The Nicholas F. Burnett "Hornet Cup" Invitational Speech & Debate Tournament
The Sacramento State Speech & Debate team
and
The Department of Communication Studies
invite you to participate in the 2025
Nicholas F. Burnett "Hornet Cup" Invitational
to be held on March 21-23, 2025.
and
The Department of Communication Studies
invite you to participate in the 2025
Nicholas F. Burnett "Hornet Cup" Invitational
to be held on March 21-23, 2025.
The Hornet Cup will feature:
- NFA-LD Debate
- IPDA Debate
- The "President's Cup" IPDA Round Robin
- All 11 NFA individual events
- The return of the limited-prep “Triathlon”
This tournament is named to honor Professor Emeritus Dr. Nicholas F. Burnett, who was the Director of Forensics at Sacramento State from 1987 to 1996. Dr. Burnett coached Sacramento State teams to consecutive quarter-finals appearances at CEDA Nationals in 1988 and 1989 in addition to leading the team as it won many regional and national debate awards. After his nearly 10 years coaching the Sac State team, Dr. Burnett served as chair of the Communication Studies Department for five years and finally retired as the Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Letters in 2012. Dr. Burnett was a major supporter of this great activity and has touched the lives of many college debaters through the years. He had an enthusiasm for nurturing novices while at the same time coaching varsity debaters as they sought national titles. As an administrator, he was a staunch supporter of the debate program, ensuring continued funding through the years of economic strain that hurt so many programs in the CSU. Sadly, Dr. Burnett passed away on December 1, 2021. To recognize him for his dedication and service to debaters across the nation, we host this tournament in his name.
Deadlines and Fees
The Hornet Cup will be in person on the Sacramento State Campus!
For registration, postings, and ballots we will be using is ForensicsTournament.net
Deadlines:
Registration is open!
The deadline for entry is 5 p.m., Wednesday, March 19th. (Pacific Time)
Fees & Judging:
School Fee - $35
Debate - $35
IPDA RR - $55
IE - $12/slot
Each school is expected to provide one judge for every two debaters (LD/IPDA) entered. And one judge for every 5 (or fraction thereof) individual events entries (per pattern).
The uncovered debater fee will be entry fee + $75.00.
The uncovered individual event fee will be entry fee + $35.00.
For registration, postings, and ballots we will be using is ForensicsTournament.net
Deadlines:
Registration is open!
The deadline for entry is 5 p.m., Wednesday, March 19th. (Pacific Time)
Fees & Judging:
School Fee - $35
Debate - $35
IPDA RR - $55
IE - $12/slot
Each school is expected to provide one judge for every two debaters (LD/IPDA) entered. And one judge for every 5 (or fraction thereof) individual events entries (per pattern).
The uncovered debater fee will be entry fee + $75.00.
The uncovered individual event fee will be entry fee + $35.00.
Awards
We will have awards for all participants in elimination rounds. We will also have speaker awards for all debate formats.
Sweepstakes
The Hornet Cup is a sweepstakes award recognizing the top team based on the results of the top 3 participants from each team.
Sacramento State debaters will compete but will NOT be eligible for sweepstakes awards.
Sweepstakes
The Hornet Cup is a sweepstakes award recognizing the top team based on the results of the top 3 participants from each team.
Sacramento State debaters will compete but will NOT be eligible for sweepstakes awards.
Hotel Information
We will not have a reserved block, but the following hotels are nearby and should offer a reasonable rate. You can find lots of hotels that are various rates and distances from campus, not all of them are hotels you may be comfortable bringing your team to (please check reviews!) The hotels listed below are all places we would be comfortable in.
