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Speech for Success - Women’s Words Matter Speech and Debate Meet (in person)

October 29, 2022

Tournament Information:

Note: We are continuing this meet that was started by WHS recent graduate Sabrina Richard for a Girl Scout Gold Award.

"After attending the 2019 NSDA Nationals in Dallas and seeing a lack of girls in many categories and overwhelming male dominance in others, I decided to focus on encouraging females to learn the power of public speaking. This is an all-girl* Novice and Varsity Speech and Debate meet.

All Girl Scouts (students, judges, coaches) will be honored at the event.

Thank you for showing girls that Women’s Words Matter."

Sabrina Richard - Westfield High School ‘22, Premier Distinction

This is an all-girl* Novice and Varsity meet for Indiana High Schools. (Males may compete with a female partner).

The goal of this meet is to encourage girls to learn from and lift up each other in speech.

*Should a team be mixed gender, a male competitor may participate as a double or triple entry in other individual events

Should that duo drop from a team event, the male competitor is scratched from their remaining entries and all rounds.

*Any gender-neutral, gender nonconforming, or gender questioning competitors are welcome and encouraged to join (please inform us of your pronouns).

Speech and Debate will be run as three straight rounds.

Speech events: IX, USX, Disco, Radio, OP, OO, DI, HI, Duo, Poe, Pro, POI, Imp, Info, and Dec.

Debate events: Congress, LD, PF, WSD, BQ, Policy

Contestants can double enter in speech events, but not debate. If they choose to double with Discussion, it is at their own risk and they are expected to go to Discussion first.

Varsity contestants can triple in any three events except for Discussion.

NO tripling Novices.

There will be separate Novice and Varsity competitions, but some categories may need to be run together; however, there will be separate awards. Novice is for any competitor with less than 75 NSDA points.

We are offering most events, but may need to cancel some if numbers are too low (Policy debate, World Schools, Big Questions, etc.)

Judges: Please provide 1 judge for every 4-5 speech contestants and 1 judge for every 2-3 debate entries. We will use electronic balloting at this tournament, so please bring a device. Judges will need a Speechwire account.

All other ISSDA/NSDA rules apply

Therefore per NSDA rules, every competitor in a timed event is granted a 30-second grace period.

Broadcasting will run News (original and up to the contestant) twice and Editorial once, with the topic "Women (trans and cis) in sport"

Discussion artifacts will be posted to the Files for Download section one week in advance of the meet.

Debate will use the upcoming NSDA November-December topics as follows:

LD - Resolved: The People’s Republic of China ought to prioritize environmental protection over economic growth.

PF - Resolved: The United States’ strategy of Great Power Competition produces more benefits than harms.

BQ - Resolved: Humans are primarily driven by self-interest.

Policy - Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its security cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in one or more of the following areas: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity.

WSD will use the prepared topic for all 3 rounds: This House prioritizes environmental protections over economic growth.

Congress will have two sessions and will use October ISSDA legislation: 2 (interstate telehealth), 5 (Supreme Court), and 6 (equity in extracurricular competition), and 4 (looted artwork).

Awards: Top six in each division of each event will be awarded a ribbon. Top 5 schools will receive sweepstakes trophies.

There is no entry fee for competitors.

If a judge, competitor, or coach is a current member of Girl Scouts, (including those man enough to be a Girl Scout) they will be honored. Please email a list to cookwithsabrina@gmail.com or bring the list in person the day of the meet.

Holly Reineking
Email address: reinekingh@wws.k12.in.us
Phone number: 2818142810