Hello District 5!

 

It is my pleasure to invite you to the Spring AFA NST District 5 Qualifier, which will be held on Saturday, March 9, 2024, virtually via Zoom, CST. 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!  

 

I am posting many important reminders in this announcement from the AFA-NST Invitation as well as from the tournament director.

 

ENTRY DEADLINE for Districts:

 

Entries are due at 5:00 p.m., CST, Tuesday, March 5. Please enter using the Speechwire website.  All fees will be assessed at noon on Wednesday, March 6.  Please remember that each school may enter up to five competitors in each of the eleven events. Events already qualified at-large or at Fall Districts should not be entered. 

 

Some schools still need to submit their payment for the Fall District tournament.

 

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 6, 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.

 

 

Each student may enter up to two events per AFA-NST flight pattern.

 

Flight A:  Impromptu, Info, Prose

Flight B:  Duo, Extemp, Per, POI

Flight C:  ADS, CA, DI, Poetry

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because the tournament has been condensed to one day, it will actually run with TWO patterns. We will condense the patterns 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.

 

**SPECIAL REQUEST:  These items are due by 5 PM on Tuesday, March 5, to the District Chair (submit via email to jrstanley@noctrl.edu): Student Verification Form, Hyperlinked At-Large Qualification Form(s), All-American Nomination Form(s)

 

TOURNAMENT INFO:  You can find important AFA-NST information (purchasing your AFA membership, bylaw changes) and forms (All-American, student verification) here:  https://sites.google.com/site/afanietnew2/ 

 

LIVE TOURNAMENT INVITATION:  AFA-NST Tournament Invitation--https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AdNTXN0GphsNz__MRsyqgGb0MqPP5luHv1abI4TwBoo/edit 

 

Student Enrollment Verification Form:

Each school participating at the AFA NST must submit the Student Enrollment Verification Form for all students competing at the AFA NST. The form can be found above. Verification forms should be provided via email by the District tournament at registration:  jrstanley@noctrl.edu 

 

 

At-Large Qualification:

Please keep a complete record of all necessary data required on the At-Large Qualification Form. The At-Large Qualification Form is available at the site above. A separate form should be kept for each of your students. Remember that the At-Large Qualification Form must be submitted (ideally) before or at the District tournament to:  jrstanley@noctrl.edu. Submission of the At-Large qualification form does not constitute an official entry. Official entries must be submitted on Speechwire. Recognized national or international tournaments hosted after March 9 will count – check with Professor Nathaniel Wilson if you have questions. 

 

District Qualification: 

The top three placements automatically qualify for the AFA-NST. If an event receives its second leg to qualify at-large, the District automatic qualification will move down to the next highest placing entry. 

 

All-American Nominations:

In addition to the usual tournament awards, District 5 will accept nominations for the 2023-2024 All-American Individual Events Team presented at the AFA NST. This is a wonderful recognition of students who excel at academics, service, and forensics. Please email me copy of your students’ nominations in a PDF format ideally by Tuesday, March 5, but no later than the end of registration on the morning of March 9. Receiving nomination packets early helps ensure that the committee has time to review nominations and identify any missing elements. The nomination packet must include the student’s official transcript. This can be a copy in the PDF, but if the student’s packet is forwarded to the national committee, you will need to mail an official transcript at that time. 

 

A reminder from the Chair of the All-American Committee:

 

 

1. The personal statements shouldn't be longer than 500 words

2. The forensics and service resumes are limited to one (1) page each

3. Transcripts need to be official

4. Individual schools are no longer limited to two All-American nominations. Instead, schools may nominate up to four (4) students for consideration by the district All-American selection committee. If your district receives a high number of nominations, please do the preliminary evaluations for us and send us your district's best packets.

5. In each packet submitted, we recommend a nomination letter from a DoF/coach and up to two other letters from references familiar with the work of the nominated student. It is helpful if one of the letters comes from someone familiar with the student's community service.

6. On the service resume, please make sure students are specifying if the service listed was for academic credit and/or paid. It is also extremely helpful if students list the nature of the work and total time spent in each service listed on the service resume.

 

General Overall Reminders for qualifications for the AFA-NST: 

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

2. Legs can be earned at synchronous or asynchronous tournaments. 

3. The number of entries for what counts as a leg include-  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 2024 AFA-NST will be in person at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on April 5-8, 2024

5. The Title IX training from the AFA NST is required.  

 

Information/due dates regarding the AFA-NST from the tournament director: 

Entries must be submitted to Speechwire on or before Monday, March 18, 2024. 

 

 

AFA Membership Requirement:

All schools attending the NST must include at least one person on their roster/staff/faculty that is a member of the AFA. This is not NST membership, but membership to our parent organization:  the AFA. Membership can be obtained as follows: a) the director/coach can join for $85 with the journal; b) any student on the team can join for $25 as either an undergraduate or graduate. Membership can be obtained through the AFA website at https://www.americanforensicsassoc.org/shop/ . Entry into the NST will require the name of the school’s AFA member. Failure to provide this information will result in a $50 fee assessed, in addition to the $85 AFA fee in order for the school to attend.

                                                    

Title IX Training: Anti-Sexual Harassment Training:

All participants at the NST (including students, judges, coaches, tournament officials, etc.) must complete an anti-sexual harassment training provided or approved by the NST. More information will be provided to District Chairs soon and will be made available on our website.

 

 

I hope that you will be able to attend the District 5 Qualifier. Even if your team is not planning on attending the AFA NST, 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.

 

Lastly, PLEASE EMAIL ME with answers to the following questions:

 

1. Do you plan to attend the March 9 District tournament (and please submit hyperlinked leg sheets, student verification form, and All-American nomination packets by the entry deadline of Tuesday, March 5)?

2. Do you plan to attend the AFA-NST?

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

 

Thank you!

 

 

John Stanley, Chair

 

AFA District 5