Hotel options:
Hampton Inn & Suites Sacramento @ CSUS (closest to campus): (916)451-1135
Home2 Suites by Hilton Sacramento @CSUS (same location): (916)451-1459
Fairfield Inn Sacramento Cal Expo (about 2 miles from campus): (916)920-5300
TownePlace Suites Sacramento Cal Expo (about 2 miles from campus): (916)920-5400
Hampton Inn & Suites Sacramento @ CSUS (closest to campus): (916)451-1135
Home2 Suites by Hilton Sacramento @CSUS (same location): (916)451-1459
Fairfield Inn Sacramento Cal Expo (about 2 miles from campus): (916)920-5300
TownePlace Suites Sacramento Cal Expo (about 2 miles from campus): (916)920-5400
Travel Information
The Sacramento Airport is about a 20 minute drive from campus and the Hampton Inn. There are plenty of rental car companies in the airport. To get to campus or the hotel from the airport, take I-5 south, then merge onto highway 50 east towards South Lake Tahoe. Exit at Howe/Power Inn Road and follow the signs to campus.
Sac State’s address is 6000 J Street, 95819. However, you may also have success with your GPS/Navigation by entering specific building names. Please note that Sacramento has been doing a LOT of road construction, especially on Highway 50. This may impact your travel time.
Parking:
Parking on campus is enforced 24/7, however, we have secured a discount code for the Hornet Cup!
If you are paying online -
VPL - https://sacstate.t2hosted.com/per/index.aspx?key=e7f4d5b405fe4588ad1fb19c3815e4bf
Your virtual parking permit is now available. To activate your permit follow these steps below. Those whom have created an account already or are a member of the Hornet community (skip step 1). You must have a Saclink or Guest Parking Portal account to possess a parking permit:
*Note: The link will give the special permission to park. Any other option will revert the system to the standard process and make guest pay $8 for daily parking.
Simple steps are to create an account. Once completed, click special link received. Select Guest Login and proceed to finish.
If you are paying at the physical machine -
Your Sac State parking permit coupon code is EV14544 ($4)
A visitor can select up to 3 days and pay once if they are going to be here for all 3 days.
You must use your coupon code at any parking permit machine located in any student parking lot/structure; view the campus map for locations. At the permit machine:
Your parking permit is valid in student parking spaces.
Students and community visitors to Sacramento may use this convenient payment service to purchase daily parking from their smartphones — no need to visit a physical permit machine.
This service is only valid for student spaces. We recommend Parking Structure 2!
You may also download the free PaybyPhone app from your smartphone app store.
The PayByPhone parking permit is linked to the vehicle’s license plate number (or VIN) that you specify. When the vehicle’s license plate number is checked by the parking officer, it will show the PayByPhone permit purchase.
Sac State’s address is 6000 J Street, 95819. However, you may also have success with your GPS/Navigation by entering specific building names. Please note that Sacramento has been doing a LOT of road construction, especially on Highway 50. This may impact your travel time.
Parking:
Parking on campus is enforced 24/7, however, we have secured a discount code for the Hornet Cup!
If you are paying online -
VPL - https://sacstate.t2hosted.com/per/index.aspx?key=e7f4d5b405fe4588ad1fb19c3815e4bf
Your virtual parking permit is now available. To activate your permit follow these steps below. Those whom have created an account already or are a member of the Hornet community (skip step 1). You must have a Saclink or Guest Parking Portal account to possess a parking permit:
- If you don't have an account, click here to create a guest account. Once you finish, click the visitor parking link provided and click (Guest Login).
- (Have an account already but forgot your password, click here to reset your password.)
- After clicking the link and selecting “Guest Login,” proceed through by selecting the start date and then entering in your license plate #.
*Note: The link will give the special permission to park. Any other option will revert the system to the standard process and make guest pay $8 for daily parking.
Simple steps are to create an account. Once completed, click special link received. Select Guest Login and proceed to finish.
- If you have an existing account, click link and select Guest Login.
If you are paying at the physical machine -
Your Sac State parking permit coupon code is EV14544 ($4)
A visitor can select up to 3 days and pay once if they are going to be here for all 3 days.
You must use your coupon code at any parking permit machine located in any student parking lot/structure; view the campus map for locations. At the permit machine:
- Press any button to begin.
