This is the Tournament Portal for our 2022 Spring East Tournament which will be held online on February 25-27th, 2022.

Registration

Registration for the 2022 Spring East Tournament will open on January 31 and will close on February 11.

Press Releases

English pre-tournament press release.

Bulgarian pre-tournament press release.

Tournament Schedule

All speech divisions (Oratory, Prose, Poetry, Duo) have been merged due to low participation numbers.

Friday, February 25

18:00 - Student Leader Meeting
19:00 - Opening Ceremony (Zoom)
19:30 - Students Social Meeting (Zoom)
19:45 - Judge Corner (Google Meet)

Saturday, February 26

10:00 - Round 1 Flight B: Oratory, Prose, and Duo
11:30 - Round 1 Flight A: Debate (Prepared) and Poetry
13:30 - Round 2 Flight B: Oratory, Prose, and Duo
15:00 - Round 2 Flight A: Debate (Impromptu) and Poetry
17:00 - Break
17:30 - Semifinals: Prose, Oratory, Duo
19:00 - Round 3: Debate (Prepared)
Semifinals: Poetry

Sunday, February 27

10:00 - Round 4: Debate (Impromptu)
12:00 - Finals: Prose, Oratory, and Duo
13:30 - Finals: Poetry and Debate (Prepared)
16:00 - Closing Ceremony (Zoom)

Judging

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

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).

The Judge Sign-Up form can be reached by clicking here.

Coaching

BEST Coaches should download our Coaches’ Checklist and make sure their teams are up to date.

Debate Motions

1. This House would legalise physician-assisted death.
   Infoslide: Physician-assisted death permits mentally competent, adult patients with terminal illness to request a prescription for life-ending medications from their physician. The patient must self-administer and ingest the medication without assistance.

2. This House believes that the use of violence can be a legitimate form of political protest.

3. This House would abolish primary and secondary school grades/years that group children based on age, and instead group them by competency and intelligence.

Impromptu motion hints:

Media Literacy, Livelihood

Debate Motion Articles

Note: These articles are meant to be a starting point for teams to find additional information about the motions. The BEST Foundation does not endorse the opinions presented in the articles, but is offering them as an additional resource for students to use at their own discretion.

Additionally, students are reminded of the plagiarism policy. Students’ speeches should be composed mainly of their own ideas, thoughts, and arguments. While students can incorporate evidence, data, and quotes from these articles into their speeches, they must cite their sources properly. Students found to have plagiarized (used another’s ideas without proper attribution) will be at risk of disqualification.

Motion: This House would legalise physician-assisted death.

1. Assisted or Hastened Death: The Healthcare Practitioner’s Dilemma

2. Should there be a legal right to die?

Motion: This House believes that the use of violence can be a legitimate form of political protest.

1. Is political violence ever justifiable?

2. The Problem with Protesting Violence with Violence

3. Hong Kong protests: Is violence in the pursuit of justice ever justified?

Motion: This House would abolish primary and secondary school grades/years that group children based on age, and instead group them by competency and intelligence.

1. Is Ability Grouping the Way to Go? Or Should It Go Away?

2. Why grouping students by ability makes sense