WELCOME PACKET

You and your students are cordially invited to attend the 45th Newman Invitational, which will be held in person on December 8-10, 2023. We provide a unique and diverse competitive experience. We are excited to welcome you to our campus in New Orleans, LA. Join us this year for a wonderful celebration of 45 years of forensics excellence.

I. Registration Overview

A. All Entries are waitlisted. We will move entries off the waitlist and into the tournament based on the following factors:
1. Has your school attended the Newman Invitational in the past?
2. Is your school in the geographic region traditionally represented at the tournament (Southeastern US and Southwestern US).

Schools that do not meet either of those characteristics may still be admitted, but priority will be given to those who meet at least one of the two listed factors.Schools who fit in either of these two categories must request entries (with names or with TBAs) by October 1st in order to be given priority.

B. All schools must complete the School Verification Form (by December 1). See details by clicking on the yellow button for School Verification Form on the right.

II. Events Overview

We are pleased to announce that we are a qualifying tournament for UK's TOC in all twelve events they host. Students advancing to the designated place will earn one bid to the 2024 National Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Kentucky.

We plan to offer 6 preliminary rounds of debate in novice and varsity divisions of Policy, LD, and PF. We plan to offer at least 4 preliminary rounds of World Schools Debate, 2 preliminary sessions in Congress, and 4 preliminary rounds in all Speech events; however, students will not be able to cross-enter debate and speech events. Speech competitors can enter up to 3 events within the speech category, but no triple entry within a pattern.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PF: There will be no "coin flip" in preliminary rounds.The tabulation software determines sides, guaranteeing best possible balance between "pro" and "con" sides in the prelims. The pro side always speaks first. In the elims, the teams flip for sides (unless they met previously in the prelims), but the pro side still always speaks first.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT WSD: We will permit hybrid teams (where team members do not attend the same school). However, all team members must attend schools in the same geographic region, defined by NSDA Districts. Hybrid teams that do not meet the criteria of being geographically connected to a single NSDA District should contact the Tournament Director to seek permission to attend. Details are specified on the Entry Rules page.

We will tabulate all events on tabroom.com. All postings will be available online and emails/browser notifications will be blasted. All contestants and judges must have a linked tabroom account. All judges must have devices to complete online ballots and watch/listen to rounds.

Summary of events and TOC qualification status

*semis bid for the Silver division and finals bid for the Gold division

If you have any questions about the tournament, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thank you,

Christopher Vincent
Tournament Director

Greg Malis and Alma Nicholson
Associate Tournament Directors