- Enter your license plate.
- Press "1" for a 2-hour permit. Press "2" for a daily permit.
- Press "1" to enter your coupon code.
- Finish your transaction.
Your parking permit is valid in student parking spaces.
Students and community visitors to Sacramento may use this convenient payment service to purchase daily parking from their smartphones — no need to visit a physical permit machine.
This service is only valid for student spaces. We recommend Parking Structure 2!
You may also download the free PaybyPhone app from your smartphone app store.
The PayByPhone parking permit is linked to the vehicle’s license plate number (or VIN) that you specify. When the vehicle’s license plate number is checked by the parking officer, it will show the PayByPhone permit purchase.
- Be sure to include the location code: 5115
- New cars with no license plate number can enter the last 7 digits of the vehicle identification number (or VIN).
- Download Sac State Mobile App
- Tap "Commute"
- Tap "Pay By Phone"
- Tap "Register"
- Follow on-screen instructions to register your phone number and enter credit card information
- Tap "Start New Parking"
- Enter your license plate (use last seven digits of VIN if no license plate is available)
- Use the Sac State location code: 5115
- Choose daily or two-hour parking
This year the tournament will operate out of Riverside Hall. This building is located on eastern side of campus, near the river. Our campus buildings can be located on Google Maps or on the campus map linked below. The tabroom will be located in RVR 2010, which is on the second floor. We will have a lot of information and hospitality available in the first floor lobby and several rooms in the building as well.
In the past few years, our campus has been closed for Spring Break during the tournament - that is NOT the case this year, so rooms on Friday are limited. We are doing our best to keep everything close, but on Friday, we may be a bit spread out.
The President's Cup Round Robin will be held in Mendocino Hall and will have its own strike room in MND 3011.
All of the competition will take place in nearby buidlings - Alpine Hall, Brighton Hall, Riverside Hall, Sequoia Hall, and Mendocino Hall. Luckily, Google Maps does a really good job with our campus, so you should be able to find these buildings (they are all fairly close to each other) by using your gps. We have also linked campus map below.
Important Locations
Tabroom - RVR 2010
IPDA Topic Strike - RVR 1015
Round Robin Topic Strike - MND 3011
Extemp Prep - RVR 1015
Hospitality - RVR 1002 (Sat/Sun)
Peace & Quiet Room - RVR 1006 (Sat/Sun)
Awards - Pacific Suite (3rd Floor of the Union)
In the past few years, our campus has been closed for Spring Break during the tournament - that is NOT the case this year, so rooms on Friday are limited. We are doing our best to keep everything close, but on Friday, we may be a bit spread out.
The President's Cup Round Robin will be held in Mendocino Hall and will have its own strike room in MND 3011.
All of the competition will take place in nearby buidlings - Alpine Hall, Brighton Hall, Riverside Hall, Sequoia Hall, and Mendocino Hall. Luckily, Google Maps does a really good job with our campus, so you should be able to find these buildings (they are all fairly close to each other) by using your gps. We have also linked campus map below.
Important Locations
Tabroom - RVR 2010
IPDA Topic Strike - RVR 1015
Round Robin Topic Strike - MND 3011
Extemp Prep - RVR 1015
Hospitality - RVR 1002 (Sat/Sun)
Peace & Quiet Room - RVR 1006 (Sat/Sun)
Awards - Pacific Suite (3rd Floor of the Union)
Internet
While on campus, connect your devices to our official wireless network, eduroam. To keep campus securely connected, we support over 1,600+ Wi-Fi access points, offer guest and event access, continue to upgrade buildings and structures to Wi-Fi 6 speed, as well as expanding Wi-Fi coverage to meet the growing needs of our campus community.
Tournament Procedures
NFA LD
We will use the current NFA-LD topic and adhere to NFA rules.
