2024 Inaugural

Southeastern Swing Tournament

January 12, 2024

Dear AFA-NST District 6 Schools and Colleagues:

In addition to Berry College hosting the AFA-NST District 6 Spring Qualifying Tournament, they have graciously agreed to host an additional Swing Tournament the same weekend. This tournament will also be held in-person at Berry College in beautiful Rome, Georgia on Friday, January 26th, 2024.

This tournament will offer all 11 AFA-NST events and will follow a truncated schedule with all events running at the same time each round. Thus, students may enter up to two IEs for the Southeastern Swing Tournament on Friday, January 26th.

We will use SpeechWire for entries, scheduling, and tabulation. To enter the tournament, please go to: www.speechwire.com. Please, be sure all of your students have activated SpeechWire accounts and are listed in your Team Roster. If you have any questions about this year's Southeastern Swing Tournament, district tournament or the AFA-NST, please do not hesitate to contact me.

We look forward to seeing y’all soon!

  Dr. Ben Pyle

Assistant Professor, Director of the Alabama Forensic Council The University of Alabama

205-348-8077

bspyle@ua.edu

Southeastern Swing Tournament

Entries : All entries must be entered on Speechwire.com. There will be two preliminary rounds with finals. Students may enter up to two IEs. Material must not have been used by the student before September 1, 2023.

Tournament Fees: $10 per individual event slot entered. Additional fees: $10.00 per slot not covered by a judge provided by your school; $20.00 per slot drop; $60.00 per judge drop.

Payment: Payments can be made either in-person at the tournament or in the form of a check mailed to Ben Pyle, University of Alabama, Communication Studies Dept., Reese Phifer Hall Room 203, Box # 870172, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487.

Judges: All judges must be active coaching faculty, or graduate students, or persons with forensic experience. All judges will be responsible for judging one round past the elimination round of their students -- this means all judges are obligated to judge events in both flights which go straight to finals. Each school will be expected to provide one judge for every six slots entered. To ensure that we can utilize judges from all schools, we reserve the right to schedule students from the same school in the same section if necessary. The cost for hired judges will be

$10.00 per uncovered slot.

Deadlines: All entries must be received by 5:00 pm, CST, Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024. Drops and changes may be made until Noon CST, Wednesday, January 24th, 2024.

Awards: Individual awards will be presented to all finalists in each event. Team Sweepstakes awards will be presented to the top three schools. Sweepstakes points will be given for Elimination Round and Final Round participants only. Points will be allocated as follows:

1st Place (12 Points), 2nd Place (10 Points), 3rd Place (8 Points), 4th Place (6 Points), 5th Place (4 Points), 6th Place (2 Points)

2024 District 6 Spring Qualifying Tournament Schedule

All times in Eastern Standard Time

Friday, January 26th

2:30 p.m.                   Tournament Registration in Krannert Lobby

3:00 p.m.                   Extemp Draw

3:30 p.m.                   Round 1 (All IE Events)

4:30 p.m.                   Extemp Draw

4:45 p.m.                   Round 2 (All IE Events)

6:00 p.m.                   Extemp Draw

6:30 p.m.                   Finals (All IE Events)

Southeastern Swing Tournament Awards will be Presented with the District 6 Qualifier Tournament Awards on Saturday, January 27th.

AFA-NST 2023-2024 Description of Events

Impromptu Speaking: An impromptu speech, serious in nature, with topic selections varied by round and by section. Topics will be derived from quotations. Speakers will have a total of 7 minutes for both preparation and speaking. Timing commences with the acceptance of the topics sheet. Limited notes are permitted.

Informative Speaking: An original, factual speech by the student on a realist subject to fulfill the general aim to inform the audience. Audio-visual aids may or may not be used to supplement and reinforce the message. Multiple sources should be used and cited in the development of the speech. Minimal notes are permitted. Maximum time is 10 minutes.

Prose Interpretation: A selection or selections of prose material of literary merit, which may be drawn from more than one source. A primary focus of this event should be on the development of the narrative/story. Play cuttings and poetry are prohibited. Use of manuscript is required.

Maximum time is 10 minutes including introduction.

Duo Interpretation: A cutting from one or more texts of literary merit, humorous or serious, involving the portrayal of two or more characters presented by two individuals. The material may be drawn from any genre of literature. This is not an acting event; thus, no costumes, props, lighting, etc, are to be used. Presentation is from the manuscript and the focus should be off- stage and not to each other. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes including introduction.

Extemporaneous Speaking: Contestants will be given three topics in the general area of current events, choose one, and have 30 minutes to prepare a speech that is the original work of the student. Maximum time limit for the speech is 7 minutes. Limited notes are permitted. Student will speak in listed order. Postings of topics will be staggered.

Persuasive Speaking: An original speech by the student designed to inspire, reinforce, or change the beliefs, attitudes, values or actions of the audience. Audio-visual aids may or may not be used to supplement and reinforce the message. Multiple sources should be used and cited in the development of the speech. Minimal notes are permitted. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes.

Program Oral Interpretation: A program of thematically-linked selections of literary merit, chosen from two or three recognized genres of competitive interpretation (prose/poetry/drama). A primary focus of this event should be on the development of the theme through the use of narrative/story, language, and/or characterization. A substantial portion of the total time must be devoted to each of the genres used in the program. Different genre means the material must appear in separate pieces of literature ( e.g., A poem included in a short story that appears only in that short story does not constitute a poetry genre.) Only one selection may be original. Use of manuscript is required. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes including introduction.