The National Forensic League is one of two major U.S. national organizations which direct high school competitive speech events. (The other is the National Catholic Forensic League or NCFL.). The National Committee meets several times a year for rules revision. The officials vote on each rule change, which affects the entire high school forensics community. A non-profit organization (often called non-profit org or simply non-profit or not-for-profit) can be seen as an organization that doesnt have a goal to make a profit. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ripon is a city located in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. ... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... Alternative meaning: Organisation (band). ... A modern day speaker addressing an audience through microphones Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners. ... The National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) is a speech and debate league that was formed in 1951. ...

The word "forensic" is an adjective meaning "of public debate or argument." The word is derived from the Latin word forensis, meaning "of the forum." The sense of the word "forensic" that means "pertaining to legal trials" dates from the 1600s (Oxford English Dictionary) and led to the use of the word "forensics" in reference to legal evidence. For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... The Forum of Jerash, in Jordan. ... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most successful dictionary of the English language, (not to be confused with the one-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, formerly New Oxford Dictionary of English, of... Forensics redirects here. ...

History

Founded May 25, 1925 by Bruno E. Jacob in Ripon, Wisconsin, the NFL hosted the first national high school speech tournament in 1930 with 49 schools from 17 states. National speech and debate tournaments were not held during World War II; however, due to encouragement by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the national Student Congress continued to be held. By and large the rules that governed that tournament are still in effect today providing one of the longest running national competitions for high school students. Approximately 1.2 million high school students have been members of the NFL since its establishment in 1925. is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bruno Ernst Jacob (September 9, 1899 - January 5, 1979) was a professor at Ripon College in Wisconsin and founder of the National Forensics League. ... Ripon is a city located in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. ... For other uses, see High school (disambiguation). ... The term state may refer to: a sovereign political entity, see state unitary state nation state a non-sovereign political entity, see state (non-sovereign). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ... FDR redirects here. ... Alternate uses: Student (disambiguation) Etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb stŭdērĕ, which means to study, a student is one who studies. ...

Events

Each year, the NFL hosts the National Speech and Debate Tournament. This tournament attracts over 3000 high school students who compete for national honors in a wide variety of events. These events include: National Competitors The National Speech and Debate Tournament is a week-long high school championship forensics competition hosted by the National Forensic League itself. ...

• Policy Debate (Cross Examination: CX)
• Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD)
• Public Forum Debate (PFD) (Ted Turner Debate)
• Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking (FX or IX)
• Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking (DX or USX)
• Original Oratory (OO)
• Dramatic Interpretation (DI)
• Humorous Interpretation (HI)
• Duo Interpretation (DUO)
• Student Congress (Congress)

Students who qualify to the National Tournament in a main event yet are eliminated in the preliminary rounds may participate in one of the following Supplemental Events: Policy debate is a form of speech competition in which teams of two debate whether or not a specific policy action should be enacted. ... This article is about a style of debate. ... Public Forum Debate, sometimes called by its former names, Controversy Debates or Ted Turner Debate, and sometimes called Crossfire Debate, is a relatively new style of debate practiced in National Forensic League and National Catholic Forensic League competitions. ... Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking (also called International Extemporaneous Speaking, and variously contracted to International Extemp, Foreign Extemp, FX, FEX, or IX) is a style of competitive speaking sponsored by the National Forensic League. ... Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking (also called United States Extemporaneous Speaking or National Extemporaneous Speaking, and variously contracted to Domestic Extemp, National Extemp, U.S. Extemp, DX, NX, or USX) is a style of competitive speaking sponsored by the National Forensic League. ... Original Oratory. ... Dramatic Interpretation (often shortened to Dramatic Interp or just DI) is an event in National Forensic League (and NFL-related) high school forensics compeitions. ... Humorous Interpretation (often shortened to Humorous Interp, HI, or simply Humorous) is an event in National Forensic League (and NFL-related) high school forensics competitions. ... Duo Interpretation, or often times simply called Duo Interp, is an official speech event of the National Forensics League, and the National Catholic Forensics League. ... Student Congress (also known as Congressional Debate) is a form of high school debate in the United States. ...

