Jackie Newton Memorial Tournament: Brooklyn-Queens CFL #1

The Brooklyn-Queens CFL invites member schools to its first tournament of the season, the Jackie Newton Memorial Tournament. This tournament is hosted by The Mary Louis Academy, 176-21 Wexford Terrace, Jamaica, NY 11432. The tournament's namesake was a beloved member of our community, a volunteer judge and coach for over 30 years, who passed away last year. We honor Jackie's memory and legacy of service with the naming of this tournament; the BQCFL's first tournament of the year will henceforth be so named.

Events: We will offer ALL speech events (Declamation, Dramatic Performance, Duo Interpretation, JV Extemp, Varsity Extermp, JV Oral Interpretation (Poetry only), Varsity Oral Interpretation (Prose and Poetry), ProgramOral Interpretation and Original Oratory. There will be 3 preliminary rounds in speech, plus finals. We will offer 2 sessions of Student Congress plus SuperSession, and all 3 types of debate (Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglasand Policy Debate) on all 3 levels (novice, intermediate and varsity). All debate rounds will be single flighted. Pending registration numbers, we will collapse divisions as necessary, and communicate any changes to moderators as soon as possible.

Eligibility & Registration: Schools within Kings and Queens County may register for this tournament (all other regular season BQCFL tournaments are open to ALL schools). Register tournament here on tabroom.com. New entries and judges are due by Wednesday, 10/22 at 8pm. Drops and name changes may be conducted until 3:30pm on Friday, 10/24, Changes thereafter must be communicated to the Tournament Director via email (wkay@berkeleycarroll.org).You must provide 1 judge for every 5 speakers (or fraction thereof) in Speech and Congress, 1 judge for every 3 debate entries (or fraction thereof) in PF and LD, and 1 judge for every 2 debate entries in PD. Judges should be adults who are trained to judge the events assigned to them. PF and LD judges must be prepared to judge either (or both) LD and PF.

Fees: registration fees shall follow the League's sliding scale, which can be found here.

Topics: all debate events will use the national topics as delineated here (Novice LD will use the Varsity September/October Topic). Congress legislation can be found here and was email blasted to moderators on 10/06. Extemp topic areas are as follows: Local Politics, International Leaders, US Constitutional Issues, Global Conflicts & Catastrophes. As is tradition for our first tournament of the year, JVX questions can be found at the right by clicking the yellow box labeled as such.

Schedule: All participants should arrive at TMLA by 9:15AM. Coaches should check in with the tabroom (faculty lounge on the third floor) immediately upon arrival. The opening meeting for judges will begin at 9:15AM sharp. Debate and Congress pairings will be released at 9:15. Speech schematics will blast at 9:30. All first rounds will begin at 9:45AM. A full schedule will follow as the tournament draws closer. We anticipate the tournament concluding by 5pm.

Awards: Trophies will be awarded to the students who have advanced to elims. The number of awards will bedetermined by the number of registrants in each event. Team sweepstakes trophies will also be presented.

DEI, Harrassment/Discrimination, Bathrooms, and Accessibility Info: See the League's DEI Policy here and an accessibility 1-pager here. Reach out to WK with any questions.