GFCA Member Schools may enter up to four debate entries and six speech entries in each event at the Varsity State Championships, subject to the school providing judges to cover their entries. Entries must have attended at least two tournaments hosted by schools in Georgia. For a full breakdown of eligibility rules for this tournament, you can read the Constitution & By Laws.

For more questions regarding qualifying to the State Tournament, email the Director of Operations.

October 15: Tournament Location Announced

December 1: Lincoln Douglas Topic Announced by the National Speech & Debate Association

December 15: Registration opens on Tabroom.com.

January 1: Public Forum Topic Announced by the National Speech & Debate Association.

January 24: The tournament hotel rates expire on this date.

January 31: Registration closes; All registration materials are due. This includes entry details, dietary restrictions, and judges you will bring to the tournament with completed and updated judge paradigms. 

February 5: Mutual Preference Judging Sheets open in all debate events.

February 7: School Eligibility Forms are due.

December 1: Nominations for Annual Awards (Coach, Hall of Fame and Community) Open to Membership

December 13: Hall of Fame Nominations Due

January 11: Coach of the Year Award Nominations Due

January 13: Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

January 14: Coach of the Year Voting Opens

January 18: Community Award Nominations Due

January 21: Coach of the Year Voting Closes.

February 3: Community Award Recipients Announced

JUDGE QUALIFICATIONS

For the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, all judges must be adults and no longer enrolled in high school and meet criteria as established below.

In order to be eligible to judge Policy Debate at the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, individuals must have judged at least four (4) rounds at the middle school and/or high school level in Policy Debate since June of the year before the state tournament and at least (8) rounds at the middle school and/or high school level in Policy Debate in the current and/or preceding school year.

In order to be eligible to judge Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, individuals must have judged at least (8) rounds at the middle school and/or high school level in that debate event in the current and/or preceding school year.

In order to be eligible to judge Public Forum Debate at the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, individuals must have judged at least (8) rounds at the middle school and/or high school level in that debate event in the current and/or preceding school year.

In order to be eligible to judge Individual Events at the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, individuals must have completed requisite NSDA Judge Accreditation modules as determined by the Executive Committee by the start of the State Championship.

In order to be eligible to judge Student Congress at the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, individuals must have completed requisite NSDA Judge Accreditation modules as determined by the Executive Committee by the start of the State Championship.

JUDGE ENTOURAGE RULE

At the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, any adult attending the tournament that contributes to the competitive debate effort in Policy, Public Forum, or Lincoln Douglas for a school must be entered into a judge pool for a minimum of two preliminary and/or elimination rounds; for Speech, anyone attending the tournament that contributes to the competitive effort for a school must be entered in the judge pool for a minimum of one preliminary round or elimination round. This includes any volunteers contributing debate or speech work. If the judge’s rounds are included in their team's obligation owed, the judge will be obligated for elimination rounds. This rule does not apply to coaches contributing to the running of the tournament as determined by the Director of Operations. Parents (who are not also coaches) do not need to be in the pool. Any school found violating this rule will lose their judge bond and mutual judge preferences will be removed for all competitors.

JUDGE OBLIGATION

Because this is a State Championship and we want to guarantee the best possible, see the bylaw below (3.2.5.2)

At the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, judges fulfilling a school’s obligation are obligatedtwo full roundspast that school’s exit from the tournament in that judging pool.The round obligations are for preliminary rounds only.All judges are obligated for the first two elimination rounds unless covered by additional judges in missing timeslots. If judges need to be timeblocked, other judges should be entered to fulfill that timeblock obligation. For example, if a school owes 6 rounds of policy debate for a 5 round preliminary tournament, the school would need to supply two judges to fulfill those preliminary round obligations and both judges would be obligated to judge at least the first two elimination rounds. If a judge cannot cover the elimination round obligation, an additional judge should be supplied to cover that obligation.

Payment is due by the start of the tournament. There are two ways to pay:

1) You can pay electronically via this website through our store.

2) You can mail a check (or deliver at registration):

Richard Bracknell
GFCA Director of Finance
201 Trojan Drive
Carrollton, GA 30117

Fees

Extemporaneous Speaking & Impromptu Speaking — $45 per entry

Interpretation & Platform Events - $35 per entry

Public Forum - $60 per entry

Lincoln Douglas - $45 per entry

Policy Debate - $120 per entry

Due to the cost of topics for Extemporaneous Speaking and Impromptu Speaking, the entry fee is slightly more per entry.

Individual Attendance Fee - $18 per person

All individuals (competitors, judges, coaches and anyone attending) will be charged this nominal fee to cover meals at the 2025 State Championships.

Hired Judging Fees

Lincoln Douglas & Public Forum — $80 per round

Policy — $100 per round

Speech — $150 whole judge

Judge Bond — $100
The judge bond ensures that schools fulfill their judging obligation. If a judge does not show up for a round, the school forfeits their judge bond. The judge bond, as long as it is not used, only needs to be paid for one of the GFCA tournaments. As long as the judge bond is not used, the judge bond will be applied to dues for the 2025-2026 season. If the school prefers that the judge bond not be used for next year's dues, they can request the judge bond to be refunded.

Policy Debate

Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents, and/or trademarks.

Public Forum Debate

The GFCA Varsity State Championships will use the NSDA February 2025 topic.

Resolved: The United States should accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Lincoln Douglas Debate

The GFCA Varsity State Championships will use the NSDA January/February 2025 topic.

Resolved: The United States ought to become party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and/or the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Student Congress

Legislation will be published January 21, 2025. To submit legislation for the State Tournament Docket, please email Jeffrey Miller (jmill126@gmail.com)

Extemporaneous Speaking Topic Areas

Round 1 — United States Politics

Round 2 — International Economics

Round 3 — Education and Healthcare

Round 4 — The Future of the World

Finals— Domestic & International Infrastructure

Impromptu Speaking Prompt Areas

Round 1 — Wisdom and Wit: Reflections on Life, Truth, and Meaning

Round 2 — The Cycles of Life: Proverbs of Change, Growth, and Truth

Round 3 — The Art of Living: Passion, Perseverance, and Perspective

Semifinals— The Language of Everyday Wisdom: Metaphors That Shape How We Think

Finals — Georgia Voices, Timeless Perspectives

Extemp and Impromptu Topics are being authored by Andrew Moffitt. Andrew is a former high school coach and collegiate Director of Forensics.He has coached numerous students to multiple quarter-final appearances extemp at High School Nationals as well as elimination rounds at the National Tournament of Champions, Catholic National Tournament, and across many State Championships. He currently authors the Tournament of Champions extemp questions and runs the TOC prep room along with sitting on the question committees for the NSDA and college level AFA-NST.