2025 Big Muddy Bash

• Setup:

  This status is used while the tournament is still being setup.

• Open:

  This status means tournament registration is open. Families can register for the tournament.

• Drops Only:

  This status means only registration drops are allowed. There are no new entries allowed but families can drop entries.

• Closed:

  This status means registration is currently closed for the tournament. There are no adds or drops allowed. Please contact the tournament director with any questions.

• Completed:

  This status means the tournament is completed.

Tournament Location

West County Assembly of God
13431 N Outer 40 Rd,
Town and Country, MO 63017

Contact us for host home options.

For those of you looking for lodging and hotels, you might find those nearby in:

• Town & Country

• Chesterfield

• Frontenac

• Ladue

• Creve Coeur

• Manchester

• Des Peres

These are more expensive parts of St. Louis and the hotels probably reflect that.

If this is a concern, you might try going a little further away from the church building for better pricing. Try other areas like:

• Fenton

• Valley Park

• Sunset Hills

Here is a link from Google Maps of hotels in the area around our tournament location and the current pricing for the nights of our tournament.

Also, Airbnb's are always a good option for going in together with other families.

Apologetics will be using the questions from:

• Categories 1, 2, and 3.  

Mars Hill will be using topics from:

• Current Film and Television  (last 5 years)
• Current Music
• Literature

Apologetics & Mars Hill questions & topics can be found - HERE

Tournament Dress Code

It is the desire of Stoa and ARCH Speech and Debate Club, hosts of this Tournament, to promote professionalism and modesty in behavior and dress for our tournaments.

Some of the specifics of Stoa's and ARCH's Big Muddy Bash Tournament Dress Code are also below:

For the duration of the tournament students must dress and remain dressed modestly, neatly, and cleanly in their tournament attire.

Competition: During competition, students must dress in professional business attire.

Gentlemen: Suits; slacks and a sports coat, with a shirt and tie, and dress shoes.

Ladies: Skirt or pant suits; slacks, skirts or dresses with jackets, and professional dress shoes. Hemlines are to be at least to the knee. Nylons are not required.

Awards Ceremony: Students must attend the awards ceremony in full competition attire.

Violations: If the competitor’s attire at any time during the tournament is deemed a violation of the dress code, the competitor will be asked to come into compliance with the dress code.

A student will not be allowed to participate in competition or awards without compliance.

Picture of Junior Dress Code Requirements

--No jacket required for Junior Boys, although they are free to wear one if they want.
--A nice dress will suffice for Junior Girls.

Junior Apologetics 

Juniors Apol Questions:

∙       Who is Jesus?

∙       How does the Holy Spirit help us?

∙       How do we see God in creation?

∙       What is the fall?

∙       Why did Jesus have to die?

∙       Can a person do enough good things to get into heaven?

∙       What is grace?

∙       What is repentance?

∙       What is sin?

∙       What is the Bible?

∙       Why must Jesus be truly human and truly God?

∙       How many persons are there in God? 

Description: In Apologetics, the speaker is given two minutes to prepare a speech which defends a tenet of the Christian faith.  Apologetics should motivate students to study and articulate the core issues of their faith.

Goal: Competitors will be motivated to study, articulate, and defend the core issues of their faith in a knowledgeable, sincere, and respectful manner. The focus may or may not be evangelistic. The audience’s acceptance of the truth of the Bible should not be assumed. Content outweighs delivery: greater weight should be given to the speech content, rather than the presentation style.  

 Junior Apologetics Preparation Rules:

1. Students prepare for Apologetics through Bible study, research, and topic organization.

2. Each competitor should create a card file with Scripture, definitions, quotations, and any other material deemed to be helpful.

3. Students may work together on boxes prior to the tournament, but students may not share boxes during competition. 

 Junior Apologetics Presentation Rules:

1. At least one judge in each room will be given instructions and the envelope of topics to distribute to the student.

2. In the room, the speaker will receive three single topics from the judge, choose one, and return the other two topics before leaving the room. 

3. A two-minute preparation time begins as soon as the student receives the topic choices.

4. The speech must be the original work of the speaker.

5. During prep time, the speaker may use a Bible, access card files, and write additional notes on note cards.

6. During the speech, the speaker should use only note cards.

7. All questions/topics will be posted on the tournament site upon registration.

8. Apologetics judges should be sympathetic to the ideals of Stoa.

TO MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE, COMPETITORS SHOULD:

• Consider a personal story, statistics, or quote to introduce your speech.

• Be sure to answer the specific question asked.

• Know what your cards say, so as not to read the entire time. This allows for making eye contact with the judge.