• Prose Interpretation {PR or Prose}
• Poetry Interpretation {PO or Poetry}
• Extemporaneous Commentary
• Expository Address

In addition to Supplemental Events, these Consolation Events are also held at the National Tournament: Prose interpretation (also known as prose reading) is a non-memorized event in which competitors choose a published piece of work that is not poetry or drama. ... Individual events is a type of speech competition characterized by individuals competing in a variety of different events. ... Extemporaneous Commentary (or ex-temp com. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...

• Impromptu Speaking
• Storytelling

All the above events are NFL-sponsored events which one can compete in at the NFL National Tournament. There is also talk of Prose and Poetry becoming full events at the National Tournament, as well as the addition of Oral Interpretation (OI) as a supplemental event.^{[citation needed]} Impromptu speaking is a speech and debate consolation event that involves a seven minute speech, with up to three of these seven minutes available for use as preparation time (known prep time, or simply prep). ... National Competitors The National Speech and Debate Tournament is a week-long high school championship forensics competition hosted by the National Forensic League itself. ...

The Rostrum

The Rostrum is the official monthly magazine of the National Forensic League. The magazine was originally titled the Bulletin, which was first published in 1926. Since its creation, the Rostrum has evolved into a forum for debate education and news, soliciting articles from coaches and debaters. The Rostrum is a popular place for debate camps and brief companies to place their advertisements supporting the magazine. The Rostrum is free to all NFL members, and also contains information on results from the national tournament, opinion pieces on the evolving debate world, and strategy tips for debaters. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the West Wing episode see: Debate Camp (West Wing) A debate camp or debate institute is a training workshop for high school and collegiate debaters. ...

Points

Double-ruby award pin earned with 500 points. The sterling silver pin is 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall.

Those who participate in competitive forensics earn points for their efforts. In the debate events, a win in a round is worth six points while a loss is worth three. In the speech events, there are three point brackets; original speeches, worth six points, interpretation events, worth five points, and speaking events, worth four points. Six-point events include Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, and Expository; first place in one of these rounds earns a competitor six points, second earns the competitor five, third earns four, etc. Five-point events include Prose, Poetry, Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, and Dual Interpretation. The four-point event category is reserved for events such as Impromptu Speaking. Image File history File linksMetadata NFLdoubleRubyPin_wb. ... Image File history File linksMetadata NFLdoubleRubyPin_wb. ... A variety of award pins, the largest of which is only 1 inch (2. ...

National Forensic League Points (NFL points) are employed in the scoring system used by the National Forensic League to rank competitors' lifetime progress, and to determine how many competitors a school may register in an NFL District Tournament. NFL District Tournaments are held each year by the National Forensic League to determine the qualifiers to the National Speech and Debate Tournament in speech, debate, and Student Congress. ...

In debate events, the winner (or both members of the winning team) each earn six points, and the loser earns three. In speaking events, points vary with the speaker's place in the round. Competitors in events that involve creating original material such as: Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking (FX), Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking (DX), Original Oratory (OO), Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD), Public Forum Debate (PF) and Policy Debate (CX) each earn more points than competitors in events that involve interpreting previously published material such as Prose (PR), Poetry (PO), Humorous Interpretation (HI), Duet Acting (DA), and Dramatic Interpretation (DI). The least expected points are categorized in "Speaking" events. These include Impromptu (Imp), and any other optional speaking events. In years past, Student Congress (StuCo) speeches given each received a score of up to six points. New NFL rules now allow up to eight points per speech. Commonly more than one judge scores each speech in Student Congress, so in this case the scores of the judges are averaged and rounded up to calculate the speech score. Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking (also called International Extemporaneous Speaking, and variously contracted to International Extemp, Foreign Extemp, FX, FEX, or IX) is a style of competitive speaking sponsored by the National Forensic League. ... Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking (also called United States Extemporaneous Speaking or National Extemporaneous Speaking, and variously contracted to Domestic Extemp, National Extemp, U.S. Extemp, DX, NX, or USX) is a style of competitive speaking sponsored by the National Forensic League. ... Original Oratory. ... This article is about a style of debate. ... Public Forum Debate, sometimes called by its former names, Controversy Debates or Ted Turner Debate, and sometimes called Crossfire Debate, is a relatively new style of debate practiced in National Forensic League and National Catholic Forensic League competitions. ... Policy debate is a form of speech competition in which teams of two debate whether or not a specific policy action should be enacted. ... Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to everyday speech. ... This article is about the art form. ... Humorous Interpretation (often shortened to Humorous Interp, HI, or simply Humorous) is an event in National Forensic League (and NFL-related) high school forensics competitions. ... Duet Acting (often shortened to Duet or abberviated as DA in tournament schedules and results) is an event in competitive high school forensics. ... Dramatic Interpretation (often shortened to Dramatic Interp or just DI) is an event in National Forensic League (and NFL-related) high school forensics compeitions. ... For other uses, see Impromptu (disambiguation). ... Student Congress (also known as Congressional Debate) is a form of high school debate in the United States. ...

