National Forensic League
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The Seal of the National Forensic League |
The
National Forensic League is one of two major U.S. national
organizations which direct high school competitive speech events. (The other is the
National Catholic Forensic League or NCFL.)
Founded
May 25 1925, the NFL hosted the first national high school speech tournament in 1930 with 49 schools from 17
states. By and large the rules that governed that tournament are still in effect today providing one of the longest running national competitions for
high school students. Approximately 1 million high school students have been members of the NFL since 1925. Well over 30,000 high school students participate in NFL certified events every year. The
National Tournament for 2006 was held in Grapevine, Texas.
The NFL hosts the U.S. national high school forensics tournament annually in the US, attracting over 3000 high school students to compete for national honors in a wide variety of events including:
*
Policy Debate (
Cross Examination: CX)
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Lincoln-Douglas Debate (
LD)
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Public Forum Debate (
PFD) (Controversy/Ted Turner Debate)
*
Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking (
FX or
IX)
*
Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking (
DX or
USX)
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Original Oratory (
OO)
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Dramatic Interpretation (
DI)
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Humorous Interpretation (
HI)
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Duo Interpretation /
Duet Acting (
DA)
*
Student Congress (
Congress)
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Prose Interpretation {
PR or
Prose} (supplemental event in National Tournament)
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Poetry Interpretation {
PO or
Poetry} (supplemental event in National Tournament)
*
Extemporaneous Commentary (supplemental event in National Tournament)
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Expository Address (supplemental event in National Tournament)
*
Impromptu Speaking (consolation event in National Tournament)
* Storytelling (consolation event in National Tournament)
All the above events are NFL-sponsored events which one can compete in at the NFL
National Tournament. However, those events marked as supplemental or consolation one cannot qualify in; they are events which, if pre-registered, a contestant can compete in if that contestant does not advance beyond the preliminary rounds.
Students qualify for competition in the national tournament through competition in NFL-sanctioned district tournaments. Each district sends one, two (or, rarely, more) students in each event based on the number of entrants in that event. The rules for running a district tournament are published in the
National Forensic League Manual, which include strict dress code requirements for all participants.
Districts tend to follow state boundaries, although some states have several districts. Arizona, for instance, has one district, whereas Ohio has four. The NFL website contains a
list of districts.
During June of each year, the National Forensic League holds a National Tournament. In order to participate in this tournament, student must qualify through their home district's qualifying tournament. The competitors in this tournament are believed to be the best forensic students in the nation. Each year, the tournament is held in a different location in the United States. The location in which the tournament is held is determined through a bidding process similar to that of the
Olympic Games.
The Rostrum is the official monthly
magazine of the National Forensic League. The magazine was originally titled the
Bulletin, which was first published in 1926. Since its creation, the
Rostrum has evolved into a forum for debate education and news, soliciting articles from ocahes and debaters.
The Rostrum is a popular place for
debate camps] and [[brief compnaies to place their advertisments, supporting the magazine which is free to all NFL members.
Those who participate in competitive forensics earn points for their efforts. In the debate events, a win in a round is worth six points while a loss is worth three. In the speech events, there are three point brackets; original speeches, worth six points, interpretation events, worth five points, and speaking events, worth four points. Six point events include Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, and Expository; first place in one of these rounds earns a competitor six points, second earns the competitor five, third earns four, etc. Five point events include Prose, Poetry, Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, and Dual Interpretation. The four point event category is reserved for events like Impromptu Speaking.
National Forensic League Points (NFL points) are employed in the scoring system used by the
National Forensic League to rank competitors' lifetime progress, and to determine how many competitors a school may register in an
NFL District Tournament.
In debate events, the winner (or both members of the winning team) each earn six points, and the loser earns three. In speaking events, points vary with the speaker's place in the round. Competitors in events that involve creating original material such as:
Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking (
FX),
Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking (
DX),
Original Oratory (
OO),
Lincoln-Douglas Debate (
LD),
Public Forum Debate (
PF) and
Policy Debate (
CX) each earn more points than competitors in events that involve interpreting previously published material such as
Prose (
PR),
Poetry (
PO),
Humorous Interpretation (
HI),
Duet Acting (
DA), and
Dramatic Interpretation (
DI). The least expected points are categorized in "
Speaking" events. These include
Impromptu (
Imp), and any other optional speaking events. In
Student Congress (
StuCo) each speech given receives a score of up to six points. Commonly more than one judge scores each speech in Student Congress, so in this case the scores of the judges are averaged and rounded up to calculate the speech score.
| Rank: | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | Points Earned:
Original Speech | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Points Earned:
Interpretation | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Points Earned:
Speaking | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
Members can only earn up to 750 points in each of the three areas of competition: debate, speaking events (original oratory, extemporaneous speaking and the interpretative events), and
Student Congress. Points earned at
NFL District Tournaments and the
NFL National Tournament are not subject to the 750-point cap. The point limit was raised in
2004 from 500 points.
Members can also earn "service points", which accrue for certain activities outside of speech competition. Delivering speeches before audiences of twenty-five or more adults, for instance, earns a fixed number of service points.
