The Hornet Cup Nicholas F. Burnett Classic Debate Tournament
The Sacramento State University debate team and the Department of Communication Studies invite you to participate in the 2022
"Hornet Cup" Nicholas F. Burnett Classic Debate Tournament to be held online on March 19th - 20th, 2022
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 retired as the Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Letters in 2012. In December of 2021, Dr. Burnett passed away. It is our honor to host this tournament in his name. Dr. Burnett was always 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. And 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. To recognize him for his dedication and service to debaters across the nation, and to celebrate his life, we host this tournament in his name. The top speaker award in both novice and varsity divisions will also be named after Dr. Burnett.
"The Hornet Cup" itself is the sweepstakes award for the top team at the tournament. The points are described below.
This tournament will feature six preliminary rounds of NFA-LD debate in both varsity and novice divisions. We will have the appropriate number of elimination debates so that we can break all winning records.
We are excited to add the limited prep "Triathlon" - a series of three different limited-prep "ie" speaking events. You can find more info about the triathlon below.
"Hornet Cup" Nicholas F. Burnett Classic Debate Tournament to be held online on March 19th - 20th, 2022
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 retired as the Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Letters in 2012. In December of 2021, Dr. Burnett passed away. It is our honor to host this tournament in his name. Dr. Burnett was always 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. And 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. To recognize him for his dedication and service to debaters across the nation, and to celebrate his life, we host this tournament in his name. The top speaker award in both novice and varsity divisions will also be named after Dr. Burnett.
"The Hornet Cup" itself is the sweepstakes award for the top team at the tournament. The points are described below.
This tournament will feature six preliminary rounds of NFA-LD debate in both varsity and novice divisions. We will have the appropriate number of elimination debates so that we can break all winning records.
We are excited to add the limited prep "Triathlon" - a series of three different limited-prep "ie" speaking events. You can find more info about the triathlon below.
Tournament Registration
The Hornet Cup will be fully online this year and the platform we will be using is ForensicsTournament.net with 8x8 rooms.
Deadlines:
The deadline for receiving entries is 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 17th.
Fees & Judging:
The fee for each competitor this year is ZERO DOLLARS, as long as the entry is "covered". That's right, we are not charging fees for the tournament as long as you provide enough judging to cover your entry. There is no school fee. Each school is expected to provide one judge for every two debaters entered. And one judge for every 6 (or fraction thereof) triathlon entries.
The uncovered debater fee will be $75.00.
The uncovered triathlon fee will be $45.00.
Invoices will be sent out to teams who need them with payment instructions after the tournament has concluded.
Deadlines:
The deadline for receiving entries is 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 17th.
Fees & Judging:
The fee for each competitor this year is ZERO DOLLARS, as long as the entry is "covered". That's right, we are not charging fees for the tournament as long as you provide enough judging to cover your entry. There is no school fee. Each school is expected to provide one judge for every two debaters entered. And one judge for every 6 (or fraction thereof) triathlon entries.
The uncovered debater fee will be $75.00.
The uncovered triathlon fee will be $45.00.
Invoices will be sent out to teams who need them with payment instructions after the tournament has concluded.
Tournament Procedures
We will use the current NFA-LD topic and adhere to NFA rules.
Divisions may collapse if necessary, but we will make every effort to preserve a novice division. This may mean that we don't break brackets and students from the same team may debate each other. There will be no breaking of brackets in elimination rounds. We will, if necessary, have partial-elimination rounds in order to break all winning records.
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 by opponent wins, starting at the break line.
Filming/Streaming - We will try to livestream one debate each round. Judges and competitors are also encouraged to allow observers as long as it doesn’t interfere with the round. Teams have the ability to opt out if they would like and will be coded off for the tournament. You must let tab know by registration. We will also be recording the final round for posterity.
Policy for Technology Failure
- If internet fails, the student should repeat the performance or missing section of their speech if time allows. If video fails, have the student turn the camera off. If the problem is slow internet, students may call in on their phones. Often, switching to phone audio alone may be suitable.
- How to dial into an 8x8 room - LINK
- We will do our best to provide as much time as possible to address the problem and complete the round. Judges are encouraged to use their discretion with the aim of completing the debate, but be aware of the schedule.
- Students may record themselves on their phone or other device so that way if there is a connection error, the recording could be played starting from the time the connection was lost. Judges should stop the time, and if no recording can be made available, students should be instructed to pick-up where the debate left off.
In addition to digital awards for all elimination round participants, we will recognize the top 5 speakers in each division. The top three speakers in the Triathlon will be recognized with an award for first place.
The Hornet Cup will be a sweepstakes award recognizing the top team based on the results of the top 3 participants from each team (.5 points for each prelim win, 1 point for first elim win, 2 points for subsequent elim wins. Triathlon rounds will count 1 point for 1st, .5 point for 2nd, and .25 point for 3rd, with an additional point for overall 1st place.) Sacramento State debaters will compete but will NOT be eligible for sweepstakes awards.