It’s like being in Oshkosh – but you’re in your living room!

The Oshkosh North Forensics Team invites you to the sixth-annual Oshkosh North Forensics Tournament: The Virtual Edition on Saturday, January 23, 2021.  If you haven’t competed at our tournament in the past—compete this year when you don’t have the transportation cost! 

Virtual tournaments are new or new-ish to most of us.  We are here to help you.  We are all learning how to continue this worthwhile activity as smoothly as possible during a very tumultuous time.  We will get through this together!

We are running an asynchronous tournament, which means one video will suffice for each entry, except Storytellers will need to submit a video for all three stories and OIL competitors will need to upload a video of both their prose and poetry selections.  All videos and entries must be uploaded and linked in Speechwire by Thursday, January, 21, 2021 at 4:00 P.M.

We are offering all standard WFCA events, and if sufficient entries warrant, we will again offer Novice Prose and Poetry competitions (we had enough entries in 2020 to offer robust varsity and novice competitions in both categories).  All events will have a power round, even if it serves to only determine whom among the top three will be the day’s champion. 

We are providing our customized awards again this year, but because we will be mailing you the hardware, we’ve swapped plaques for team trophies and large/small medals for the usual individual trophies/medal mix.  We will award plaques to the top three teams in three divisions.  We will determine divisions based on entries the week of the tournament. 

We are running a WFCA tournament, but we invite both WFCA and WHSFA schools to virtually attend! 

VIDEOS:  Record as many times as you would like, but submit only an unedited, one-take video as the official entry.  Upload videos to YouTube as unlisted and include the links with the entry (you will see an icon for the video links in Speechwire).  Storytelling videos should be in the following order: Round 1: Finally Being Heard; Round 2: Fable; Round 3: Undead; Final: coach’s choice of the best story from round 1-3. For OIL, please enter Rounds 1,3 with the poetry link and Round 2, Finals with the prose link.

For Impromptu, the video should be the full 5 minutes, which includes all the prep time and speaking.  Radio and Extemp do not need to record and submit prep for those events, but students should upload their performance within 45 minutes of opening the attached prep materials.  Limited prep category materials will be released on Thursday, January 14 by 7:00 P.M.  We will send the materials directly to coaches via e-mail and will have more detailed instructions in that e-mail.

For Group Interp, Duo, and Play Acting, please have students record videos in split screen, even if competitors reside in the same household.  Please reach out if you have questions how to do this.

ENTRIES:  Teams may enter as many entries as they would like with up to the top 25 counting toward the team score.  We welcome double-entries and in any category---the upside of running an asynchronous tournament!  Triple-entries are not allowed.  Note: Novice Prose/Poetry are only open to students competing in their first year of high school forensics; not their first year in the category.    

RULES:  WFCA rules will apply in all events.  To accommodate the category differences between WFCA and WHSFA, Public Address competitors may enter as Oratory entries.  We will advise judges not to penalize speeches in Oratory that resemble WHSFA Public Address speeches.  But please note, no chairs in Group Interpretation or the solo acting categories are allowed—so your students should keep that in mind while recording at home.  We will also be observing the 10-minute time limit for Group Interpretation and Play Acting.  We will not disqualify students in the speech categories who use notes, regardless if using more than one note card.  However, the use of notes is subject to critique.

JUDGES:  Please provide one qualified and technology-capable judge for every five entries or fraction thereof.  If you are short on judges, you may hire one of our independent extra judges at a rate of $120/judge.  You must provide the number of judges you indicate on your original entry. Make sure your judges can handle judging via online means prior to entering them on your registration.  Judges must meet all ballot submissions deadlines or your team will be assessed a fee. 

REGISTRATION DEADLINE:  Thursday, January 21, 2021 via Speechwire.com (click on the Oshkosh North Tournament link). 

FEES:  $9 per individual entry and $15 for each group entry (Duo, Group Interpretation, and Play Acting) as of your team’s registration on Speechwire through 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, January 21.  Please make checks payable to Oshkosh North Forensics. 

QUESTIONS?: Contact Mike Wagner at (920) 203-8055 (cell) or oshkoshnorthforensics@gmail.com (note, I likely will not be able to respond to you until after 5:00 P.M. on most days).

DEADLINES and SCHEDULE:

Thursday, January 14 – Radio Packets / Extemp Questions /Impromptu Prompts e-mailed to coaches by 7:00 P.M. for distribution to your students.

Thursday, January 21 – All entries and video links must be in Speechwire by 4:00 P.M.

Friday, January 22 – All preliminary rounds sent to judges by 3:00 P.M.

Saturday, January 23, 11:00 A.M. – Deadline for judges to return all preliminary round ballots and critiques.

Saturday, January 23, 1:00 P.M. – LIVE Google Meet Judges Meeting/Assignment of Power Rounds/Ballot Distribution to Judges (Coaches will get a link prior to the tournament).  Judges must view/evaluate final round entries immediately after release and submit within 90 minutes.  If we have a big power round for an event, we will discuss submission deadline accommodations at the LIVE Google Meet event.  Power Rounds also posted on Speechwire.

Saturday, January 23: 4:00 P.M. – Release of Awards video.  Depending upon the number of registrations, we will utilize the video streaming service most appropriate.  We will send information to you the week of the tournament.  We will release student critiques and the results packet ASAP after the tournament.  We will mail you any awards your team earns.

We look forward to working with you to create this opportunity for all of our students and making this day a success.

Regards,

Laury Krause                                       Mike Wagner

Forensics Coordinator                       Tournament Director