Hello All,

 

It is my pleasure to invite you to the first ever Fall AFA NST District 5 Qualifier which will be held on Saturday, November 14, 2020, virtually by North Central College. I encourage you to attend this tournament as either an AFA qualifier, an NFA qualifier, or as an excellent opportunity to see good competition and support the teams of District 5! 

 

Please note that there are many changes regarding this year's AFA-NIET.  Thank you in advance!

 

ENTRY DEADLINE:

 

Entries are due at 5:00 p.m., CST, Tuesday, November 10. Please enter using the Speechwire website.  All fees will be assessed at noon on Wednesday, November 11. Please remember that each school may enter up to five competitors in each of the eleven events.

 

Some schools may have already paid their District 5 subscription fees for the AFA NST. Subscription fees are $30 (before the December 1st deadline) and $50 (after the December 1st deadline) and can be paid directly on the AFA website or can be added to your school's entry fee at the district qualifying tournament registration.

 

ENTRY FEES:

 

In an effort to keep tournament costs to a minimum, each slot will cost $5.00. Each uncovered slot will cost $10.00 (to cover hired judge fees). Each judge covers 6 slots. Student drops after noon, Wednesday, March 4th will be $10.00. Judge drops will be $25.00. Student drops at registration will be $20.00 and judge drops will be $75.00.

 

PATTERNS:

 

Each student may enter up to two events per pattern.

 

A: Impromptu, Informative, Prose

 

B: Duo, Extemp, Persuasion, POI

 

C: Comm. Analysis, DI, After-Dinner, Poetry

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because the tournament has been condensed to one day, it will actually run with TWO patterns. We will condense the patterns listed above into two flights, attempting to minimize the number of quadruple-entered competitors.

 

E-BALLOTS:  We will be utilizing Speechwire's E-ballot function.  Please update your judges' info.  We will be using Speechwire for entries, scheduling, and tabulation. Also, because of the virtual nature of the tournament, please be sure that all of your students have activated Speechwire accounts and are listed in your Team Roster.

 

We are still having a Spring District Tournament. Auto-qualifications and legs can be earned at both tournaments.  

 

Title IX forms, Student Verification forms, and All-American nominations are submitted at the Spring District Tournament as usual. 

 

District Qualification: The top three placements automatically qualify for the AFA-NST. If an event receives its second leg to qualify at large (one must be from a tournament held synchronously), the District automatic qualification will move down to the next highest placing entry. However, if an event receives a district automatic qualification at the Fall District Tournament and later qualifies at large, the automatic qualification does not move down as is done at our Spring District Qualifier. Coaches, please make an effort to provide information about your students’ at-large quals available to the D5 Chair (John Stanley, jrstanley@noctrl.edu) prior to, during, or immediately following this Fall District tournament so that we can expedite and recognize all of students who automatically qualify for the AFA-NST at the Fall District Tournament.

 

Reminders of changes for the 2020-2021 season: 

1. You only need two legs (combined no worse than a five) to qualify for the AFA-NST. 

2. One of those two legs has to be earned at a synchronous tournament. 

3. The number of entries for what counts as a leg have changed-  1st: 2-3 entries, 2nd: 4-5 entries, 3rd: 6-7 entries, 4th 8-9 entries; 5th: 9-11 entries, and 6th: 12 or more entries. 

4. The 2021 AFA-NST will be online. 

5. Any District qualifying tournament (fall or spring) must be a synchronous tournament to count. 

6. 5th year seniors who lost their final AFA-NST in 2020 may compete at the 2021 AFA-NST- but only in the events they qualified for the 2020 nationals and only if they are still an undergrad. 

 

 

Virtual Tournament Standards of NST:

 

In order to count for qualification legs, tournaments that are held virtually under the NST health and safety provision must:

a. Restrict competitors to the use of a single camera and single microphone during a performance.

b. Prohibit physical audiences from being present during a performance (virtual audiences through the videoconferencing platform are welcome.) 

c. Prohibit competitors in Duo from competing together in the same physical space.

d. Promote editing practices that allow for simulation of a face-to-face environment (such as the use of visual aids and content warnings) while discouraging editing practices that would not

be possible in a face-to-face environment (such as motion, video transitions, or audio manipulation)

 

 

I hope that you will be able to attend the District 5 Qualifier. Even if your team is not planning on attending the AFA-NIET, I encourage you to attend and support your colleagues. For those of you who are NFA-only, remember you can earn NFA qualifications at the District tournament. It can be a challenge to get enough schools for our District tournament, so I would encourage you to please make every effort to send students.

 

 

John Stanley, Chair

 

AFA District 5

(vr)