2025 Cherry Blossom Challenge

Apex Speech and Debate Club (VA) - Apr 3-5, 2025 | Status: Preview | 9:11 AM Eastern

Tournament Time
9:11 AM Eastern

PARENTS' PAGE
Parent Judges are critical for a well-run, on-time tournament.

To keep it fun - and to show our appreciation - we will be awarding prizes to those who judge the most rounds over the course of our tournament! So...come to Ballot Push early and often!

To parents fulfilling their judge requirements (judging at least 6 rounds during the tournament), we will award a $5 coupon to your family for use at our Gobbler Fest Tournament in the fall (2025).

Requirements

1. Competitors must be accompanied by a parent or adult chaperone who is available to judge for the entire tournament. Each parent will be responsible for judging at least 6 rounds.

If a parent cannot attend, prior approval and an alternative contribution must be arranged with the tournament director for the student to participate.
To meet the tournament's judging needs, each out-of-town chaperone may only cover 2 students. Exception is granted to families with more than two children.

Please report to Ballot Push 30 minutes before the start of each round for ballot distribution. Timeliness will help us keep the tournament on schedule.

We ask that all parents be prepared to judge a round that may not be listed on their schedule. If you want more control over your judging rounds, come to ballot push early and often. Otherwise, be near Judge Hospitality or Ballot Push to help fill the gaps.
If you have judging preferences, please indicate them via the dropdown box under judge registration. We try to accommodate requests, but when this isn't possible, we ask that parents be prepared to judge both types of debate and speeches of all categories, regardless of personal preferences.

2. Prior to judging, parents or their designee should attend Stoa Speech and Debate training at least once during the 2024-2025 competition season.

Judge training will be offered 40 minutes before each round. You will be given a good overview of the events and the judging process. No prior experience is necessary.
If you would like more detailed information about the debate events, please look at the Lincoln Douglas Debate Page and the Team Policy Debate Page.

3. Be mindful of judging conflicts.

Be advised that coaches and parents cannot judge their own students, and they may not judge a debate team (in the same event) twice during the tournament.
If you have a close personal relationship/friendship with, are related to, or have coached a competitor, we ask that you do not judge that individual.

** Please populate our waitlists if your event is full. **
** We will release more rooms during open registration according to demand. **

CHERRY BLOSSOM CHALLENGE

April 3rd - 5th

Registration Opens: Monday, February 24th (10:00 am EST)
Registration Closes: Wednesday, March 5th (11:59 pm EST)

Please visit our Payment and Fee tab for important information about fees, payment method, and deadlines.

TOURNAMENT LOCATION
City Gates Church
9401 Little River Turnpike
Fairfax, VA 22031

Debate Check-In: Thursday (12:30 PM)
Speech Only Check-In: Friday (8:30 AM)

PAYMENT INFORMATION
Cherry Blossom Challenge is collecting all fees through PayPal.

Pay all fees via PayPal to:
apexspeechanddebate@gmail.com (Sarah Giddens)
Include the following message with your payment:
CBC2025 (Your StoaHub Account Name)

PARENT PARTICIPATION
All students must have a parent or adult chaperone present to staff or judge at the tournament.
If a parent cannot attend, prior approval and an alternative contribution must be arranged with the tournament director for the student to participate.

Chaperones may only cover 2 students; exception is granted to families with more than two children. Each parent will be responsible for judging at least 6 rounds. (See Parent Page for more details.)
Parent signatures (or the designated chaperone's signature) will be required at the student check-in for all participants. Parents are expected to remain present throughout the tournament to take ballots.
2024-2025 judge training will be available at the tournament throughout the day.
Every parent should come to the ballot table 30 minutes before each round to ensure sufficient judges are balloted. Although we ask you to sign up for a specific judging time slot, please don't leave the balloting area until ALL the ballots have been distributed. You may be needed for a round outside of your scheduled time.
Students not fulfilling their judging obligations may be disqualified from the tournament. Thank you for your cooperation.

TOURNAMENT OVERVIEW

Debate Events:
Parliamentary Debate: $40
Lincoln-Douglas, Team Policy: $40

Speech Events (max. 3 speeches per pattern):
All Stoa Speech Events: $40 for the first event, $15 for each additional event
Apologetic categories: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Extemp topics: International, Domestic, Economic, Cultural
Mars Hill topics: Current Film and Television (last 5 years), Classic Film and Television, Current Music, Classic Music, Literature, The Arts, Current Media Topics

Thursday: Debate only
Friday: Speech and Debate
Saturday: Speech and Debate

Timers:
Debate competitors are expected to self-time their rounds. Please bring a timing device; cell phones cannot be used as timers.

Meals:
Meals can be ordered at registration. No meals will be offered on Thursday during the shortened schedule.

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