This is the Tournament Portal for our 2023 Fall East Tournament which will be held in Sliven on November 25-26th.
Registration
The registration timeline is yet to be announced.
Host Site
The tournament will take place in HSWL Zahary Stoyanov in Sliven.
Accommodations
BEST reserves up to two nights of accommodation for all participants. BEST commits to negotiating accommodation costs at or under 35 BGN per student per night. Participants have to pay for their own accommodation costs while BEST covers the costs of all judges for one night in a hotel room and up to one chaperone.
Hotels
Judges and Team Coaches will receive emails with their hotel allocation for the weekend. Please refrain from communicating with the hotels directly and contact BEST instead if you have questions or concerns.
Travel
All teams are required to bring a chaperone who will be legally responsible for their team’s safety when travelling to and competing at the venue. Chaperones are required to be aged 18 or over and to be fluent in Bulgarian.
Teams are encouraged to apply for a travel scholarship. Scholarship forms will be uploaded in time for the tournament registration. Teams allocated scholarships will be reimbursed after arriving at the tournament venue. Please read our scholarship terms and conditions for further information BEFORE applying for a scholarship.
Press Releases
The press releases will be uploaded soon!
Tournament Schedule
Please note that Duo has been merged;
Awards will be given to the top 3 novice performers in the merged category based on preliminary round results
Friday, Nov 24, 2023
18:15 - Volunteer Training
Saturday, Nov 25, 2023
08:45 - Team Check-in
09:00 - Judge Q+A // SL Meeting
10:00 - Opening Ceremony - Hall Sliven, Georgi Rakovski str. 18-20 (5 min walking from the school)
11:00 - Round 1 Flight A: Oratory, Prose, and Duo
12:30 - Round 1 Flight B: Poetry and Debate (Prepared)
14:00 - Lunch
14:45 - Round 2 Flight A: Oratory, Prose, and Duo
15:30 - Reimbursement for Team Scholarships and Travel Chaperones (1 hour)
16:00 - Round 2 Flight B: Poetry and Impromptu Debate Motion Released (45 min. of prep)
16:45 - Round 2 Debate start time
18:15 - Round 3: Novice Oratory
Semifinals: Duo, Varsity Oratory, Prose
19:30 - Round 3: Debate (Prepared), Semifinal: Poetry
Sunday, Nov 26, 2023
08:15 - Check-in for Debaters
08:45 - Round 4: Impromptu Debate Motion Released (45 min. of prep)
09:00 - Judge report time
09:30 - Round 4: Debate start time
10:00 - Reimbursement for Judges (1 hour)
10:30 - Finals Flight A: Oratory, Prose, and Duo
11:30 - Finals Flight B: Poetry and Debate Motion Released (Impromptu w/ 1 hour of prep)
12:00 - Lunch
12:30 - Finals Debate start time
14:00 - Closing Ceremony - Hall Sliven - Georgi Rakovski str. 18-20 (5 min walking from the school)
15:30 - Departures
A - HSWL Zahary Stoyanov - (Velikoknyazhevska 1, str.)
B - Hall Sliven (Georgi Rakovski str. 18-20) - Opening and Closing Ceremonies
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).
Our Judge Sign-Up form can be accessed by clicking here!
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 up to one night of hotel accommodations for regional tournaments. In exceptional circumstances when a judge can’t make it to the tournament site before 11:00 AM on Saturday, we will cover two nights of hotel accommodation.
Coaching
BEST Coaches should download our Coaches’ Checklist and make sure their teams are up to date.
Debate Motions
Prepared
THP a world where instead of charging tuition fees to students upfront, universities collect a portion of their income upon graduation.
THW make voting compulsory
Impromptu
Emotions
Worldview
Social Media