• 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.

***PARENT JUDGING RESPONSIBILITY***

Parent Participation: Debate Only

By registering your child for the tournament you are agreeing to not only remain on campus with your student, but also be available to judge. Parents, please plan on judging three rounds. You will need to alternate judging rounds, so plan on judging either rounds 1, 3, and 5 or rounds 2, 4, and 6. There will be no community judges, but if you have alumni hanging around the house, bring them along!

Thank you as always for your gracious and significant participation!

*We will provide one training session during the first round.* 

*Experienced parent judges* will be needed for the first round. In order to keep the tournament running on time, we are requesting that ballots be turned in no more than 20 minutes after the end of each round.

Parent Participation: Speech Events Only

We will have Community Judges this year. 

EACH registered family needs to have a parent judging for them every day of the tournament. Students will need to have their judge physically with them for the entire tournament.

Thank you for your assistance to keep our tournament running on time. Please plan on judging every other round, and check with the ballot push table 30-45 minutes before each round to see what the judging needs are for the upcoming round. The Ballot Push Team will be happy to see you!

Tournament Fees (per student)
•    $45 for debate
•    $35 for each speech event
•    Payment is due at the time of registration

*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY*: Fees are paid electronically at the end of the registration process by clicking the "Pay" button and following the prompts. 

•    Payment is necessary to complete registration
•    Only electronic payment will be accepted
•    Payments will not be accepted at the tournament
•    Fully complete your registration to receive a confirmation of registration
•    Confirmation of completion is required to reserve your spot at the tournament

Deadlines
1. Registration closes on December 11, 2024.  
2. Full payment needs to be completed by December 11, 2024, or your registration will be dropped. 
3. No refunds can be issued in the event of a cancellation after December 11, 2024, at 11:59 p.m.
4.  Electronic script submission is due no later than January 10, 2025.
5.  Meals may be ordered through January 12, 2025.

For all general registration questions please contact our Tournament Registrar, Michelle Richardson michellerichardson.stoa@gmail.com

Event Adds & Drops
•    Events may not be added after December 11, 2024.
•    Refunds will not be given for events dropped after December 11, 2024.
•    If you wait until after December 11, 2024, a $10 drop fee per event will apply. 
 •    Events dropped at the door during student check-in will be assessed a $25 fee per event (cash only). 

Refunds
If you decide to drop an event *PRIOR* to 11:59pm on December 11, 2024, we can offer you a full refund. After that, there can be no refunds in the event of a cancellation.  The tournament needs to make important budgeting decisions based on the number of people who have registered and paid. For this reason, we do not offer refunds after registration closes.

Contact the Registrar, Michelle Richardson, at: michellerichardson.stoa@gmail.com with any adds, drops or changes.

Script Submission for THE DESERT GEM 2025

We are accepting ONLY electronic script submissions.

When:

*E-Script Submission OPENS: January 3, 2025, 08:00 am PST*
*E-Script Submissions CLOSES: January 10, 2025, 05:00pm PST*

The deadline for electronic script submission is January 10, 2025. This will give our script submission team time to review your scripts and enable you to make changes if they are necessary. There will be a $25.00 late fee if received after the deadline.

Who:  Competitors who are entered in the following events *must submit scripts for approval* before competing:

-Interpretative Speeches: Dramatic, Duo, Humorous, and Open
-Platform Speeches: Original Oratory, Persuasive, Expository
-Wildcard Speech: Slam Poetry

-All script submissions must be completed by the deadline above. You will receive a confirmation email once your script has been received and approved. *Please save a copy of this confirmation email on your phone or print it out to have with you at check-in*.

 Where: Submit Scripts 

If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledging a successful upload within 24 hours, then please follow up with an email to TDGscripts@gmail.com.

Script approval: Once your files are uploaded our script approval team will review your script. Upon approval, you will be sent a script approval email.

You do not need to bring printed copies of scripts as the electronic copy will be available.

Please do not be discouraged if you are waitlisted in an event.  We are being conservative on our room allocations.  We most likely are able to add more rooms.

Please be patient as we work through moving rooms or the schedule to accommodate as many students/events as our facility can hold.   It does take time.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Michelle Richardson
Tournament Director
The Desert Gem 

Community & Alumni Judges

Thank you for your willingness to participate in The Desert Gem as a judge. We hope you are blessed and encouraged by your experience during the tournament.

