Hello collegiate speech !! February is a long lil diva giving us popper-uppers a lovely chance to host you all virtually Saturday Feb 28th // Sunday March 1st for Pop-up 8 !! Pop-up has NEVER been synchronous before, so please shawties, join us for a once in a LIFETIME experience at our lovely swing tournament hosted by graduate assistants at Illinois State University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, & our newest popper-upper friends, Eastern Michigan University! We (the host-shawties) know if you joined us, this swing would truly eat down XD. 

    RULES OF EVENTS

    GENERAL:   All programs and speeches must not have been used by a student in any competition (high school or college) prior to September 1, 2025.  We will be following the rules and ethical standards of the AFA-NST.

    ENTRIES:  Each student may enter as many events as they want.  Events that have 7 or fewer entries will be judged "head-to-head" by three judges.  Events with 8 or more entries will be judged by two judges in "preliminary" rounds and then broken to a "head-to-head" final with at least one judge (3 if the pool allows).  From prelims into the final, ties will be broken by speaker points.  In "head-to-head" rounds, ties will be broken by speaker points and then by judges' preference.

    Events Offered
    Extemporaneous Speaking       Informative Speaking
    Persuasive Speaking            Impromptu Speaking
    Duo Interpretation              Dramatic Interpretation
    Prose Interpretation         Communication Analysis
    After Dinner Speaking           Poetry Interpretation
    Program Oral Interpretation     (

Entries are due Wednesday, February 25th by 5:00 pm CDT. After this point, no new entries will be accepted, however, drops may be made on the SpeechWire website until Friday, February 27th at 12:00 pm.*

ZOOM: Links and LP Prompts will be available through speechwire, so we kindly ask that coaches work with their students before the tournament to set up speechwire accounts, so that students can access LP prompts. The main zoom link will be sent out Friday night!

SCHEDULE: As always, we will attempt to collapse finals if the judging pool permits. We would very much appreciate it if you could enter as many judges as possible in order to make this a reality! 

    JUDGES & FEES:  Entry fees are $8 per slot.

    Each school should furnish one judge for every six slots.  Hired judges are available at $12.00 per uncovered slot (hired judges will be paid $12.00 per round).  We will gladly pay any clean judges a school can provide beyond their obligation to ensure better ballots for your students.  Judges dropped after noon on Wednesday will incur a $25 drop fee, but name changes are free and encouraged!

Online Payment Links will be sent during the week of the tournament!

    AWARDS:  To keep costs down, we will not be giving out trophies for finalists.  Your qualification will be your award!



    SCHEDULE:  All times listed are CENTRAL
8:15 AM Registration

8:30 AM Extemp Draw

9:00 AM Round 1A: ADS, DUO, EXT, PER, POE, DI

10:15 AM Extemp Draw

10:30 AM Round 2A: ADS, DUO, EXT, PER, POE, DI

10:45 AM Round 2A EXT

12:00 PM Lunch

12:45 PM Round 1B: CA, POI, IMP, INF, PRO

2:00 PM Round 2B: CA, POI, IMP, INF, PRO

3:15 PM Extemp Prep

3:45 PM Finals A: ADS, DUO, EXT, PER, POE, DI

5:00 PM Finals B: CA, POI, IMP, INF, PRO

6:15 PM Awards (or ASAP)

Please please please reach out if you have any questions! Judges, if ballots are returned or reassigned, Prem and Evangeline will BOTH dab on you at the next in person tournament. #accountability. Reach out with any questions and we hope to see yall soon !!

Sincerely, Graduate Coaches of ISU, UIC, & EMU <3