National Speech and Debate Tournament
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The National Speech and Debate Tournament is a week-long high school championship forensics competition hosted by the National Forensic League. It is held annually in early June, and is hosted in a different part of the United States every year, although it tends to be hosted in cities that are amenable to the large influx of students and coaches, and have reasonably-priced accommodations.
Also called "Nationals" by many forensic competitors, it is a very difficult tournament to both qualify and compete in, and therefore, qualifying or being a runner-up in this tournament is considered to be a great honor. Unlike state tournaments, the National Tournament involves competition between NFL competitors across the United States; thousands of competitors from across the country attend each year. The NFL 2006 National Tournament took place in Grapevine, Texas about 20 minutes outside of Dallas/Fort Worth. The NFL 2007 National Tournament will take place in Wichita, Kansas.
[edit] Qualifying at the District Level
Competitors qualify to the National Tournament by placing in the top spots at District Tournaments. The number of competitors in each event in each district determines the number of competitors that will qualify to the National Tournament from that event. For example, smaller districts of 200 competitors may only be able to send the top one or two teams from each event, while larger districts may be able to send five or more. Those who qualify at the district level then move on to participate in the National Tournament. Since the National Forensic League takes a smaller number of competitors from the district level to compete in the national tournament, the National Speech and Debate Tournament is often considered to be more prestigious than the Catholic Forensic League's Grand National Tournament. Read more about the District Tournament in the article: NFL District Tournament
In most districts, there are two qualifying tournaments. For example, some districts may opt to split the qualifying competition for Student Congress from the remaining events. Larger districts may split up their qualifiers even more, hosting separate tournaments for their most popular events, such as Policy Debate or Public Forum Debate. Hosting separate tournaments allows competitors the unique opportunity to qualify in more than one event, which is not an uncommon occurrence. Additionally, some districts allow competitors to "double enter". This simply means that rather than entering in a single event at their district qualifying competition, a competitor will enter in two events: one speech, and one debate. If a competitor qualifies for nationals in both events, they must sign an intent form stating which event they choose to go in. If they are registered in a team event, that event takes precedence over an individual event.
After a competitor gets eliminated from his or her qualifying event, he or she will then move on to a supplemental event. Although considered less prestigious, supplemental events offer an eliminated competitor the chance to win at a national tournament. An interesting phenemona observed at national tournaments is that once competitors are eliminated from their main event, they often choose to pack up and go home. With generally half of all competitors gone after elimination rounds, competitors that choose to stay and do their supplemental events can find themselves heading home with awards.
[edit] Tournament Events
Qualifying Events
- Original Oratory
- Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking
- Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
- Humorous Interpretation
- Dramatic Interpretation
- Lincoln-Douglas Debate
- Policy Debate
- Student Congress
- Public Forum Debate
Supplemental Events
