"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

Welcome to Speak for Liberty!

One day of speech and one day of debate! Come to one or both!

A two-day tournament is a prime chance to hone your qualified speech and debate case or land that elusive second checkmark!

Friday, March 21, 2025 - Lincoln Douglas and Team Policy Debate

Saturday, March 22, 2025 - All Stoa speech events!

Liberty Baptist Church
1000 Bison Avenue
Newport Beach, CA 92660

Hosted by Veritas Speech and Debate 

Speech Fee:  $35 for the first speech entry and $25 for each additional event
Debate Fee:  $45 per debater

Speak for Liberty meets the requirements for a Stoa NITOC-qualifying tournament.

Registration will open at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, February 3 and will close on Sunday, February 9, at 11:55 p.m. 

Entry Procedure:

Please click on the Family Registration tab to the left and complete all necessary steps. We've learned that if something goes without saying, it's probably best to still say it, so here it is: Please only register to compete if you'll be available for the entire day of competition. Likewise, please be realistic and only register for the speech events in which you will compete (a maximum of three speeches per pattern). 

Parents are required to check in with their student.

Judging Requirements

* While we are recruiting community judges, we require all students who are coming to both days of tournament, to come both days with either a parent or alumni who will commit to being present for the duration of the day to judge.  Orientations will be held forty-five minutes prior to each debate round.

* Each competitor is required to provide a judge for three rounds on each day.  The same applies for each competitor within a family.

* We ask every parent judge to check in at the ballot push table before every round, regardless of which boxes you checked on the judge registration page. 

* In order to keep the tournament running on-time, we're requesting that ballots be turned in no more than 10 minutes after the end of each debate round on Friday.

Food

Since our lunch breaks both days will be short, we recommend that you stay on the Liberty campus for meals. We've arranged for boxed lunches each day, which must be pre-purchased when you register.  You may also bring your own delicious lunch. 
 
We'll be providing light snacks in the judge lounge, but don't count on them to fill your hungrified self.  Please consider purchasing a boxed lunch for yourself. Thank you for understanding!

Timers

Timing devices won't be provided for on Friday, our debate day. Remember to bring your timepieces and review the video on Self timing instructions). We'll have plenty of those big red timers on our speech day Saturday!

Dress Code

All aspects of the NITOC dress code are required.  (For more information see the (Stoa dress code). Pro tip: You might consider a patriotic color scheme or accessory.

Limited Space

Liberty Baptist Church is an amazing facility! Even so, we have a limited number of rooms. Once the tournament is full, we'll start a wait list. Lincoln Douglas debaters will be double flighted due to space limitations.

Questions?

Please email Tournament Staff at VeritasTournaments@gmail.com