Members can only earn up to 750 points in each of the three areas of competition: debate, speaking events (original oratory, extemporaneous speaking and the interpretative events), and Student Congress. Points earned at NFL District Tournaments and the NFL National Tournament are not subject to the 750-point cap. The point limit was raised in 2004 from 500 points. Student Congress (also known as Congressional Debate) is a form of high school debate in the United States. ... NFL District Tournaments are held each year by the National Forensic League to determine the qualifiers to the National Speech and Debate Tournament in speech, debate, and Student Congress. ... National Competitors The National Speech and Debate Tournament is a week-long high school championship forensics competition hosted by the National Forensic League itself. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Members can also earn "service points", which accrue for certain activities outside of speech competition. Delivering speeches before audiences of twenty-five or more adults, for instance, earns a fixed number of service points.

As a member accumulates points, they earn NFL degrees. Each degree corresponds to the jeweling pattern of an NFL pin which the degree-holder is authorized to wear, and to a seal which will be placed on the degree-holder's membership certificate. The following are the Membership Degrees:

It should be noted that NFL pins are by no means ubiquitous; some competitors in some areas are more likely to wear them; other competitors in other areas may abstain from them, and even consider them to be highly pretentious. In some forms of speech competition, advertising one's standing with a pin may also place one at a minor tactical disadvantage.

Point Archive: Coach/Instructor

School Instructors also receive points, which are dependent upon their students' performances. The instructor receives 1/10 of a point for each point received by one of the instructor's students. The better the team, the better recognition of the instructor. Instructors follow the exact same degree as students; however, an instructor receives a diamond after accumulating point totals of 1,500, 3,000 and every 3,000 points thereafter. All instructor points are dependent upon the performance of the instructor's team, although the coach or coaches decide how to award accumulated coaching points among themselves.

Membership

According to the National Forensic League, any participating high school student who has attained 25 points becomes a member of the organization. However, this new member is required to pay a $15 lifetime fee. Even though membership is lifelong, one can only compete as a high school student (although coaches may receive points as well, as explained above). The lifetime ranking of an NFL member is determined by his or her Point Score, explained in the Point Archive.

State leagues

While the National Speech and Debate Tournament and the qualifying District Competitions are hosted by the NFL, most forensics tournaments during the school year operate under the auspices of other organizations. Chief among them are the state speech leagues, such as: National Competitors The National Speech and Debate Tournament is a week-long high school championship forensics competition hosted by the National Forensic League itself. ... NFL District Tournaments are held each year by the National Forensic League to determine the qualifiers to the National Speech and Debate Tournament in speech, debate, and Student Congress. ...

• California High School Speech Association [1]
• Florida Forensic League, Inc. [2]
• Hawaii Speech League [3]
• Indiana High School Forensics Association[4]
• Iowa High School Forensic League (Iowa also has the Iowa High School Speech Association [5] though the two bodies are independent and the IHSFL is operated directly by speech and debate coaches)
• Long Island Forensics League [6]
• Kentucky High School Speech League, Inc.
• Massachusetts Forensics League [7]
• Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association[8]
• North Carolina - Tarheel Forensic League [9]
• Ohio High School Speech League[10]
• Pennsylvania High School Speech League [11]
• South Carolina Speech and Debate Association [12]
• Texas Forensic Association [13]
• Tarheel Forensics League
• Utah High School Forensics Association [14]
• Wisconsin Forensics Coaches Association [15]
• Western Bay Forensic League [16] (Western L.A. County)

