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Brooklyn-Queens CFL Maurice Braithwaite Open Tournament

The Brooklyn-Queens CFL invites all schools to its fifth tournament of the season, hosted by St. Francis Prep, located at 6100 Francis Lewis Blvd, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365. This tournament is named for former Prep coach and BQCFL Officer Maurice Braithwaite, Please forward this invitation to any coach in the area who may be interested in bringing students, as this is our final open tournament of the regular season!

Events: We will offer ALL CFL speech events (Declamation, Dramatic Performance, Duo Interpretation, JV Extemp, Varsity Extemp, JV Oral Interpretation (Poetry only), Varsity Oral Interpretation (Prose and Poetry), and Original Oratory. There will be 3 preliminary rounds in speech, plus finals. We will offer 2 sessions of Student Congress plus SuperSession, as well as Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas 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: All schools are welcome to attend this tournament. All entries will be waitlisted, and the waitlist shall clear pending entries and room availability: if space is limited, priority will be given to paid members of the BQCFL, and remaining entries shall be allocated evenly amongst non-member schools. Register for the tournament here on tabroom.com. New entries and judges are due by Wednesday, 01/14 at 8pm. Drops and name changes may be conducted until 3:30pm on Friday, 01/15, 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 2 debate entries (or fraction thereof). 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 foundhere.

Topics: all debate events will use the February national topics as delineated by the NSDA (Novice LD will use the Varsity jan/Feb Topic). Congress legislation will be posted here by December 21st. Extemp Topic Areas shall be posted by January 23rd.

Schedule: All participants should arrive by 9:15AM. Coaches should check in with the tabroom (Room W105) immediately upon arrival. The opening meeting for judges will begin at 9:15AM sharp in the faculty lounge, W001D, across from the cafeteria. 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 be determined 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 Policyhere. The gender neutral bathroom can be found behind room N119 in the faculty lounge area. An accessibility 1-pager shall follow closer to the tournament. Reach out to WK with any questions.