Updated 11/4/18: Postings for the WHOLE day are up!

https://forensicstournament.net/p/18/postings

We have made an effort to put two and even three judges in events with high entries. Enjoy not having to crowd around to take a picture of the postings. We, do, however, reserve the right to change any rooms or judges as needed. Please notify us right away if a room is not open. REMEMBER: NO FOOD IN ROOMS. DO NOT ENTER A ROOM WITHOUT A JUDGE BEING PRESENT.

Updated 11/3/18: The big day is almost here! $3,700 in trophies have been purchased and picked up. The picture above should show them. We have also posted a campus map. There will be two food trucks of outstanding quality, one of them there from 7:30AM to sell breakfast items. One truck was a huge hit at Orator's Cup in June, selling out completely due to its yummy menu of American and Mexican food. That lady has also gotten us a second food truck to reduce lines, I believe specializing in greek food. We tried to get a Korean food truck instead, but they wanted $800 to show up, so I will take your leads on finding one that is more school friendly. Event rules will go up for the judges to refer to shortly as an attached file. Please emphasize to everyone that no food is allowed in the rooms and that NO ONE should be in the room without a judge present. Judge training, ballot pick up and submission and tab room will be in the auditorium, as well as awards. Competitors should NOT be in the auditorium and will be asked to leave unless powerful exceptions require them to be there momentarily. Please tell parents to not congregate in the auditorium unless they are judging, let alone allow their children to play there or take the food purchased for judges.

Updated 10/27/18: Thanks to everyone for your full-throated support of this opportunity to sustain urban forensics in the San Fernando Valley. I should at this moment of mentioning thanks give a big shout-out to Modern Brain, who is not only bringing 100 students from Orange County area on Nov. 4 but already underwriting the survival of forensics programs at both an urban elementary school and middle school. Our contest has closed to new entries. I have been so busy answering your questions and figuring out financial exchanges (so I can go pay for trophies and food for judges etc...), that I have not yet inputted my final entries and judges, but I soon will. Spanish Acting will survive due to late adds, BUT it will likely move to Pattern C to relieve the entries overflow in Pattern B. We have exceeded our room capacity for Pattern B, but we will move heaven and earth to not have to ask you to reduce your B entries. I will report back to you if we are not able to accommodate all SpAr and Impromptu.

Updated 10/18/18: Now accepting entries! You have a week to get all your entries and judges in and to pay via Zelle as described below. Humorous Interpretation was dropped to allow a maximum of 5 events (3 divisions each) within each pattern. Interpretation with Binder is essentially a 7 minute free for all between entries in Prose, Poetry and POI, to accommodate the outcry for those events. We expect to bring back HI and have separate events for POI and Prose at Orator's Cup on June 2nd.

Updated 10/19/18: The Congress topics will be:

Round 1: Public school classes should be graded on a pass/no pass basis until high school

Round 2: All cities must adopt rent control protections

Round 3: Jailed felons who are citizens must be allowed to vote

Updated 10/17/18: The drop date and last date to add will be October 25th, 11:59PM. Our schedule is now listed below and our pattern schedule (intended to allow even students with limited ability to stay all day to compete in a third of the events within  a four hour span and leave if need be) also. We will allow double entry within a pattern but not triple entry. Nevertheless, it will be possible for a student to sextuple enter if he/she double enters in all three patterns. Payment is required in by October 25th via Zelle to Ricardo Velasquez at rv4@me.com. Arrange with the tournament early if that poses a problem.

Updated 10/6/18: Welcome to the fifth annual Principios 3rd-12th Grade Invitational! Principios in Spanish means both beginnings and moral principles. Since lack of money, transportation and coaching are often cited as the principle factors which prevent urban students from competing in speech & debate, this tournament provides a free, neighborhood fundraiser for urban students of impacted zones of the San Fernando Valley. In addition, we allow parents and adults to film in rounds to cut against the disadvantage of urban students/schools not having access to videos of each event. Please do not register students who are not ok with being filmed or photographed. We reserve exclusive right to upload images and videos, but we will not identify students without their written permission. Please check back to this page, as we will be adding to it continuously. For your convenience and clarity, we will be adding dates and posting times to paragraphs which have been updated.

Patterns: we will use three patterns of events with Congress & various prepared, original speech events in Pattern A, SpAr & Impromptu in Pattern B and various acting events in Pattern C. We will also hold all three rounds of Pattern A in a row, followed by all rounds of Pattern B, and topped off by all rounds of Pattern C, so that students can stay for only a third of the schedule if need be. We will hold no Final Rounds to facilitate this. Students will be allowed to double enter in each of the three patterns.

Updated 10/23/18   Divisions: When possible, we will offer three different divisions of each event, such as Elementary (3rd-5th Grade), Middle (6th-8th Grade) and High (9th-12th Grade). Students cannot move down in division but they are allowed to move up to compete in an older division. Students in a two person event who come from two different divisions should enter in the Division corresponding to the older of the pair (e.g. an elementary girl and a middle school boy could do a duo together but must enter in middle school division Duo). When there are not at least three entries in a division category, the tournament reserves the right to eliminate the category and refund any entry fees paid or to fold the division "upward" into the next highest division of the category, but allowing the one or two in the lower category to opt out and receive a refund.

10/22/18  Events (subject to revision and changing of pattern): Pattern A: Congress. Original Oratory, Expository (no Visual Aids), Original Comic Commentary, Original Prose for 1 or 2 speakers. Pattern B: SpAr, Impromptu, Interpretacion en Español (original or published, with or without binder),  Pattern C: Interpretation (with binder, including Prose, Poetry and POI scripts), Duo Interp, Dramatic Interp, Storytelling and Declamation.  

Judging: One judge is required to cover every four categories/events registered. High school students may only be used to judge middle and elementary students at the discretion of the tournament. Please mark judges if they are high schoolers and explain why they are trusted to be effective judges. $15 penalty for every uncovered category/event.

Updated 10/23/18:  Fees are $15 for every entry, including Duo and Original Prose for 1 or 2 Speakers. No team or school fees, but not having a judge cover for your entries effectively doubles your entry price from $15 per category/event to $30 each.

Descriptions for each event and judging instructions will be posted soon, as well as pictures and helpful links and videos.

[Updated 10/17/18]; Schedule - Patterns (no triple entry within Patterns)