.  ONLY legislation using the word processing templates on this site will be accepted. Chamber assignments and legislation will be announced Friday, February 1, and will be available on the "E-Registration" page (link above). Questions should be directed to www.congressionaldebate.org/harvardcontact.

VITAL STATS: Prelims: 3 three-hour sessions. Quarterfinals (TOC bid level; top 154 contestants); semifinals (top 56); finals (top 21). Entry limit: Schools limited to 15 entries (schools may enter up to 15 additional 9th graders separately by creating a “junior” school entry. This eliminates an unfair advantage for schools whose 9th graders are at a separate campus. Two school registration fees must be paid, and entries may not be combined to determine judge needs.

Our e-registration system makes it possible for schools that have provided accurate entry information and paid their fees in advance to receive their registration materials by email. We strongly encourage all schools to take advantage of e-registration.

For those schools that must pay their fees in person and/or make emergency corrections to their entries or judges, we will conduct a live registration at the Student Organization Center @ Hilles, 59 Shepard Street, Cambridge, 02138, from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm.(Please note that Hilles is not on the main Harvard campus near Harvard square, but it is in the Radcliffe Quadrangle.) If you have not tried e-registration before, this is a really good year to give it a try as the in-person registration will not be nearly as convenient.

STUDENTS FROM SCHOOLS WHICH DO NOT COMPLETE REGISTRATION WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO COMPETE. Each school must register either through e-registration or in person. It is important that the persons registering be prepared to confirm all details of their school’s entry, judging, local contacts, etc., and be prepared to pay the tournament fees. We reserve the right to exclude contestants from competition if their school fails to register. This means that if you do not participate in e-registration, you must come to Hilles for registration by 10:00 pm or we will drop your contestants from the tournament.  If your travel to Cambridge is unavoidably delayed, please call Dallas Perkins at 617-306-4514.

It is best to pay your fees by mail. You may obtain an invoice by downloading it from the web site.  Checks should be made payable to "Harvard Debate."  They should be sent to: Harvard Debate, 490 Adams Mail Facility, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Fees are as follows:

• Varsity Policy Debate Teams – $180.00
• Junior Varsity Policy Debate Teams – $140.00
• Public Forum Debate Teams -- $140.00
• Lincoln-Douglas Entries – $130.00
• Individual Speech Events – $60.00
• Duo Interpretation Teams – $75.00
• Congressional Debate – $80.00
• School [Accoung Management] fee -- $50.00

Each two policy debate teams, each three LD contestants, each three public forum teams, each five speech and each ten congress entries must be accompanied by a qualified judge. No person can cover entries from different tournaments. All judges must be available for all preliminary rounds, the first elimination round, and for one round beyond elimination of the last contestant from the school that the judge represents in the tournament. In Congress, judges must be available for the entire tournament, including through the final round. All judges must be qualified, which at a minimum means a high school diploma. All schools providing judges for the three debate tournaments should be flexible as to which division judges are assigned. Schools entering students in junior varsity divisions should expect that some of their judges will be needed to cover junior varsity rounds. First year judges will generally be assigned to the junior varsity division. 

Hired judging will be available for schools unable to cover the above requirements. The costs are as follows:

• Policy Debate Teams – $170.00 per team not covered
• Public Forum Debate Teams -- $100.00 per team not covered
• Lincoln Douglas – $80.00 per entrant not covered
• Speech – $30.00 per entry not covered
• Congressional Debate --$150.00 per judge not brought (1 judge needed for every 10 entries)