2024 Oakville Speech Invitational
Greetings coaches,

We are thrilled to welcome you back to Oakville High School for the first time in many years! We plan to offer an outstanding tournament for great competition in the St. Louis area on Saturday, January 13th. Our goal is to keep things simple this year. Please read the invitation in detail to make sure you know our plan for this year!
We will be offering Novice and Varsity Individual Events (save for Congress), with three preliminary rounds, one final round and awarding the top six in Individual Events. Divisions of some events will be combined into an open division if entries are low. 

Entries must be received by Wednesday, January 3rd at 3 pm.  Please let us know you are coming through www.speechwire.com as soon as possible. We are allowing four entries in each event. Additional entries will be granted depending on our judging and building availability. You may add to the waitlist and these will be released on a first-come, first-served basis. However, you must associate an entry with a name to claim those spots in the waitlist line.  Drops can be made without penalty until Wednesday, January 10th at 3 pm. 

Please note the judging obligations for each school.  Fill out our ONLINE JUDGING FORM for ANY of your school judges, including student judges. Of course, if varsity members do not advance they are welcome to visit the judging table to receive an assignment.

Please contact us with any concerns or questions:
We hope to see you in January!

Erica Williams
Speech Coach
Phone: 314-467-7212

Sarah Petroff
Debate Coach
Phone: 314-467-7284

Oakville High School
5557 Milburn Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63129

SCHEDULE

Saturday, January 13th, 2024

7:45 am - Registration
8:30 am--Draw Round 1
9:00 am- Round 1
10:00 am--Draw Round 2
10:30 am - Round 2
11:30 am--Draw Round 3
12:00 pm - Round 3
1:00 pm - Draw Finals
2:00 pm - Finals of IEs
3:30 pm - Awards

*Draw is in Gym A	EVENTS

Novice & Varsity Radio Speaking
Novice & Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking
Novice & Varsity Storytelling
Novice & Varsity Original Oratory
Novice & Varsity Informative Speaking
Novice & Varsity Poetry/Prose
Novice & Varsity POI
Novice & Varsity Duo Interp
Novice & Varsity Humorous/Dramatic Interp.
Open Student Congress	

GENERAL RULES AND GUIDELINES
1.  An adult sponsor must accompany each school.
2.  A school may enter three contestants in each event.
3. A student may not enter a second individual event if entered in Student Congress.
4.  A novice shall be defined as a student in his/her first year of interscholastic competition.
5.  Awards will be presented for top six for individual events; top three are awarded medals, certificates for 4-6. Additionally, top three in sweepstakes for overall schools.
6.  There are campus regulations against the use of tobacco products, drugs and alcohol.  Failure to comply with these regulations will result in the contestant being eliminated from the competition.
7.  Please bring two student judges to Oakville.  Coaches will be used as judges as necessary. 
8.  No food or drink is to be taken from the cafeteria/commons. Failure to comply with this regulation will result in the contestant being eliminated from the competition.
9.  NO music (earbuds only) or musical instruments are allowed in the commons. 
10. We will comply with all MSHSAA rules and regulations regarding the use of electronic devices and the internet. It is a coach’s affirmative duty to ensure their students are aware of the rules and abide by them.
11. In the event MSHSAA does not cover the event, NSDA rules will apply.

COMMUNITY HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS:
●	Any attendee can choose to mask however it will not be required. This includes during performances. No judge can rank someone down for the use of a mask. 
●	Please practice universal precautions such as hand washing. 
●	Any refusal to adhere to guest requests or universal precautions will result in removal from the premises. 

EVENT RULES:
●	We will default to MSHSAA Rules for all MSHSAA Events. Non-MSHSAA events will use NSDA rules.
●	Advancing top 6 in IEs to finals will be determined by: 
○	Judges’ preference 
○	Reciprocals from the round
○	Total speaker ratings from the round
●	Final placings in IEs will be determined by: 
○	Judges’ preference
○	Reciprocals from the round
○	Total speaker ranking from the round 

Radio Speaking – The contestant is to present a five minute broadcast of international, national, and local news. The broadcast must include a sports update, and a weather update. Time infractions will be weighted heavily. NO COMMERCIALS. (MSHSAA Rules) Time limit – 5 minutes, no minimum

Extemporaneous Speaking—
Contestants must report to draw 15 minutes before draw is scheduled to begin (if possible). Students will be shown three topics and will tell the draw chair what they select. They will have thirty minutes to prepare a speech. They must remain in the draw room for prep. They will be dismissed. Speech time limit—7 minutes maximum, no minimum. 

Storytelling – Contestants will prepare a story geared for an audience of five to ten year old children. Contestants will present their stories from a seated position. No props or notes may be used. (MSHSAA rules). Time limit – 8 minutes, no minimum

Original Oratory—An original persuasive speech is written by the contestant, containing no more than 150 words of quoted material. Time limit—10 minutes maximum, no minimum.

Informative Speaking— An original informative speech is written by the contestant. The goal is to educate, not to advocate.  Visual aids are allowed. Please read the RULES (p. 41) Time limit—10 minutes maximum, no minimum. 

Prose/Poetry Reading—Selections taken from a published source of literary merit are read from a script or a tablet/e-reader. Both should be properly introduced. Prose selections may contain no more than 50% dialogue. Poetry can be a singular poem or come from multiple sources connected either by an author or theme. It must be written in verse. (MSHSAA rules). Competitors will choose ONLY ONE to perform but will compete in sections of students doing both. Time limit—8 minutes maximum, no minimum. 

Program of Oral Interpretation (POI) – Students create a theme or argument through the use of narrative, story, language, and/or characterization. They draw on selections from at least two of the following: prose, poetry, and/or drama. A manuscript must be used and the pieces must be properly introduced. NSDA rules will be used (p. 46). Time limit – 10 minutes

Duo Interpretation—A memorized selection of any published source of literary merit is performed by two students. Performers may stand in any arrangement suitable. Offstage focus should be used. Time limit—10 minutes maximum, no minimum.

Dramatic and Humorous Interpretation—Memorized selections from published material of literary merit are presented. Movement below the waist should be limited. Selections are to be properly introduced. Time limit—10 minutes maximum, no minimum. 

Congress—We will be running an NSDA-style Congressional Debate. There will be three preliminary sessions in which judges will rank their top 8 competitors after scoring the complete session. There will be one super session with 12 – 15 students. Depending on the number of entries we will advance between the top 2 – 5 students in each chamber if they receive the lowest cumulative rank across the three sessions. 
●	Advancing to supersession will be determined by: 
○	Lowest total cumulative ranks within chambers 
○	Total preliminary reciprocals 
○	Total preliminary speech scores
●	Final placings will be determined by: 
○	Lowest total cumulative ranks within the chamber
○	Judges’ preference  
○	Final round reciprocals
○	Speech score totals in finals
○	Speech score totals from preliminary rounds

For legislation, we will use the Eastern Missouri docket. Chambers will default to 
AUTHORSHIP speeches but will allow SPONSORSHIP speeches if there is no authoring school in the room.

SWEEPSTAKES:
Awards will be presented at the conclusion of the tournament. The top two entries from each event will count towards each schools’ sweepstakes points. The top three points-scoring schools will receive awards.

Speech Sweepstakes
Entry				1 point
Fourth-Sixth Place		6 points
Third Place			8 points
Second Place			10 points
First Place			12 points

Congressional Debate Sweepstakes Points
Entry 				1 point
Super Session 			10 points
Individual Awards 		12 points

$8 per entry

Entries must be received by January 3rd, 2024. 
Checks payable to Oakville High School 
attn: Erica Williams (memo line: Speech & Debate)