Greetings All Speech Coaches, 

 

We are pleased to invite you and your speech team to the Stanley Clark School Speech Tournament for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students on Saturday, November 2nd, 2024 to be held at the Stanley Clark School. 

 

ENTRIES:  Each participating school is invited to enter a team of up to 50 entries (we will award the top 35 entries for sweeps) with no more than 8 per event.  Those students entered Debate may not double because of the time constraints, and Extemp, Radio, and Discussion may not double in Extemp, Radio, or Discussion due to prep; all other students may double in events.  No student may participate in more than two events  No speaker may enter both duo events. Materials and scripts may not be used in multiple events by the same competitor.  

 

JUDGES:  Please provide one judge for every five speech entries and every two debate entries. The judge may be a coach, parent, teacher or other adult, or a varsity high school student who has participated in competitive speech events during their high school career.If you are unable to provide us with the necessary judges, you must inform us at the time of registration. 

 

RADIO BROADCASTING - all competitors need to be prepared to write a 1 minute commercial using a 30 minute prep period for round one; read from a provided 1 minute editorial for round two; and bring a prepared 2 minute newscast for round three. 

 

IMPROMPTU - all competitors will be expected to be in the room right from the start of the round and stay in the room until all have presented, unless doubling.  NO ONE - PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR JUDGES KNOW THIS - IS TO SIT IN THE HALLWAY WHILE A COMPETITOR SPEAKS.  Round one will be a word, round two will be a quote, and round three will be a current event. 

 

DISCUSSION THEME: Health

Specific questions for each round:1. Should healthcare be considered a basic human right? 2. What can young people do to support the elderly’s mental and physical health? 3. Who (or what) is most to blame for the growing mental health crisis among young people?  

 

DISCUSSION RULES: 

1. The students will be expected to cover the first question in round one, the second question in round two, and the third question in round three. 

2. Remember that students may only use one page, front and back, in outline format (not paragraph format) for notes at tournaments. 

3.  A student may have one page, front and back, outline for EACH OF THE THREE questions. 

 

EXTEMP: 

1.  SCS will provide a number corresponding to an article -- which will be a decent length to provide the students enough information to write their speech or a couple of articles will be provided -- and a question. 

2. Students will draw a number to receive the appropriate article(s).  Students will have this article as their source. 

3. No internet usage for prep, but a computer may be used to access files that are saved to a desktop or hard drive (the student would just have to show the person running prep that the internet is turned off before beginning prep). 

4. Questions will be domestic or foreign in nature. 

5. The same speech will be used all three rounds. 

 

DEBATE: Lincoln - Douglas. Please follow ISSDA format and times. Speakers should stand while speaking, including during crossfire. Competitors are not permitted to use technology during the debate.

 

RULES: In general, we will follow the Middle Schools rules from ISSDA.  

 

AWARDS - Ribbons will be awarded to the top ten finishers in each event.  Team trophies will be awarded to the top 3 schools in the large and small division.  The host school will not be entered in team sweepstakes. 

 

FOOD - We will be offering food from the start of registration through the end of the tournament.  We would appreciate it if you would ask your students and judges to purchase food at the tournament because it is one way for us to purchase the trophies and ribbons, as well as the SpeechWire program. 

 

REGISTER - Please start a draft of your entries by Monday, October 14th to help us plan for rooms and food. Final entries are due on Monday, October 28th at 5pm.  You may make changes to your entry on your own until this date.  After this date, you will need to email Ashley at acoker@bsu.edu.  Please also register your judges and block them from event(s) their child competes in. 

 

IMPORTANT MORNING OF TOURNAMENT MUST DO -- On the day of the tournament, coaches will need to call or text Ashley Coker (765) 729-3936 between 7:00 - 7:15 a.m. EST to confirm all entries or tell us of any drops.  This allows time to create the schematics before you arrive.  Teams are asked to arrive no later than 8:30 a.m. on the morning of October 28.  There will be a judges' meeting at 9:00 a.m.  Extemp Draw/Prep and Radio Commercial Prep will begin at 9:00 a.m., but competitors need to be in the prep room by 8:55 a.m. for prep to start on time.  The first round of competition for all events will begin at 9:30 a.m. with each round lasting one hour.  Debate will run at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30 and noon. Our goal is to have awards started no later than 1:15 p.m. and everyone on the road by 2:00 p.m. 

 

We hope that your school will be able to participate on November 2nd.  If you have any questions or require further information, please contact Deborah Girasek-Chudzynski at either (574) 291-4200 (school), (574) 287-1204 (cell), or email deborahg@stanleyclark.org. 

 

 

See you soon, 

 

Deborah Girasek-Chudzynski and Ashley Coker

(vr24)