Greetings All Speech Coaches, 

 

We are pleased to invite you and your speech team to the Stanley Clark School Speech Tournament for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students on Saturday, October 25th, 2025 to be held at the Stanley Clark School. 

 

ENTRIES:  Each participating school is invited to enter a team of up to 45 entries with no more than 6 per event.  Those students entered in Debate (Worlds or Lincoln Douglas) may not double because of the time constraints, and Extemp, Radio, and Discussion may not double in Extemp, Radio, or Discussion; all other students may double in events.  No student may participate in more than two events.  No speaker may enter both duo events. Materials and scripts may not be used in multiple events by the same competitor.  

 

JUDGES:  Please provide one judge for every five speech entries and every two debate entries. The judge may be a coach, parent, teacher or other adult, or a varsity high school student who has participated in competitive speech events during their high school career.If you are unable to provide us with the necessary judges, you must inform us at the time of registration. 

 

RADIO BROADCASTING - all competitors need to be prepared to write a 1 minute commercial using a 30 minute prep period for round one; read from a provided 1 minute editorial for round two; and bring a prepared 2 minute newscast for round three. 

 

IMPROMPTU - all competitors will be expected to be in the room right from the start of the round and stay in the room until all have presented, unless doubling.  NO ONE IS TO SIT IN THE HALLWAY WHILE A COMPETITOR SPEAKS - PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR JUDGES KNOW THIS - Round one will be a word, round two will be a quote, and round three will be a current event. 

 

DISCUSSION THEME: Student life

Specific questions for each round:

1. How do school dress codes affect students’ sense of identity and belonging?

2. Is peer pressure actually a problem for students, or is it just a normal part of growing up?

3. What is the most important way parents can support their child’s school life without being too involved?

 

DISCUSSION RULES: 

1. The students will be expected to cover the first question in round one, the second question in round two, and the third question in round three. 

2. Remember that students may only use one page, front and back, in outline format (not paragraph format) for notes at tournaments. 

3.  A student may have one page, front and back, outline for EACH OF THE THREE questions. 

 

EXTEMP: 

1.  SCS will provide a number corresponding to an article -- which will be a decent length to provide the students enough information to write their speech or a couple of articles will be provided -- and a question. 

2. Students will draw a number to receive the appropriate article(s).  Students will have this article as their source. 

3. No internet usage for prep, but a computer may be used

 to access files that are saved to a desktop or hard drive

 (the student would just have to show the person running

 prep that the internet is turned off before beginning

 prep).

4. Questions will be domestic or foreign in nature. 

5. The same speech will be used all three rounds. 

 

DEBATE: 

Lincoln - Douglas (1:1) Please follow ISSDA format and times. Speakers should stand while speaking, including during crossfire. Competitors are not permitted to use technology during the debate.

Worlds (5 pax) Please follow ISSDA format and times.

 

RULES: In general, we will follow the Middle Schools rules from ISSDA.  

 

AWARDS - Ribbons will be awarded to the top eight finishers in each event. The top six finishers in each event will be assigned points toward team sweepstakes. Each team's best 35 finishers across all events count toward team sweepstakes. Team trophies will be awarded to the top 3 schools in the debate and the top 3 schools in speech.  The host school will not be entered in team sweepstakes. 

 

FOOD - We will be offering food from the start of registration through the end of the tournament.  We would appreciate it if you would ask your students and judges to purchase food at the tournament because it is one way for us to purchase the trophies and ribbons, as well as the SpeechWire program. 

 

REGISTER - Please start a draft of your entries by Monday, October 13th to help us plan for rooms and food. Final entries are due on Monday, October 20th at 5pm.  You may make changes to your entry on your own until this date.  After this date, you will need to email Ashley at acoker@bsu.edu.  Please also register your judges and indicate appropriate judge student blocks (let's please block individual competitors, rather than entire events). 

 

IMPORTANT MORNING OF TOURNAMENT MUST DO -- On the day of the tournament, coaches will need to call or text Ashley Coker (765) 729-3936 between 7:00 - 7:15 a.m. EST to confirm all entries or tell us of any drops.  This allows time to create the schematics before you arrive.  Teams are asked to arrive no later than 8:30 a.m.  There will be a judges' meeting at 9:00 a.m.  Extemp Draw/Prep and Radio Commercial Prep will begin at 9:00 a.m., but competitors need to be in the prep room by 8:55 a.m. for prep to start on time.  The first round of competition for all events will begin at 9:30 a.m. with each round lasting one hour.  Debate will run at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30 and noon. Our goal is to have awards started no later than 1:15 p.m. and everyone on the road by 2:00 p.m. 

 

We hope that your school will be able to participate on October 25th.  If you have any questions or require further information, please contact Deborah Girasek-Chudzynski at either (574) 291-4200 (school), (574) 287-1204 (cell), or email deborahg@stanleyclark.org. 

 

 

See you soon, 

 

Deborah Girasek-Chudzynski and Ashley Coker

(vr24)