Speaking Time Limit: five (5) minutes. No minimum time. No student will be penalized for going over the suggested time.

Description: The competitor is given two minutes to prepare a speech on a randomly drawn prompt. For the juniors tournaments in St. Louis, we are publishing the prompts in advance to allow young students the chance to familiarize themselves with the topics and think through how they might structure their impromptu speeches. 

Goal : To develop a winsome, polished speaker who can present an original, spontaneously prepared speech. The speaker may choose to approach the prompt in any way, but the prompt must be the central theme of the speech and not peripheral to it. 

Big Muddy Bash - October 23-25, 2025

Round 1 Topics: Questions About Fall

• What is your favorite thing to do in the fall?

• If you could be a hibernating animal, what kind of animal would you be and why?

• What is better: pumpkin pie or pecan pie?

• What can you do with pumpkin seeds?

• Pumpkin Spice: yes or no?

• What is the best kind of fall beverage?

• If you could design a restaurant's fall menu, what would you include?

• Pumpkin picking or apple picking?

• Tell me about your perfect s’more.

• Who would you want to be lost in a corn maze with and why?

• Describe a perfect “cozy” afternoon?

• Tell us about your favorite fall clothing item or items?

• If you could start a new fall tradition for your family, what would it be and why?

• Worst part about the fall (what do you miss about the summer?)

Round 2 Topics: Animals

• Cat

• Dog

• Owl

• Dinosaur

• Spider

• Caterpillar

• Turtle

• Polar bear

• Koala

• Panda bear

• Crab

• Horse

• Frog

• Honey Bee

Junior Impromptu Rules

1. Judges will lay out all topics on the table face down. Competitors pick three of the topics and must choose one of the selected topics on which to base their speech. After the speech, the competitor will return the two unused topics to the table and take or toss their selected topic strip, so that it is not chosen again by another competitor.

2. Preparation time is two minutes in length and begins when competitors take the topic strips from the table.

3. Competitors may write notes during prep time, but competitors cannot use the notes during their speaking time.

4. No visual aids or props may be used, other than the topic strip.

5. Competitors must state their name and topic somewhere near the beginning of their speech.

6. Each speech should adhere to the chosen topic, while demonstrating originality and creativity.

7. Impromptu competitors may not watch any other competitor that speaks before them. However, once they’ve completed their impromptu speech, they may watch other impromptu competitors.

TO MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE, COMPETITORS SHOULD:

• Try to choose a topic quickly so as not to waste any preparation time.

• After a competitor has figured out what they’re going to say during their speech, he/she should use the rest of their preparation time to further think about the topic and how it will be presented.

• Structure should be something like this: Introduction, points or ideas, and conclusion.

• Use Scriptures, quotes, or stories to enrich the Impromptu performance.

Preparation Time Limit: two (2) minutes.
Speaking Time Limit: three (3) minutes. No minimum time. No student will be penalized for going over the suggested time.

Junior Bible Story Impromptu

Juniors Bible Story Topics:

1. Creation Story

2. Jonah

3. Noah's Ark

4. Christ is Born

5. Jesus turns water into wine

6. Jesus calms the storm

7. Mary & Martha

8. The Tomb is Empty

9. Jesus walks on water

10. Prodigal Son

11. Esther saves her people

12. Tower of Babel

Description: Bible Story Impromptu allows students to learn Bible stories and give a brief, but knowledgeable summary. The competitors may  also choose to explain why the story is important and what we can learn from it.

Junior Bible Story Impromptu Presentation Rules:

1. The speaker may use a prepared note card during preparation time, but he may not use or refer to the notes during his speech. 

2. The speaker may prepare note cards in advance about the topic and bring those cards into the competition room to use during prep time. Bibles may not be used during prep time.

3. The speaker may approach the topic in any way he chooses, but the topic must be the central theme of the speech and not peripheral to it.

4. In the room, the speaker will receive three single topics from the judge, choose one, and return the other two topics before leaving the room.

5. The speaker may refer to his topic slip when announcing his topic during the speech. He/she may not write notes on the topic slip.

6. Each speech should be a fresh, original presentation, developed from one of the topics given and prepared on the spot.

7. The speaker must state his topic early in the speech and adhere to the chosen topic.

8. No audio or visual aids or props may be used.

9. No computers, Kindles, iPods, cell phones, or other electronic media devices may be used for Junior Bible Story Impromptu preparation or presentation.

10. The student must not listen to other Junior Bible Story Impromptu competitors speaking before him. The competitor may stay after he has given his speech to listen to subsequent speakers.

