This is the Tournament Portal for our Fall West Tournament in Sofia. The upcoming tournament will be held at Akad. Mihail Arnaudov 119th School in Sofia on November 16-17. Registration for this tournament is now closed. For questions, please email us at info@bestfoundation.bg.
Press Releases
The pre-tournament press release is available here in English and here in Bulgarian. The post-tournament press release is available here in English and here in Bulgarian.
Tentative* Schedule
Saturday, November 16th
9:30 - 11:00 - Team Check In
10:30 - 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 break
15:00 - Round 2 Flight B: Oratory, Prose, and Duo
16:30 - Round 2 Flight A: Debate (Impromptu) and Poetry
18:15 - Quarterfinals: Prose
Semifinals: Oratory, Duo
19:30 - Quarterfinals: Poetry
Round 3: Debate (Prepared)
20:30 - Semifinals: Prose
Sunday, November 17th
8:30 - Semifinals: Poetry
Round 4: Debate (Impromptu)
10:00 - Finals: Prose, Oratory, and Duo
11:30 - Finals: Poetry and Debate (Prepared)
13:30 - Closing Ceremony
*Note that schedule is subject to change
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! To register to judge, please fill out this form. 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).
Transportation
Phone numbers for trusted taxi services are below:
Yellow Taxi - 0291119
Радио СВ Такси - 0291263
Такси за едно евро - 0280700
We highly recommend Moovit to navigate to the school if you’re not familiar with the city’s public transport system. The tournament will take place at Akad. Mihail Arnaudov 119th School, which can be found on this Google map:
Accommodation
Teams, coaches, and judges will be staying in one of these hotels. Coaches and judges will receive an email containing their hotel placement soon.
Food
A list of restaurants and supermarkets in Sofia is available here.
Debate Motions
Novice Prepared
This House would penalize sports teams whose supporters commit immoral or violent acts.
This House, as Bulgaria, would limit internal rural-urban migration.*
* This is an actor motion. It is to be debated from the point of view of the actor - in this case Bulgaria - and aims to determine whether adopting the motion would benefit the actor.
This House believes that compulsory voting does more harm than good.
Novice Impromptu Hints
Violence
Technology
Varsity Prepared
This House would lift patents on eco-friendly technologies.
This House would substantially raise Sin taxes*.
*Sin tax is a tax on goods considered undesirable or harmful, such as alcohol or tobacco.
This House would ban unpaid internships.
Varsity Impromptu Hints
Higher Education
Relationships