Dear Forensics Friends,

To honor the history of our state and the friendship between our academic institutions, we invite you to the fifth annual University of Nebraska “THE GOOD LIFE TOURNAMENT”.

This will be a swing tournament with the first half a one-day in-person tournament hosted by UNL on their Lincoln campus Saturday, February 28^th, 2026, and the second half an asynchronous online tournament by UNO from March 3rd-6^th. All information and registration can be found on www.speechwire.com.

 

Events and Point Distribution:

●     We will offer competition in all eleven AFA events and appropriate elimination rounds. AFA tie breaking procedures will be followed throughout the tournament. Students will be recognized for 1^st- 6^th places in each individual event as well as the top three teams in team sweepstakes.

●     Points for team awards will be as follows: 10 for 1^st, 8 for 2^nd, 6 for 3^rd, 4 for 4^th, 2 for 5^th, 1 for 6^th. Ties in team sweepstakes will be broken by number of finalists, then number of 1’s, 2’s, 3’s, etc.

 

Entry Deadline:

●     Entries and videos are due Tuesday, March 3rd^h by 5:00 p.m. CST via www.speechwire.com. Fees will be assessed based on information we have received by March 4th at 12:00 p.m. CST.

 

Fees:

●     For several years, UNL and UNO have co-hosted a late season tournament in order to give teams an opportunity to stretch their budgets. To do this, we offer low entry fees of $5 per slot; each uncovered slot will incur an additional $15. Please provide enough usable judges to cover your entry.

●     A fee of $10 will be charged for all changes made at registration. A fee of $50 will be charged for any judge dropped at registration. Such changes make it difficult to run a timely and efficient tournament. Please try to communicate all changes to the tournament directors ahead of time. Please make checks out to UNO Mavforensics and send to UNO Dodge Campus, Mavforensics ASH105, Omaha NE 68182.

Individual Events:

●     No student may enter more than three (3) events in this single-flight tournament.

●     Finalists will advance based on lowest cumulative rank, then highest cumulative rating points, then highest reciprocal.

●     First place will be awarded to the competitor with the lowest cumulative rank. Ties in finals will be broken first on predominance of 1’s, second judge’s preference, and finally rating points. Ties in team points and individual sweepstakes will be broken on numbers of finals followed by number of 1, 2, 3’s. Individual sweepstakes is open to any competitor who has three or more events.

●     All rules for the 11 AFA events should follow the “AFA-NST Description of Events” found at http://www.mnsu.edu/cmst/niet/eventdescriptions-new09-10.htm

 

Async UNO  Tournament Schedule

Friday February 27^th-- LP Prompts Posted on Speechwire

Tuesday March 3rd -- ALL entries due by 5pm

Friday March 6th-- ALL ballots due by 12pm

Friday March 6th-- Awards/Results will be sent out by 4pm

 

Judges Code of Ethics:

 

●     We believe it is important to create a positive educational environment for all students participating at the tournament. Any judge found to be making comments on ballots that are deemed to be racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory by the tournament director will be removed from the judging pool immediately. It is also our expectation that all judges make supportive comments and do not use overly penal speaker points. If judges are found to be engaging in those behaviors, they will be asked to change immediately or be removed from the judging pool. Any schools that have judges removed from the pool will be charged for uncovered slot fees.

 

 

Amanda VonGoodrich                                     Aaron Duncan

Director of Forensics                                      Director of Forensics

University of Nebraska Omaha                        University of Nebraska Lincoln

(402) 616-5406                                             (402) 472-6920

agoodrich@unomaha.edu                               aduncan3@unl.edu

 

 

*Special Needs: If you have a student or coach with special needs, please let us know. We will be happy to provide accommodations.

Please make Asynchronous Tournament fee checks out to UNO Mavforensics and send to UNO Dodge Campus, Mavforensics ASH105, Omaha NE 68182.

(vr24)