As a member accumulates points, they earn NFL degrees. Each degree corresponds to the jeweling pattern of an NFL pin which the degree-holder is authorized to wear, and to a seal which will be placed on the degree-holder's diploma. The following are the Membership Degrees:
| Degree | Points | Jewels | Seal | | Merit | 25 | None | White |
| Honor | 75 | Emerald | Bronze |
| Excellence | 150 | Sapphire | Silver |
| Distinction | 250 | Ruby | Gold |
Special
Distinction | 500 | Double
Ruby | Rose |
Superior
Distinction | 750 | Triple
Ruby | Blue |
Outstanding
Distinction | 1000 | Quadruple
Ruby | Purple |
Premier
Distinction | 1500+ | Quint
Ruby | Black |
It should be noted that NFL pins are by no means ubiquitous; some competitors in some areas are more likely to wear them; other competitors in other areas may abstain from them, and even consider them to be mildly pretentious. In some forms of speech competition, advertising one's standing with a pin may also place one at a minor tactical disadvantage.
Point Archive: Coach/Instructor
School Instructors also receive points, which are dependent upon their students' performances. The instructor receives 1/10 of a point for each point received by one of the instructor's students. The better the team, the better recognition of the instructor. Instructors follow the exact same degree as students; however, an instructor receives a diamond after accumulating point totals of 1,500, 3,000 and every 3,000 points thereafter. All instructor points are dependent upon the performance of the instructor's team, although the coach or coaches decide how to award accumulated coaching points among themselves.
According to the
National Forensic League, any participatinghigh school student who has attained 25 points becomes a member of the organization. However, this new member is required to pay a $10 lifetime fee. Even though membership is lifelong, one can only compete as a high school student. The lifetime ranking of an NFL member is determined by his or her
Point Score, explained in the
Point ArchiveThe National Forensic League also works with the
University Interscholastic League. The UIL offers just a few of the NFL Events, such as:
Prose,
Poetry, Informative and Persuasive Speaking (
Extemporaneous Speaking),
Policy Debate, and
Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Other events such as:
Original Oratory,
Dramatic Interpretation,
Humorous Interpretation, and
Impromptu are not offered by the UIL. Those events can only be competed at District Level, National Tournaments, State Tournaments, and Regular Tournaments.
Like many of the Organizations associated with the National Forensic League, UIL is a qualified Tournament. Competitors Qualify to the UIL Tournament through their Performances at Regular Tournaments. UIL Events provide a different performance than regular NFL Events within each competitor.
UIL, as mentioned above, is an organization based in the state of Texas.
While the
National Speech and Debate Tournament and the qualifying
District Competitions are hosted by the NFL, most forensics tournaments during the school year operate under the auspices of other organizations. Chief among them are the state speech leagues, such as:
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California High School Speech Association [
1]
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Florida Forensic League, Inc. [
2]
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Indiana High School Forensics Association[
3]
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Iowa High School Forensic League (Iowa also has the
Iowa High School Speech Association [
4] though the two bodies are independent and the IHSFL is operated directly by speech and debate coaches)
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Kentucky High School Speech League, Inc.*
Massachusetts Forensics League [
5]
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Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association[
6]
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North Carolina - Tarheel Forensic League [
7]
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Ohio High School Speech League[
8]
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Pennsylvania High School Speech League [
9]
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South Carolina Speech and Debate Association [
10]
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Texas Forensic Association [
11]
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Utah High School Forensics Association [
12]
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Wisconsin Forensics Coaches Association [
13]
In other states, speech is classed with other high school interscholastic competition and is overseen by the same organization as football, basketball and gymnastics such as:
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Alaska School Activities Association [
14]
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Arizona Interscholastic Association [
15]
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Colorado High School Activity Association*
Georgia High School Association [
16]
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Idaho High School Activities Association [
17]
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Illinois High School Association [
18] [
19]
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Kansas State High School Activities Association*
Maine Principals' Association [
20]
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Minnesota State High School League*
Missouri State High School Activities Association [
21]
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Montana High School Association [
22]
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Nebraska School Activities Association [
23]
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New Mexico Activities Association [
24]
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North Dakota High School Activities Association [
25]
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Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association [
26]
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Oregon School Activities Association*
South Dakota High School Activities Association [
27]
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Tennessee High School Speech and Drama League*
Vermont Principals' Association [
28]
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Virginia High School League*
Washington Interscholastic Activities Association [
29]
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Wyoming High School Activities Association [
30]
State leagues operate independently. Some leagues sponsor events not offered by the NFL. These events may still qualify for NFL points, however.
*
National Catholic Forensic League* Peters, Tammy. (2003).
In Defense of the NFL (and debate in all its forms).
Rostrum. Retrieved December 30, 2005.
* Kempner High School:
NFL Speech Events National Forensic League, Retrieved March 9th, 2006.
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Official Website Website of the National Forensic League
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NFL Reports Website containing all the Reported Points and Standings of Coaches, Students, and Schools.
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The Rostrum The NFL's official magazine
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Archive of Rostrum articles from the University of Vermont's Debate Central.
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Joy Of Tournaments: Official Website Website for the Joy Of Tournaments
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NFL District Standings The Annual School standings within Each District of the National Forensic League.
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National Forensic League Manual National Forensic League Manual, that explains every aspect of the Organization.
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National Tournament Manual The Manual of the National Tournament, which covers all information regarding the Tournament.
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District Tournament Manual Information and Procedures involving the process of the District Tournament.
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UIL: Official Website The Website of the University Interscholastic League.
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NFL District List The list of all the National Forensic League Districts, their District number, and their Head Chair.
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National Forensic League on ForensicsWiki
