Tournament Announcements

Congratulations to the following competitors for earning a bid to the 2026 National Individual Events Tournament of Champions!

1^st—Alice Weintraub (Flintridge Prep) in Original Oratory

2^nd—Lucy Hobbs (Westridge) in Original Oratory

3^rd—Wendi Sun (Wendigo) in Original Oratory

1^st—Lily Kim (Nova 42) in Humorous Interpretation

1^st—Quinlan Iwasaka (Nova 42) in Extemporaneous Speaking

2^nd—Tarrence Sun (Flintridge Prep) in Extemporaneous Speaking

3^rd—Jackie Zhao (Flintridge Prep) in Extemporaneous Speaking

1^st—Quinlan Iwasaka (Nova 42) in Impromptu

Congratulations to the following competitors for earning a bid to the 2026 UK Tournament of Champions!

1^st—Quinlan Iwasaka (Nova 42) in Extemporaneous Speaking

1^st—Alice Weintraub (Flintridge Prep) in Original Oratory

1^st—Lily Kim (Nova 42) in Humorous Interpretation

Also congratulations to the Top Middle School and Novice speakers from events that collapsed (these don’t show up on the results page so I am posting them here):

Adithya Vishwanath (Wilcox) Top Novice in Open Extemporaneous

Otis Barrow (Nova 42) Top Middle School in Open Humorous Interpretation

Liliana Hoffstadt (Perfect Score) Top Middle School in Open Informative

Daniel Kim (Perfect Score) Top Novice in Open Oratorical Interpretation

Soam Deshpande (Perfect Score) Top Middle School in Open Oratorical Interp

Vithun Sekar Ramasubramonlyan (Pragnya Young Orators) Top Novice in Open Original Oratory/Persuasive

Video recording of awards ceremony:

https://youtu.be/Mes8O1-7Lps

Awards should begin at 8:30pm at the main room of the zoom link:

https://fullerton.zoom.us/j/81641200618

Judges!!

We need everyone to stay through the final 7:30pm round as we will need ALL judges available.

For those competitors in extemp:

Extemp prep room link for 7:30am!

Extemp prep starts at 7:30am so head over there ASAP. Do not go straight to your competition room for extemp--go to the extemp prep room to get your questions for prep.

The extemp prep room is in the following zoom breakout room:https://fullerton.zoom.us/j/81641200618

--Go to breakout room “Extemp Prep”. Question choices will be posted in the chat.

--Make sure you go to your competition room a few minutes before your speech time. Your competition room is the little camera icon.

--You are allowed one notecard for notes during your speech presentation.

--There aren’t time signals but you can time yourself in the round.

--Students do need to make themselves known to the extemp proctor before leaving the room, but they do not need to stay in that room after receiving their assigned speaker questions.

If you don’t see the breakout room options, go to “more” at the bottom of your zoom and click on “breakout rooms” and scroll down to the extemp prep room.

If you are double entered in another speech event in pattern A, go to extemp prep FIRST and do your extemp speech first, then go to your other event.

Here is the link to the Zoom help rooms for: Judges' help room, debate tab, IE tab, Congress instructions room, Extemp prep.
The main room is the judges' help room, the rest are labeled as breakout rooms.
Zoom help rooms will open at 7:30am both days.
https://fullerton.zoom.us/j/81641200618

Judging instructions for all events and debate times and topics are posted to the main site page.

Here is a link to the schedule for all US time zones (see the tabs at the bottom for different events):

This is not a live doc, it is just for the purposes of different time zones. The pairing on the ballot is always the accurate start time so keep checking your Tabroom account:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WiX800eNLz5gOynQQYKdEWTGkN4MydTH8F3nrA3yP5E/edit?gid=740305725#gid=740305725

F26

THE FOLLOWING IE DIVISIONS HAVE BEEN COLLAPSED for Sunday:

· Novice Extemporaneous (collapsed into open)

· Middle School Informative (collapsed into open)

· Middle School and Novice Oratorical Interp (collapsed into open)

· Novice Original Oratory/Persuasive (collapsed into open)

· Middle School Humorous Interpretation (collapsed into open)

When collapsed, the top Middle School/Novice competitor will be recognized at awards.

The SPAR schedule has been adjusted to coincide with Pattern A of Individual Events Sunday, so the start times are a bit different and round one starts earlier. Please note the new start times below:

SPAR Schedule--All times are PST

Sunday October 18, 2026

8:00 AM Round 1

11:00 AM Round 2

12:30 PM BREAK/LUNCH FOR SPAR PARTICIPANTS

2:30 PM Round 3

6:00 PM Final Round

The Adjusted SpAr (Spontaneous Argumentation)

Description for this weekend's tournament

SpAr (Spontaneous Argumentation) is a limited-preparation event in which two competitors debate a resolution or topic assigned during the round. Competitors will debate a different resolution in each round, with an emphasis on quick thinking, effective argumentation, refutation, and persuasive delivery.

Topic Selection and Preparation: Before each debate, competitors will be assigned to the Affirmative (Pro) or Negative (Con) side. Three resolutions will be presented. The Affirmative will strike one resolution, followed by the Negative striking one of the remaining two resolutions. The competitors will debate the final resolution.

Both competitors will receive two minutes of preparation time before the debate begins. No additional preparation time will be permitted during the debate.

Research and Materials: Competitors may not access the Internet during preparation or during the debate. Competitors may use blank paper or notecards to prepare arguments and take notes, but may not consult pre-written notes, prepared research, or other reference materials.

Debate Format and Speaking Times:

SegmentTime

Crossfire: Following the constructive speeches, competitors will participate in a four-minute open crossfire. During this period, both debaters may ask and answer questions, challenge arguments, clarify positions, and engage directly with one another. Crossfire should emphasize respectful, substantive engagement with the opposing position.

Judging Criteria: SpAr is evaluated as an individual speech event, with competitors rank-ordered based on their overall debating performance. The Affirmative does not carry a special burden of proof, as neither side both opens and closes the debate.

Judges should evaluate competitors based on their understanding of the topic, organization, quality of arguments, use of supporting examples and reasoning, responsiveness to opposing arguments, effectiveness of rebuttal and clash, and overall delivery and persuasiveness. Judges should evaluate the debate as presented rather than relying on their personal opinions about the resolution.

Divisions and Scheduling: SpAr will be offered in the Open and Novice divisions for middle school and high school competitors. SpAr competition will take place on Sunday.