National Speech and Debate Tournament
The National Speech and Debate Tournament is a week-long high school championship forensics competition hosted by the National Speech and Debate Association. 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, the National Tournament involves competition between competitors across the United States; thousands of competitors from across the country attend each year. The 2009 tournament was held in Birmingham, Alabama. The 2010 tournament took place in Kansas City, Missouri and was again held there in 2014. The 2011 tournament took place in Dallas, Texas. A list of all the participants in the latest tournament (as well as several past tournaments), including the unofficial results, is available.
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 up to four. Those who qualify at the district level then move on to participate in the National 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, or hold separate tournaments for Individual Events and Debate. Additionally, some districts allow competitors to "double enter". This means that rather than entering in a single event at a district qualifying competition, a competitor enters in two events. A competitor competing in multiple events must sign a letter of intent beforehand, stating which event they choose to go in if they qualify for nationals in both events. If they register in a team event, that event takes precedence over an individual event.
Competition at the National Tournament
After a competitor gets eliminated from a qualifying event, they may move on to a supplemental event. If the competitor is eliminated later in the competition in a qualifying event, or is eliminated from all of their supplemental events, they may compete in a consolation event. A competitor may register to compete in two supplemental events and one consolation event, but these registrations must be filed by the coach before the tournament begins.
Tournament Events
Qualifying Events
- Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
- Duo Interpretation
- Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking
- Humorous Interpretation
- Dramatic Interpretation
- Lincoln-Douglas Debate
- Original Oratory
- Policy Debate
- Public Forum Debate
- Congressional Debate
Supplemental Events
- Extemporaneous Commentary
- Expository Speaking
- Prose Interpretation
- Poetry Interpretation
- Extemporaneous Debate
Consolation Events
- Impromptu Speaking
- Storytelling
Past NFL National Champions in Lincoln–Douglas Debate[1]
1980 – Mary Ambrose, Omaha Marion HS, Nebraska
1981 – Oscar Cantu, San Antonio-Churchill, Texas
1982 – Melissa Obegi, The Marlborough School, California
1983 – James Kincaid, Jr., Tulsa-Washington HS, Oklahoma
1984 – David Yalof, Bronx HS of Science, New York
1985 – Patrick Bannon, Regis HS, New York
1986 – John Wertheim, St. Michael's HS, New Mexico
1987 – Bailey Irwin, West Charlotte HS, North Carolina
1988 – Anoop Mishra, Homewood HS, Alabama
1989 – Bob Berry, Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee
1990 – Shalini Ramanathan, Newman Smith HS, Texas
1991 – Thomas Marlowe, Chesterton HS, Indiana
1992 – Jay Steed, Providence HS, North Carolina
1993 – Matthew Whitley, San Angelo Central HS, Texas
1994 – Claire Carman, Vestavia Hills HS, Alabama
1995 – Justin Osofsky, Isidore Newman School, Louisiana
1996 – Dan Vukelich, Benile-St. Margaret's HS, Minnesota
1997 – Marc Wallenstein, Greenhill School, Texas
1998 – Allison Pickett, Vestavia Hills HS, Alabama
1999 – Stephen Davis, Des Moines-Roosevelt HS, Iowa
2000 – Adam Preiss, Monte Vista HS, California
2001 – Maya Babu, Eagan HS, Minnesota
2002 – Oscar Shine, El Cerrito HS, California
2003 – Adam Chilton, Mountain View HS, Arizona
2004 – Jed W. Glickstein, Edina HS, Minnesota
2005 – Tara Tedrow, Celebration School, Florida
2006 – Douglas Jeffers, Dulles HS, Texas
2007 – Taarini Vohra, Hockaday School, Texas
2008 – Todd Liipfert, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, Texas
2009 – Shivani Vohra, Hockaday School, Texas
2010 – Benjamin Sprung-Keyser, Harvard-Westlake School, California
2011 – Josh Roberts, Northland Christian School, Texas
2012 – Gabe Bronshteyn, Monte Vista HS, California
2013 – Laith Shakir, Leland HS, California
2014 - Lawrence Zhou, Bartlesville High School, Oklahoma
Past NFL National Champions in Policy Debate[2]
1980 - Paul Kollmer, John Schmitt, LaSalle College HS, Pennsylvania
1981 - Jeffrey Wortman, Mark Koulogeorge, Glenbrook-South, Illinois
1982 - Jeffrey Abate, John Bu, Cathedral Preparatory, Erie, Pennsylvania
1983- Andrew Charrier, Stephan Florman, St. Francis HS, Minnesota
1984- Mike Cole, Steve O’Brien, Huron HS, South Dakota
1985 - Jeff Grizzel, David Bearce, High Point-Andrews HS, North Carolina
1986 - Brian Kramer, Robert Unikel, Glenbrook-North HS, Illinois
1987 - Sarah S. Gannett, Zachary H. Leber, Manchester HS, Massachusetts
1988 - David Ball, David Massey, Westminster Schools, Georgia
1989 - Noah Levine, Don Gibbons, San Antonio-Lee HS, Texas
1990 - Craig Ackerman, Steven Sklaver, St. Mark’s School of Texas
1991 - Charles Henn, Bill Fullilove, Westminster Schools, Georgia
1992 - David and Jonathon Reymann, Vestavia Hills HS, Alabama
1993 - Chad Sachs, Aleem Mawji, Kinkaid School, Texas
1994- Brian Ralston, Rosylyn Rhee, Centerville HS, Ohio
1995 - Kristen Langwell, Rachel Gressel, Niles-West HS, Illinois
1996 - Dustin Marshall, Lindsay Harrison, The Greenhill School, Texas
1997 - Ari Meltzer, Andrew Silverman, Glenbrook-North HS, Illinois
1998 - Andrew Bradt, Caitlin Talmadge, The Greenhill School, Texas
1999 - Shawn Powers, Dan Shalmon, Glenbrook-North HS, Illinois
2000- Michael Klinger and Kevin Mazur, Glenbrook-North HS, Illinois
2001 - Stacey Nathan and Michael Klinger, Glenbrook-North HS, Illinois
2002 - Josh Brandon and Michael Martin, St. Mark’s School, Texas
2003 - Joshua Garen and Ben Meiches, The Blake School, Minnesota
2004 - Matt Nadel and Adam Stern, Glenbrook North HS, Illinois
2005 - Alex Lamballe & Tripp Rebrovick, & Matt Bodnar & Kevin Wieck, Montgomery Bell Academy, Tennessee
2006 - Matt Grimes and Dylan Groves, Bellarmine College Prep, California
2007 - Matt Fisher and Stephanie Spies, Glenbrook North HS, Illinois
2008 - Evan Defilippis and James Hamraie, Colleyville Heritage HS, Texas
2009 - Sean Hernandez and Reid Ehrlich-Quinn, Damien HS, California
2010 - Misael Gonzalez and Kevin Hirn, Whitney Young Magnet High School, Illinois
2011- Sam Clark and Miles Owens, George Washington HS, Colorado
2012 - Liam Hancock and Jeffrey Ding, West HS – Iowa City, Iowa
2013- Nathaniel Sawyer and Natalie Knez, Glenbrook North High School, Illinois
2014 - Christopher W. Callahan and Brent E. Mitchell, Glenbrook South High School, Illinois