Rules can be found here - NFA-LD Rules
“The United States federal government should substantially increase prohibitions on the development and/or use of artificial intelligence in one or more of the following areas: law enforcement, automation, and/or privacy. ”
Divisions/Eligibility: We will offer Open, JV, and Novice divisions for LD debate.
Schedule/Feedback: We are offering 5 preliminary rounds and appropriate elims so that all winning records will break to a final bracket. We will, if necessary, have partial-elimination rounds in order to break all winning records.
Judges are highly encouraged to DISCLOSE their decisions and offer feedback after the round. Please remain conscientious of the schedule!
We will utilize the RKS Decimal scale for speaker points; points are awarded in one- tenth increments and no ties are allowed.
Tie breakers: All winning records will break, power-matching and seeding will be determined first by W/L record and then by opponent wins, starting at the break line.
IPDA Round Robin
The 2025Hornet Cup will feature the return of the "President's Cup Round Robin”. Six students will be selected to participate in a five round “round robin” tournament. Each round will have two judges. We are working hard to provide all of the judges for the round robin. Our goal is bring in members of the Sacramento community - elected officials, government workers, journalists, lawyers, etc... to provide a unique experience for our debaters. We still need each team to provide a judge to cover their entry, however that judge will likely be used to cover the larger IPDA invitational tournament. The round robin runs concurrently with, and use the same topics as, the invitational IPDA tournament so that you can still prep your debaters as a team. Rounds 4 & 5 of the round robin will coincide with the bronze and silver/gold rounds and the winner of the round robin will be determined by overall ballot count.
IPDA Debate – Invitational Tournament
We will adhere to the norms and structures of IPDA for speech times, prep, topic strike, and other structural norms. However, please note that this is NOT an IPDA sanctioned tournament so there may be some differences.
For the 2025 Hornet Cup topics will be in the general area of “The Arctic and the Antarctic”.
• Students will be provided 5 topics at the beginning of the round.
• Students will rotate striking one topic from the list, beginning with the opposition speaker.
• IPDA prep will begin 30 minutes before the debate begins.
• All winning records will break to festival elims (bronze round, gold/silver round).
• We will use speaker points for seeding/tie breaks
Bids for the IPDA Round Robin
We would like to invite you to submit bids for entry to our first annual Round Robin. We are looking for excellent students to take part in this competition and will be accepting bids for ONE student per school. Applications will be evaluated and ranked by a small committee and the six students receiving bids will be notified prior to the tournament.
We will use the current NFA-LD topic and adhere to NFA rules.
Rules can be found here - NFA-LD Rules
“The United States federal government should substantially increase prohibitions on the development and/or use of artificial intelligence in one or more of the following areas: law enforcement, automation, and/or privacy. ”
Divisions/Eligibility: We will offer Open, JV, and Novice divisions for LD debate.
- Open – Available all eligible students, regardless of experience
- JV – Available to students in their first four semesters of collegiate debate (of any kind)
- Novice - Available to students with less than two semesters of any debate at any level (high school or college).
Schedule/Feedback: We are offering 5 preliminary rounds and appropriate elims so that all winning records will break to a final bracket. We will, if necessary, have partial-elimination rounds in order to break all winning records.
Judges are highly encouraged to DISCLOSE their decisions and offer feedback after the round. Please remain conscientious of the schedule!
We will utilize the RKS Decimal scale for speaker points; points are awarded in one- tenth increments and no ties are allowed.
Tie breakers: All winning records will break, power-matching and seeding will be determined first by W/L record and then by opponent wins, starting at the break line.
IPDA Round Robin
The 2025Hornet Cup will feature the return of the "President's Cup Round Robin”. Six students will be selected to participate in a five round “round robin” tournament. Each round will have two judges. We are working hard to provide all of the judges for the round robin. Our goal is bring in members of the Sacramento community - elected officials, government workers, journalists, lawyers, etc... to provide a unique experience for our debaters. We still need each team to provide a judge to cover their entry, however that judge will likely be used to cover the larger IPDA invitational tournament. The round robin runs concurrently with, and use the same topics as, the invitational IPDA tournament so that you can still prep your debaters as a team. Rounds 4 & 5 of the round robin will coincide with the bronze and silver/gold rounds and the winner of the round robin will be determined by overall ballot count.