In other states, speech is classed with other high school interscholastic competition and is overseen by the same organization as football, basketball and gymnastics such as: This article lacks information on the importance of the subject matter. ... The Indiana High School Forensic Association, or IHSFA, is a speech and debate organization which works to improve, coordinate, and expand speech programs in the High Schools of Indiana. ... The Iowa High School Speech Association (IHSSA) consists of member high schools from four districts in Iowa, and offers three categories of competition: debate, large group, and individual events. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... The Ohio High School Speech League organizes forensic competition in the state of Ohio. ... The Pennsylvania High School Speech League is a yearly state tournament for forensics. ... Texas Forensic Association Logo The Texas Forensic Association (TFA) is an organization meant to provide competition in speech, debate, and drama for all qualified high school Texas students. ... The Wisconsin Forensics Coaches Association (WFCA) is one of the two main governing bodies of Forensics events in the state of Wisconsin. ...

• Alaska School Activities Association [17]
• Arizona Interscholastic Association [18]
• Colorado High School Activity Association [19]
• Georgia High School Association [20]
• Idaho High School Activities Association [21]
• Illinois High School Association [22] [23]
• Kansas State High School Activities Association [24]
• Maine Principals' Association [25]
• Minnesota State High School League [26]
• Missouri State High School Activities Association [27]
• Montana High School Association [28]
• Nebraska School Activities Association [29]
• New Mexico Activities Association [30]
• North Dakota High School Activities Association [31]
• Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association [32]
• Oregon School Activities Association [33]
• South Dakota High School Activities Association [34]
• Tennessee High School Speech and Drama League
• Vermont Principals' Association [35]
• Virginia High School League [36]
• Washington Interscholastic Activities Association [37]
• Wyoming High School Activities Association [38]

State leagues operate independently. Some leagues sponsor events not offered by the NFL. These events may still qualify for NFL points, however. The ASAA logo. ... The Arizona Interscholastic Association is a group of Arizona private and public high schools that governs the Athletic sporting events between its members. ... An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. ... Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) oversees high school athletics in the state of Idaho. ... The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in interscholastic events at the high school level. ... The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Kansas at the high school level. ... The Maine Principals Association is a nonprofit, private, coeducational institution offering voluntary membership to Maine elementary, middle, and high schools, both public and private. ... The Minnesota State High School League is a voluntary, non-profit association of public and private schools with a history of service to Minnesotas high school youth since 1916. ... The Missouri State High School Activities Association (a. ... The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Nebraska at the high school level. ... The North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) is the governing body for North Dakota high school athletics and fine arts. ... The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) is an organization which organizes secondary school activities at the state level, such as sports, speech tournaments, and music competitions. ... The Oregon School Activities Association, or OSAA, is a non-profit, board-governed organization that regulates high school athletics and competitive activities via athletic conferences in the U.S. state of Oregon, providing equitable competition among its members, both public and private. ... South Dakota High School Activities Association governs high school sports and other activities in the state of South Dakota. ... The Virginia High School League is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association is the governing body of high school athletics in the state of Washington. ...

See also

• National Catholic Forensic League [39]
• National Christian Forensics and Communication Association

The National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) is a speech and debate league that was formed in 1951. ... The National Christian Forensics and Communications Association is a speech & debate league for homeschooled students in the United States, established in 2001 after outgrowing its parent organization, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which had been running the league since it was originally established in 1995. ...

References

• Peters, Tammy. (2003). In Defense of the NFL (and debate in all its forms). Rostrum. Retrieved December 30, 2005.
• Kempner High School: NFL Speech Events National Forensic League, Retrieved March 9, 2006.

External links

• Official Website Website of the National Forensic League
• NFL Reports Website containing all the Reported Points and Standings of Coaches, Students, and Schools.
• The Rostrum The NFL's official magazine
• Archive of Rostrum articles from the University of Vermont's Debate Central.
• District Standings The Annual School standings within Each District of the National Forensic League.
• National Forensic League Manual National Forensic League Manual, that explains every aspect of the Organization.
• National Tournament Manual The Manual of the National Tournament, which covers all information regarding the Tournament.
• District Tournament Manual Information and Procedures involving the process of the District Tournament.
• District List The list of all the National Forensic League Districts, their District number, and their Head Chair.