Washington High School Circle of Courage Oral Interpretation Tournament

 

Friday, October 23, 2026

 

Oral Interpretation Coaches:

We are pleased to invite you to attend The Circle of Courage Oral Interpretation Tournament at Sioux Falls Washington, held Friday, October 23.  We will be holding three preliminary rounds of competition followed by a final round and awards.  In addition to our varsity events, we will offer a novice division in all categories.  In the event that novice entries do not allow separate rounds in a particular category, we will combine novice and varsity divisions but will still separate results for the purpose of awards.  We are also in year two of offering a new Unified Speech Division and are excited to welcome new Unified competitors to our Circle in combined category rounds!! We hope to offer all competitors a positive experience. 

 

Again this year, we are a NIETOC bid tournament.  Students placing in events offered at NIETOC will receive one of two required bids to the NIETOC tournament held in May 2026 in Aurora, CO.  If you’d like more info about NIETOC, please let us know!  Bid placements will be determined as entry numbers are finalized, and I will update you as the date nears.  If your school does not attend NIETOC, or doesn’t work toward attending NIETOC, that is OK!! All schools, regardless of their involvement in NIETOC, are welcome. We want to welcome as many schools as possible into our “Circle” and participate in a meaningful speech experience!

 

Events and entries

Schools may have an unlimited number of entries in each of our seven divisions:  Humorous Interp, Dramatic Interp, Duo Interp, Storytelling (2026 theme:  Open - no theme), Non-Original Oratory, Poetry, and Reader’s Theatre.   Students may be double entered; we will allow a triple entry if the third entry is Reader’s Theatre.  **NEW THIS YEAR - WE WILL ATTEMPT TO OFFER POI AS AN 8TH OPTION FOR EVENTS IF NUMBERS ALLOW**

Rounds will be staggered to keep the tournament running smoothly.

 

Registration

I will be using SpeechWire to manage the tournament entries.  Please login, locate "The Circle of Courage" Interp event (alphabetical under the letter "T"), and proceed with registration.  Registration will be live on or before October 5, and I will notify you as soon as the system is ready to take your team’s entries. If you need assistance navigating speechwire.com and its platform, I’m happy to help!!

Please have your entries in by 4pm on Wednesday, October 21 via SpeechWire.   Fees are frozen at this time. Any changes after that will need to be emailed to me directly at michelle.mcintyre@k12.sd.us.  On the day of the tournament, prior to arriving at WHS, please call my cell phone with questions or last-minute changes in entries or judges.  My number is 605-359-0524.  For those traveling to WHS, if you can text/call with any changes once you are on the bus, we can get any changes taken care of prior to your arrival, to ensure a smooth and timely check in. We are starting a little earlier this year and would like to have everything ready as much as possible to get the event started smoothly.  SDHSAA rules govern the events.

Remember also to send your nominations for the 4th annual "Voices With Heart" award!  Details can be found in the information emailed to you previously this fall. 

 

 

Schedule – Includes a Finals Round

2:15 – 3:15 – Registration -**OUR AUDITORIUM IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.  WE WILL UPDATE WHERE YOU SHOULD GO FOR REGISTRATION AS WE GET CLOSER TO THE EVENT**– Do not arrive prior to 2pm.  Station in location TBD until dismissal.

3:20 – General Meeting in the Auditorium – dismiss for postings at 3:30

3:45 – Round One – Reader’s Theatre

4:00 – Round One 

5:00 – Round Two – Reader’s Theatre

5:15 – Round Two

6:30 – Round Three – Reader’s Theatre

6:45 – Round Three

7:45 – Finals - Reader’s Theatre

8:00 – Finals Round

9:30 – Awards in location TBD

Concessions will be available in our commons area for all students.  Cash and cards accepted.

 

Fees

Entry fees for the contest will be $8.00 per contestant per individual events, $12 per duo and $15 per Reader’s Theatre entry.  Fees will be assessed based on the entries received by 4pm on Wednesday, Oct. 22.  Fees must be paid on or before registration, and checks should be made out to Washington High School Oral Interp.  Fees for entries and judging are frozen as of Wednesday the 21st.  There is no charge for Unified entries.

 

Judges

Each school must provide one judge for every 5 students or fraction thereof.  Please be sure to cover your judging commitments, as I do not have a large pool of judges available for hire.  The fee for any hired judges will be $70.  College students are acceptable as judges.  Please be sure to review relevant judging criteria with your judges so they are well-equipped to provide quality feedback that helps our competitors grow!  Please also share that food and refreshments will be provided and that we expect them to remain available through the assignments of the finals round.  If not needed and once cleared by tabroom staff, they can leave once the finals round begins.

 

Awards

Students in the top six in each event in each division will receive awards. The top three in each event/division will receive Circle of Courage engraved medals, and places four-six will receive lapel pins.  First and second place sweepstakes awards will be given in each class.  NIETOC bids will be awarded based on entry numbers. The 2026 “Voices With Heart” award will also be given.  A separate nomination instruction form is available.  If you did not receive a letter with this info, email me. 

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email at any time at michelle.mcintyre@k12.sd.us .  

We look forward to seeing you and your teams for a great evening of competition and to welcome you into our “Circle”.

 

Michelle McIntyre, Head Coach, WHS Interp & Speech                                Grace Lange, Assistant Coach, WHS Interp & Speech

605-359-0524      

michelle.mcintyre@k12.sd.us

 

(vr24)