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] ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.