The Extemp topic areas for prelims through semis will be, in no particular order: US Foreign Policy, Latin America & Africa, Europe & Asia, The Economic Crisis, US Politics, US Domestic Policy. The final round will be on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We’ve released a schedule at last; sorry for the delay but we were working to ensure several nice things were worked out, such as the five-prelim format for IE events, and the addition of a 7th round in Varsity LD, which will ensure that instead of 24 4-2 VLDers being left out of the break, only 2 or so 5-2 VLDers will be left out.

Please note that as with any tournament, this schedule is something of a theory, but this one is firmer than most at this point; we doubt there’ll be any major changes.  However, we’ll notify you of any changes at registration anyway.

2009ClassicSchedule.pdf

There’s apparently a rumor going around that the Kaplan Princeton Classic is using the November PF topic. Given that the tournament is well into December, and we’re not stuck in the past, we’ll be using the December topic for PF. Likewise, we’ll be using November/December in LD, not Sept/October, and the Extemp rounds will not be likely to ask you to predict the outcome of the 2008 elections.

The Kaplan Princeton Classic will be using the new NFL rules for Public Forum debate, including a two-minute Final Focus and separate speaker scores the two students on each team.

On behalf of the Princeton Debate Panel, it is our pleasure to invite you and your forensics team to the thirteenth annual Kaplan Princeton Classic, to be held from Friday, December 4, 2009 to Sunday, December 6, 2009. The tournament will consist of competition in Varsity and Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, Congressional Debate, and six Speech events. This year, we are adding Oral Interpretation of Literature to our speech offering, and are also offering 5 prelim rounds in IE. Finalists in Varsity Lincoln-Douglas, elimination round participants in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Octofinalists in Public Forum debate will earn a bid to their respective Tournament of Champions. Elimination round participants in IE will earn a bid to the brand new National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC).

Last year, our tournament made a strong leap forward in tournament administration and policies, and we hope to continue and build upon that success. Joining us in person this year as Tab Director is Chris Palmer of Newton South in Massachusetts. Jim Menick of Hendrick Hudson (NY) and Joe Vaughan of Scarsdale (NY) will run LD tab; Brother John McGrory of Chaminade (NY) will direct Public Forum, and Jonathan Chavez of Newton South and Barb Giuliano of St Joseph’s Prep (PA) will run Speech Tab. Bill Cooper, now of Manchester-Essex Regional (MA) will again direct Congressional Debate. We’re also particularly proud of our Extemp finals panel, which will include 5 NFL national finalists, as well as champions of NFL Nationals, the Montgomery Bell Academy Round Robin, and the Glenbrooks.

If you need additional assistance, please email us at princeton@tabroom.com.

We hope your school year and forensics season are off to a great start, and look forward to seeing you all in New Jersey in December!

Yours Sincerely,

Chelsea Ayres ‘12, James Hao ‘12 & Charlie Metzger ’12