IPDA Debate – Invitational Tournament
We will adhere to the norms and structures of IPDA for speech times, prep, topic strike, and other structural norms. However, please note that this is NOT an IPDA sanctioned tournament so there may be some differences.
For the 2025 Hornet Cup topics will be in the general area of “The Arctic and the Antarctic”.
• Students will be provided 5 topics at the beginning of the round.
• Students will rotate striking one topic from the list, beginning with the opposition speaker.
• IPDA prep will begin 30 minutes before the debate begins.
• All winning records will break to festival elims (bronze round, gold/silver round).
• We will use speaker points for seeding/tie breaks
Bids for the IPDA Round Robin
We would like to invite you to submit bids for entry to our first annual Round Robin. We are looking for excellent students to take part in this competition and will be accepting bids for ONE student per school. Applications will be evaluated and ranked by a small committee and the six students receiving bids will be notified prior to the tournament.
Individual Events
We are offering all 11 NFA individual events. Please see NFA bylaws for event descriptions.
Collapsing Divisions: Every effort will be made to protect novice competitors; however, if there are fewer than 8 entries in a division, that event may be collapsed. If this occurs, top non-advancing novices will be recognized at the awards ceremony.
Additionally, in order to best utilize judges, when the total of all divisions of an event is 12 or fewer contestants, with no division having 6 or more contestants, the divisions could be mixed in the same room with the same judge, and the contestants ranked separately.
Forfeiture Rule: Competitors not fulfilling their obligation to comply with the tournament schedule will be subject to forfeiture. Individual events competitors, regardless of double entries, must arrive at their rounds within 45 minutes of a round’s scheduled start time or risk forfeiture.
Criteria for Elimination Rounds: Any event with less than seven entries will not have a final round. Events with thirty-four entries should have semi-final round, or an additional judge assigned, if possible.
Advancement to Elimination Rounds: No more than half of the field will be advanced to finals. Students will be rank-ordered first by lowest cumulative rankings, finally by the highest reciprocal score (a.k.a. decimal conversion), and finally by the highest cumulative ratings.
Placement/Advancement in Elimination Rounds: Students will be rank-ordered by lowest cumulative rankings, then by judge’s preference, then by the highest cumulative ratings, and finally by the highest reciprocal score (a.k.a. decimal conversion).
Limited-Prep Triathlon:
Students competing in triathlon should be entered in Impromptu, Extemp, and Declamation. The triathlon winner is determined by the cumulative scores across all three events, there will be no “final round”. Students will compete in both Impromptu and Extemp with the rest of the field, regardless of whether they are also entered in triathlon, however, only students who are entered in triathlon may enter Declamation. There will be two rounds each of Impromptu and Extemp, with one round of Declamation. The lowest cumulative score will win the triathlon (final round scores for Ext/Imp will not be counted).
Limited Prep Declamation:
In the eighteenth century, a classical revival of the art of public speaking, often referred to as The Elocution Movement was underway. While elocution focused on the voice— articulation, diction, and pronunciation—declamation focused on delivery of the speech. For this event, we have modified the idea of declamation as a limited preparation event. Similar to the model of an extemp round, speakers will enter a common prep room to await their prompt. When their speaker number is drawn, the student will be given three speech transcripts to choose from. These transcripts will be available in a speechdrop.net room and the student will be given the code at draw time. Students will also have access to one printed copy of their transcript if they want it (please request this ahead of time).The students will then have 30 minutes to select their speech, cut/edit, and practice the speech. Before the end of their 30 minute prep time, the student should go to their competition room and deliver a five minute speech (walking time is part of prep time). This five minute cutting should adhere to the original manuscript much in the way an interp cutting would. The student does not need to, nor should they, rewrite or paraphrase the speech.
