This is the Tournament Portal for our Fall West Tournament in Vratsa. The upcoming tournament will be held at Yoan Ekzarh FLHS in Vratsa on November 17-18. Registration for the tournament is now open and closes on November 5. Coaches, you should have received an invitation to register for this tournament on Speechwire. If you haven’t received the invitation, or if you are a coach in a different region and would like to bring your team to this tournament, please email us at info@bestfoundation.bg.

Letter of Invitation

You can find the official letter of invitation in Bulgarian here! If you want a customized letter mailed to your school, e-mail us at info@bestfoundation.bg.

Press Releases

Here you can find the pre-tournament press release in English and Bulgarian.

Tentative* Schedule

Saturday, November 17th
9:00 - 11:00 - Team Check In
10:00 - 12:00 - Judge Briefing Session 1
11:00 - Opening Ceremony
12:00 -  Round 1 Flight B: Oratory, Prose, and Duo
             Judge Briefing Session 2
13:30 -  Round 1 Flight A: Debate (Prepared) and Poetry
14:30 -  Lunch
15:00 -  Round 2 Flight B: Oratory, Prose, and Duo
16:30 -  Round 2 Flight A: Debate (Impromptu) and Poetry
18:15 -  Quarter-finals: Varsity Oratory, Varsity Prose, Duo
             Semi-finals: Novice Oratory and Novice Prose
19:30 -  Quarter-finals: Varsity Poetry/ Semi-finals: Novice Poetry
             Round 3: Debate (Prepared)
20:30 -  Semi-finals: Varsity Prose, Varsity Oratory, and Duo

Sunday, November 18th

8:30 -  Semi-final: Varsity Poetry,
           Round 4: Debate (Impromptu)
10:00 -  Finals: Prose, Oratory, and Duo
11:30 -  Finals: Poetry and Debate
13:30 -  Closing Ceremony

*Note that schedule is subject to change based on registrations.

Judging

We welcome all high school graduates with C1 or higher English to judge at our tournaments. If you are new to BEST and our tournaments, visit our Judging Basics page!

We will reimburse all judges for their transport if they use trains or buses, but we strongly encourage taking the most affordable option when possible (usually trains). Please purchase your ticket back from the tournament location as well, as we cannot reimburse you without being presented tickets. We will provide food at the tournament site, and we will also cover one night of hotel accommodations for regional tournaments. In exceptional circumstances when a judge can’t make it to the tournament site before 11am on Saturday, we will cover two nights of hotel accommodation.

Judge registration for the tournament is now open, and the sign-up form can be found here! Coaches, you must register if you are judging, too, and don’t forget to include your judges when you fill out your team roster spreadsheet (see below).

Team Roster and Hotels Spreadsheet*

The Registration period for the upcoming tournament has ended.

In compliance with European GDPR laws, any student under the age of 18 who wishes to attend this BEST tournament needs to have this photo release form signed by their parent/guardian and bring it to the tournament. If a student’s coach fails to send photographic proof of the filled in form to BEST by registration deadline, the student’s registration is void.

*Note: Any names and other personal data filled in the spreadsheet will be used solely for the purposes of organizing the tournament, securing accommodation, and tournament statistics.

Scholarship Application

The Scholarship application period for the upcoming tournament has ended.

Transportation

You can call the following taxi companies for transport to the out-of-town hotels. Please allow ample time before you depart and call since their fleets are limited!

• Korekt Taxi - 092 666 666

• Prestige Taxi - 092 666 666

The tournament will take place at Yoan Ekzarh FLHS, which can be found on this Google map:

Food

You can refer to this list of restaurants and supermarkets in Vratsa!

Debate Motions

Novice:

Prepared motions:

• THW ban further development of Artificial Intelligence

• THW stop directing European Investment Fund money to states that refuse to take a share of refugees proportional to their share of EU GDP.

• THW not allow corporations to donate to political parties, campaigns, or candidates.

Impromptu hints:

• Free speech

• Child psychology

Varsity:

Prepared motions:

• TH, as a formerly communist state*, would remove the monuments of the former regime.
  * This is an actor motion. It is to be debated from the point of view of the actor - in this case the formerly communist state - and aims to determine whether adopting the motion would benefit the actor.

• THBT governments should abandon the strategy of "decapitation"* in fighting terrorism.
  * Decapitation in this context is defined as targetting the leaders of terrorist organizations.

• TH supports the promotion of collective guilt after large scale crimes against humanity.

Impromptu hints:

• Faith

• Art