Dear Debate Community,

We are excited to announce that the Louisiana Tech University debate  
team will be hosting the Hot and Spicy Louisiana Tech Debate  
Tournament! We will be offering competition in WUDC-style debate. The  
tournament will be held Ruston, Louisiana on March 1st and 2nd.

We will offer five preliminary rounds of debate, followed by  
appropriate elimination rounds. The tournament will be breaking to  
quarter-finals and awards will be given to the top 5 speakers. We are  
also offering a waiver of registration fees for two team entries from  
programs traveling in excess of 500 miles to attend! The awards for  
this tournament are special to the state of Louisiana as they  
incorporate our famous Tabasco Sauce, made on Avery Island 140 miles  
west of New Orleans.

HOW YOUR TROPHIES WERE MADE:

Edmund McIlhenny was given seeds of Capsicum frutescens peppers that  
came from Mexico or Central America, and he first planted them on  
Avery Island, Louisiana, over 140 years ago. Today, just as then, when  
the peppers reach the perfect shade of deep red and are at their  
juiciest, they are carefully picked by hand. After the peppers are  
picked, they are mashed and then mixed with a small amount of Avery  
Island salt extracted from the salt mines that lie beneath the Island.  
The pepper mash is placed in white oak barrels, and the wooden tops of  
the barrels are then covered with more Avery Island salt, which acts  
as a natural barrier to protect the barrels? contents. The mash is  
allowed to ferment and then age for up to three years in the McIlhenny  
warehouse. The mash is then inspected by a member of the McIlhenny  
family. When approved, the fully aged mash is then blended with  
high-quality distilled vinegar and about four weeks later, the pepper  
skins, pulp and seeds are strained out using three different-sized  
screens. Then the ?finished? sauce is bottled by modern methods,  
labeled in 22 languages and dialects, and prepared for shipment to  
over 165 countries and territories around the world.

The registration deadline is 5pm Monday, February 17, 2014. Please  
submit entries by emailing [log in to unmask] All entries must  
include number of teams, judges, an email address and a phone number  
that we can reach you at in the days immediately prior to the  
tournament for confirmation. Please let us know if anyone on your team  
would like to participant in the Public Speaking event.

Beyond the excitement of debate rounds, we will be hosting a social.  
Not only trying to keep in the true spirit of WUDC, but also to foster  
a sense of community within the circuit. At the social, breaks will be  
announced as well as holding the public speaking event.

Traditionally, WUDC tournaments have a public speaking event at the  
social. It is a free event that anyone can register. The topics are  
given right before the speech and the main point of the speech is to  
entertain. This is a light-hearted, social impromptu competition that  
always gets a lot of laughs. Two finalists will be chosen according to  
crowd feedback and will compete at awards. Winner and runner up get a  
special prize! To sign up for the public speaking event, do so in your  
registration.

This tournament is one of a kind. We will be working hard until the  
day you arrive to assure that you not only have a successful  
educational experience in your rounds, but between and after rounds  
you are having the time of your life (no, really). This is the place  
to bring first-time WUDC competitors or long time veterans to  
experience an efficient and exciting tournament. We look forward to  
seeing you!

Best,

Hannah Schilling             Walker Holmes              	  Shane Puckett
Chief Adjudicator           Deputy Chief Adjudicator    Team Coach

?	Tabulation: Minimally, the first round will be preset. Our primary  
goal is to ensure that all entered teams debate in each of the four  
positions throughout prelims. Our secondary goal is to power match  
prelim rounds 2-5 as best as possible.

Directions: If you are arriving by plane at the Monroe airport, we  
will have someone come and pick you up. Just let us know when you?re  
plane is scheduled to arrive. For those of you who are driving, the  
campus easily accessable from I-20. Below is a campus map to help you  
find your way around

http://www.latech.edu/documents/campus_map_color.pdf

Parking: Faculty parking at GTM.

Food: We will be providing breakfast and lunch on both days.

Special Needs: If you or any of your debaters have special needs,  
please let us know with your entry. We will do everything we can to  
accommodate these requests.

Hotels: Ruston has several hotels that can house your team during the  
tournament. All of the hotels listed here are within a 10 minute drive  
to campus.

? Sleep Inn & Suites - 106 South Service Road East, Ruston, LA 71270 -  
(318) 232-1100
? Hampton Inn - 1315 N Trenton St, Ruston, LA 71270 - (318) 251-3090
? Americas Best Value Inn - 1105 Trenton Street, Ruston, LA 71270 -  
(318) 251-0000
? Days Inn - 1801 North Service Rd E, Ruston, LA 71270 - (318) 251-2360
? Super 8 - 1101 Cooktown Rd, Ruston, LA 71270 - (318) 255-0588
? Comfort Inn - 1951 North Service Rd E, Ruston, LA 71270 - (318) 242-0070
? Fairfield Inn - 1707 Roberta Ave, Ruston, LA 71270 - (318) 251-9800
? Holiday Inn Express - 1825 Roberta Ave, Ruston, Louisiana 71270 -  
(318) 513-9777
? Relax Inn - 1300 N Trenton St, Ruston, LA 71270 - (318) 255-2911
We have very limited crash space. Please check with Shane Puckett as  
to availability.

Schedule:
Saturday, March 1
7:30 Breakfast
8:00 Roll Call
8:15 Mandatory Competitor and Judge Briefing
8:45 Round 1 announce
9:00 Round 1
10:45 Round 2 announce
11:00 Round 2
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Round 3 announce
2:15 Round 3
4:00 Round 4 announce
4:15 Round 4
6:00 Round 5 announce
6:15 Round 5
8:30 Break Party (Social)
         -9:00 Public Speaking
         -Breaks announced

Sunday, March 2
7:45 Breakfast
8:15 Roll Call/Public speaking finals draw
8:30 Quarters announce
8:45 Quarters
10:30 Semis announce
10:45 Semis
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Finals announce
1:45 Finals
Awards & Public speaking finals immediately following

FOOD: Breakfast and Lunch will be provided both days

Judging: Each school?s judging obligation is N-1, where N = the number  
of teams entered. To familiarize yourself/your students/your judges  
with Worlds format debate, we will be giving a mandatory briefing  
before round 1. This briefing is important because it helps  
standardize judging, and let?s debaters know to what standard they  
will be held.

Fees: A fee of $60.00 will be assessed for each team entry. Drops made  
after 5pm on February 24 will be assessed a drop fee of $10.00 per  
team. Drops made at/the day of registration will be assessed a fee of  
$50.00 per team. Name changes are free. Please send you entries via  
email to Shane Puckett at [log in to unmask]

If you have further questions or need anything else, please do not  
hesitate to email them to [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask], or  
call Hannah Schilling at (318) 617-6527, or Walker Holmes at (318)  
548-5932. We will do our best to answer any questions. We look forward  
to seeing you at the tournament!

Shane Puckett
Instructor/Director of Debate
Robinson Hall 211
Louisiana Tech University
[log in to unmask]






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