Judges should evaluate the declamation speech based on delivery and effectiveness of the cutting.
We are offering all 11 NFA individual events. Please see NFA bylaws for event descriptions.
Collapsing Divisions: Every effort will be made to protect novice competitors; however, if there are fewer than 8 entries in a division, that event may be collapsed. If this occurs, top non-advancing novices will be recognized at the awards ceremony.
Additionally, in order to best utilize judges, when the total of all divisions of an event is 12 or fewer contestants, with no division having 6 or more contestants, the divisions could be mixed in the same room with the same judge, and the contestants ranked separately.
Forfeiture Rule: Competitors not fulfilling their obligation to comply with the tournament schedule will be subject to forfeiture. Individual events competitors, regardless of double entries, must arrive at their rounds within 45 minutes of a round’s scheduled start time or risk forfeiture.
Criteria for Elimination Rounds: Any event with less than seven entries will not have a final round. Events with thirty-four entries should have semi-final round, or an additional judge assigned, if possible.
Advancement to Elimination Rounds: No more than half of the field will be advanced to finals. Students will be rank-ordered first by lowest cumulative rankings, finally by the highest reciprocal score (a.k.a. decimal conversion), and finally by the highest cumulative ratings.
Placement/Advancement in Elimination Rounds: Students will be rank-ordered by lowest cumulative rankings, then by judge’s preference, then by the highest cumulative ratings, and finally by the highest reciprocal score (a.k.a. decimal conversion).
- Pattern A: POI, Drama, Info, Impromptu, Duo, CA
- Pattern B: ADS, Poetry, Prose, Persuasion, Extemp
Limited-Prep Triathlon:
Students competing in triathlon should be entered in Impromptu, Extemp, and Declamation. The triathlon winner is determined by the cumulative scores across all three events, there will be no “final round”. Students will compete in both Impromptu and Extemp with the rest of the field, regardless of whether they are also entered in triathlon, however, only students who are entered in triathlon may enter Declamation. There will be two rounds each of Impromptu and Extemp, with one round of Declamation. The lowest cumulative score will win the triathlon (final round scores for Ext/Imp will not be counted).
Limited Prep Declamation:
In the eighteenth century, a classical revival of the art of public speaking, often referred to as The Elocution Movement was underway. While elocution focused on the voice— articulation, diction, and pronunciation—declamation focused on delivery of the speech. For this event, we have modified the idea of declamation as a limited preparation event. Similar to the model of an extemp round, speakers will enter a common prep room to await their prompt. When their speaker number is drawn, the student will be given three speech transcripts to choose from. These transcripts will be available in a speechdrop.net room and the student will be given the code at draw time. Students will also have access to one printed copy of their transcript if they want it (please request this ahead of time).The students will then have 30 minutes to select their speech, cut/edit, and practice the speech. Before the end of their 30 minute prep time, the student should go to their competition room and deliver a five minute speech (walking time is part of prep time). This five minute cutting should adhere to the original manuscript much in the way an interp cutting would. The student does not need to, nor should they, rewrite or paraphrase the speech.
Judges should evaluate the declamation speech based on delivery and effectiveness of the cutting.
Hospitality
Our campus will be open this year, however, it is still the weekend so there may be limited options for food/coffee/etc... available on campus. We will be providing light refreshments. There are numerous excellent places to visit for food near campus that you can go to or have delivered.
There are also some very interesting historical sites that you may want to take your team to, particularly if you have never been here. If you are traveling from outside the region, please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss any help you need to make the trip easier.
We have provided a list of food options and suggestions! We do our best to keep everything current, but there may have been some changes we are not aware of.
There are also some very interesting historical sites that you may want to take your team to, particularly if you have never been here. If you are traveling from outside the region, please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss any help you need to make the trip easier.
We have provided a list of food options and suggestions! We do our best to keep everything current, but there may have been some changes we are not aware of.