Qualifications:

The judge must be at least 18 years old and graduated high-school, and in good physical and mental health.

*THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW...*

*ORIENTATION:*  After you arrive, there will be a training session to be held approximately 1 hour before your scheduled round. Please allow 30-45 minutes after the round to fill out your ballot and enjoy refreshments prepared especially for you. *Due to time constraints, it is not feasible to judge 2 rounds consecutively.* However, judging every other round is easily done.

*PARKING:* Community judge parking will be designated with signs.  As a community judge, you have preferential parking locations.

*JUDGE CHECK-IN:* Located at Ballot Push in the Judges' Lounge.

*TIME COMMITMENT:*  Orientation, judging, and filling out the ballots will take you about 3 hours. To check the schedule click the Schedule tab to the left.

*TO REGISTER:*  Please click on the JUDGE REGISTRATION tab at the bottom of the page and follow the prompts.  

*INVITATION:*  If a competitor has invited you, we ask that you indicate that by typing their name in the appropriate box during your judge registration so that students may receive credit for your participation.

*PREVIEW:*  When you arrive at the Judge Orientation 1 hour before the beginning of your round, you will be given a good overview of the event you will be judging.

Again, thank you for your support and willingness to judge!

STUDENT MEALS

*Meals* 

We recommend pre-ordering student meals or bringing your own as there will be minimal time to leave campus during competition hours.  We will post the student meal options after Christmas. I will email everyone when they are available to order.

We're sorry, due to campus restrictions, no crockpot use is allowed.

Registration for your meals will be available through 5:00 pm, January 12, 2025. Payment is also due by January 12, 2025 at 5:00pm.  If payment is not received by then we will not be able to reserve your meal.  Thank you.

Apologetics 

Description: The competitor is given four (4) minutes to prepare a persuasive, reasoned, and original speech that defends a
tenet of the Christian 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 is key: greater weight should be given to the speech content, rather than the
presentation style. 

Categories 2, 3, & 5 will be covered at the tournament.

Mars Hill

Description: The competitor is given four (4) minutes to prepare a speech to identify theme(s) from books, movies, and other
genres, discuss their appeal and impact to the culture, and then compare and contrast them with a biblical truth(s).

Goals: The competitor learns to relate cultural references to themes common in humanity to find common ground and draw the listener to Christian truths. The competitor will share Biblical principles on a conversational, personal level to inspire reflection, understanding that God’s truth is not divorced from culture. Content is key: greater weight should be given to the speech content, rather than the presentation style.

Current Music, Classic Film and Television, & Literature will be covered at the tournament.

Please join us for The Desert Gem *AFTER PARTY*

Where: *In-N-Out*

When:  Immediately after the speech awards ceremony.

Address:  
78611 Hwy. 111
La Quinta, CA 92253
On Hwy. 111, E. of Washington St.

See you there!

HOTELS

The desert offers many hotels.  We have found that online travel and hotel sites offer the best rates, especially when paired with AAA discounts.  You may also try Airbnb or VRBO type lodging websites (sharing with another family is a way to share costs too).

Since this is high season in the desert, booking early will ensure a better room rate and availability.

HOST HOUSING 
Requests deadline 12.10.24

Thank you for your interest, unfortunately Host housing is full for 2025.

==The Desert Gem Junior Tournament
We are very excited to be offering a Junior Tournament for students ages 8 - 12 (if 12 subsequent to Oct 1, 2024) only.

Parents, please use discretion in deciding to register very young competitors. If your child will not be able to stand in front of judges and speak without you prompting them, we would advise you against entering them into the competition.

*Event - $25*

*The Event:*
Juniors Impromptu
Juniors Apologetics (we will use category 1)

*Misc. Notes:*
*Time Limits: Please be aware that the time limits have changed for these events!*

* Impromptu is three minutes (no penalty for going over)(with two minute prep)
* Apologetics is four minutes (no penalty for going over)(with three minute prep)

Judges: Our lovely community judges will be judging.

*All tournament deadlines, refunds and drops apply to the Junior Tournament.*

Attire: Tournament attire is Sunday best.

Awards: All competitors will be acknowledged at the award ceremony! Remember to be dressed in your Sunday best!