OSDU News

2009 York University High School Tournament

10/02/2009 Dear Debaters and Coaches,

On behalf of this year’s organizing committee, it is with great excitement that I invite your institution to the York High School Invitational 2009-2010! Hosted annually by the York Debating Society (YDS), the tournament draws the best and brightest young minds from all across the region to debate some of today’s most controversial issues. The tournament, which will be held on December 4-5, 2009, promises to be a fulfilling educational experience for all participants regardless of their grade level. With an unprecedented number of schools set to compete this year, the competition will certainly be stimulating! This year’s tournament will bring in some new changes intended to make the event run as smoothly as possible so be sure to take note of all the details.

THE TOURNAMENT
The tournament will consist of five (5) preliminary rounds of debate in the Canadian Parliamentary (CP) format. The resolutions for the first 2 preliminary rounds will be prepared. The resolutions for the final 3 preliminary rounds will be straight/squirrelable – a resolution will be announced 15 minutes prior to the round and the Government team may choose to debate the assigned resolution or a case that they have prepared on their own. A detailed style guide which outlines the mechanics of the CP format will be released shortly. The prepared resolutions will be released on Friday, November 6th, one month prior to the tournament. The top 4 teams after the five preliminary rounds will break to the semi-finals.
As always, the tournament will also feature an individual public speaking competition where participants will be challenged to think on their feet in hopes of entertaining the audience. There will be 3 preliminary rounds of public speaking with the top 3 speakers breaking to the public speaking final.

Junior Division
In order to make the tournament a fun and enjoyable experience for all participants, registration will also be opened up for junior level debaters (i.e. Grades 7-9). Depending on the turnout, we will be holding a Junior Final between the top two junior teams. We will also be awarding the top junior speakers.

Judging
This year’s judging pool will definitely be of the highest quality to ensure that you will get the most out of your tournament experience. This year’s Co-Chief Adjudicators will be Emmett Soldati, who broke as a judge at the semi-finals of the 2008 Guindon Cup, and Michael Soo, the current president of the YDS. Adjudication will emphasize constructive feedback throughout the rounds in order to maximize the teams’ learning as they progress through the tournament. Furthermore, a judges’ feedback form will be made available after each round to maintain a standard quality of judging. The judging pool will consist of experienced debaters from the YDS as well as from other universities within the region.
Experienced high school debate coaches are also welcome to judge at the tournament. To be eligible, coaches must have judged in at least one (1) high school tournament prior to the York High School Invitational. For coaches who wish to judge, please fill out the relevant information on the attached registration form.

REGISTRATION POLICY
The tournament registration fee will be $100 per team. We recognize that this fee is slightly higher than that of last year’s tournament but this fee will surely go to making the event a much more enjoyable experience for all the participants. It will cover 3 meals for debaters and coaches, participant kits, trophies and other administrative costs. To register, please send the registration deposit for all teams to:
Debating Society at York
94 York Boulevard, Room 338 Toronto, ON M3J 1P3

The registration deposit is equivalent to 50% of the registration fee for each team. Schools that are able to pay the registration fees for all their teams in full are encouraged to do so by the registration deadline. Schools that pay the deposit or the full registration fees by the Early Bird deadline will be charged a special discount rate of $80 per team.

Please fill out the attached registration form which asks for a list of the names of the debaters (and coaches if applicable) and dietary restrictions. Also indicate if you will be sending any junior teams. (Both members of a junior team must be in grades 7-9.) Send the form along with your deposit by the deadlines below in order to guarantee your spots.
Your institution’s main contact will receive an e-mail confirmation upon receipt of your registration form and deposit.

Deadlines Early Bird deadline: postmarked Friday, Oct 30th
Final registration deadline: postmarked Friday, November 6th *After this date, registrations will no longer be accepted unless spots are still available and registration is reopened by the organizing committee. See details on the institutional cap below.
The balance of your total registration fees will be due on Day 1 of the tournament (i.e. Dec 4th). We will be accepting payments by cheque or cash.

Cancellation
If you wish to cancel your registration, please inform us via e-mail by Friday, November 20th and we will refund the total amount that you have paid for each team that has been cancelled. Any cancellations made after this date will require you to forfeit your deposit and pay the balance of the fees for all the teams you have registered. Your school may change the composition of debaters within a team, with the overall number of teams remaining the same, provided an e-mail detailing the change is sent.

TEAM CAP
This year’s tournament has drawn an interest from more schools across the region than ever! In order to maximize the number of participating schools while maintaining an efficiently run tournament and provide the highest quality judging, we will be implementing an initial institutional cap of 3 teams (i.e. each school can register a maximum of 3 teams). This cap includes any junior teams your school will be sending.
In the event that spots are still available after the final registration deadline (i.e. November 6th), an announcement will be made indicating that we have reopened registration for schools that wish to send additional teams (maximum of 2). Only schools that have already sent in their deposits will be eligible. Spots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Schools that wish to send additional teams must then send in their additional registration information as soon as possible. We will send your school’s main contact an e-mail to confirm your additional spots.
The absolute deadline for registering additional teams will be Friday, November 20th.

http://www.osdu.on.ca/uploadednewsfiles/1254511737-2009HSInvitation.pdf
File Description: Full Invitation with Registration form