Preparation Time Limit: two (2) minutes.
Speaking Time Limit: three (3) minutes. No minimum time. No student will be penalized for going over or under the suggested time.

Junior Story Reading 

Description: The student will read a published book to the judges. Students are encouraged to hold it up to show pictures. Creative use of voice and facial expressions will help bring the story to life for the judges.

Junior Story Reading Presentation Rules:

1. Students will introduce the Title and Author before beginning to read.

2. Students will hold the book as they read.

3. Students may skip pages, paragraphs, etc. in order to trim a story down to the five minute time limit.

4. Students should NOT memorize the piece, but are encouraged to practice expressive reading with their voice and face conveying the message.

5. Students may sit or stand to deliver their story.

6. Does not need to be a picture book, although picture books are highly recommended.

Speaking Time Limit: five (5) minutes. No minimum time. No student will be penalized for going over the suggested time.

Junior Debate

This year’s resolution will be: Resolved: Fiction is better than non-fiction. 

Juniors Debate Format:
1st Affirmative Constructive - 3 minutes
CX - 1 minute (2nd Negative Speaker cross-exams 1st Affirmative Speaker)
1st Negative Constructive - 3 minutes
CX - 1 minute (1st Affirmative Speaker cross-exams 1st Negative Speaker)
2nd Affirmative Constructive - 3 minutes
CX - 1 minute (1st Negative Speaker cross-exams 2nd Affirmative Speaker)
2nd Negative Constructive - 3 minutes
CX - 1 minute (2nd Affirmative Speaker cross-exams 2nd Negative Speaker)
1st Negative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
1st Affirmative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
2nd Negative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
2nd Affirmative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
Each Team will have a total of 5 minutes of Prep time 

Juniors Debate Rules:

1. A team consists of two junior competitors. The team must not switch partners during the tournament.

2. There is an affirmative team and a negative team. The affirmative must uphold the resolution. The negative may negate the resolution and/or the affirmative's case.

3. Each team has a total budget of 5 minutes of preparation time which may be used or discarded as desired by the teams. The five minutes cover both partners of the team (i.e. if the 1st negative speaker uses all 5 minutes for his/her 1st negative constructive, then no prep time is available for any other negative speech). A debater may take prep time before any speech except the 1st Affirmative Constructive. A debater may not take prep time before a cross examination.

4. Evidence from a source must be publicly available. The evidence must be physically present on
   paper and be available to the opposing team and to the judge if requested.

5. Debaters may not display props or visual aids to the judge.

6. The judge will fill out a ballot that will be given to the junior debaters after the awards
   ceremony. On the ballot will be the decision about which team won the round as well as specific
   feedback for each speaker.

7.  No new arguments are allowed in the rebuttal speeches. (See helpful hints.)

Juniors Debate Evidence Guidelines:

•  Evidence may be an article, quote, or paragraph from a book, newspaper, or online source.

• You must include the entire paragraph that your evidence is found in to make sure appropriate context is included. However, you do not have to read the entire paragraph.

• NO MANIPULATION of the evidence (cutting out or adding words or moving around sentences) is allowed.

• The source (along with credentials) and date of when the evidence was published must be included in your citation and read aloud to judge and opponents when presenting the evidence.

Helpful Hints & Explanations

• Debate is a competition between 2 teams, each supporting their side of the resolution.  Affirmative is affirming the resolution (yes, the resolution is true). The negative team negates the resolution (no, the resolution isn’t true).

• Constructive Speech Purpose: Constructive speeches are used to introduce and build arguments in the round and/or to respond to previous speakers.

• Rebuttal Speech Purpose: Rebuttal speeches are used to respond to and extend existing lines of argumentation and to emphasize the most important issues in the round. No new arguments
  may be presented in rebuttal speeches. New evidence, examples, analysis, analogies, etc. that support previously introduced lines of argumentation, are permitted in rebuttal speeches.

• There will be two rounds of debate providing each team the opportunity to debate the resolution on both the Affirmative and Negative positions.

• An older student will be present with each team to make sure the junior competitors speak in the correct order.

• Each debate team member should bring 5-8 “cards” of evidence for both Affirmative and Negative sides of the resolutions.

•  “Tag lines” are helpful titles for each piece of evidence to sum up what the main argument or point of the evidence is.

• Practice reading the evidence before the tournament to make sure you know how to pronounce the tricky words and understand what they mean

• Pens, notebooks/flowpads, sticky-notes, evidence, water, and a copy of these rules are allowed in the round.

• HAVE FUN! This is a learning experience for everyone and so make sure to relax and have fun!