The Categories

Speech Categories

Four Minute Speaking

Time limit:                     4 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            1

 The challenge in this category is to present a well-developed INFORMATIVE speech on the topic of your choice.  The time limit is short, so a higher quality of speech is expected.  Visual aids are not permitted.  Participants write one speech and compete with it all season.  The use of notes is optional, but memorization is best. This category is great for beginners.  Many team members may want to start out in Four Minute early in the season and then move on to a more challenging category. 

Public Address

Time limit:                     8 min (with 15 sec grace period)
# of participants:            1

 The challenge to the speaker is to contribute to a commonly debated, current issue in the form of a well developed, informative speech.  At the start of each season, the participant must choose one of four given topics to write about.  Students will compose one speech and compete with it all season.  Visual aids are not permitted.  The use of notes is optional, but memorization is best. 

SAMPLE TOPIC: Should sports teams in the U.S. be required to end the use of ethnic mascots?   

Time limit:                     7 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            1

The challenge in this category is to compose an original speech on a current event in less than 30 minutes.  Participants draw five questions from a hat and choose the question they would most like to answer.  Then, they are given 30 minutes to prepare an answer to the question in the form of an original speech.  Participants are expected to cite sources during delivery.  The use of notes is optional, and limited to both sides of a 4X6 note card.  The participants compose a new speech for each round of competition.  This category is only for the experienced speaker, and is great for debaters.  Successful entries have the potential of going to the national tournament.  

SAMPLE QUESTION: Will there ever be peace between Israel and Palestine?
 

Time limit:                     10 min (with 15 sec grace period)
# of participants:            1

This is the Cadillac of speech categories.  Participants are to write an original, PERSUASIVE speech on the topic of their choice.  Past successful speech topics have been of some all encompassing relevance to society such as: Negativity (what causes it, and what are its harmful effects on our society); Hatred (in our all-accepting society we need to remember that some things are bad enough they deserve to be hated).  The speech must be memorized.  Visual aids are not permitted.  This category is only for experienced or highly motivated team members.  Successful entries have the potential of going to the national tournament.

Demonstration

Time limit:                     10 min (with 15 sec. grace period; including set-up and take down)
# of participants:              1 (also allowed one non-speaking assistant)

A demonstration speech explains how to do something or how something works.  Participants write an original speech to be presented while physically demonstrating an activity using models, props, or visuals.  The use of notes is optional, but memorization is best.

Moments in History

Time limit:                     6 min (with 15 sec grace period)
# of participants:            1

The participant is to present an original, informative speech on an historical topic of their choice.  The topic must fall into the given time period for the season.  Past time periods include “the 1960’s” and “100 B.C. to 1 A.D.”  Students will write one speech and compete with it all season.  Visual aids are strongly encouraged.  The use of notes is optional, but memorization is best.

Special Occasion Speaking

Time limit:                     8 min (with 15 sec grace period)
# of participants:            1

This category has a unique combination of acting and speech delivery.  At the start of the season, participants choose one of five situations for which to write an original speech.  Students must mentally put themselves in the situation of the speaker and compose a speech appropriate to that setting.  Visual materials may be used (including costumes).  The use of notes is optional, but memorization is best.  Students will write one speech and compete with it all season.

  SAMPLE SITUATION: You have been chosen as the humorous speaker at your high school reunion.

Radio Announcing

Time limit:                     5 min (with 10 sec grace period)
# of participants:            1

Pretend that you work at a radio station and you are in charge of a 5 minute news/sports/weather break at the top of the hour.  That is the challenge in this category.  Participants are given a packet of information that is the fake equivalent of a newspaper.  With 30 minutes of prep time before each round, you are to create a five-minute radio broadcast including the top stories from world, national, and local news, sports, weather, and a commercial.  Students create a unique broadcast for each round of competition.  Timing is key.  Presentation should end at 5 minutes on the nose. 

Group Discussion

Time limit:                     N/A
# of participants            1

This category is unique in that the participant does not present an individual speech.  Instead, all the participants engage in a single round-table discussion on a given topic.  Students on judged on the value of their contributions, their ability to include others in the discussion, and their ability to keep the group on task.  Participants are given the topic at least a week in advance so they may research.

Interpretive Categories
 

Interpretation of Poetry

Time limit:                     8 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            1

Participants are to prepare a cutting of a single poem or group of poems.  Selection does not need to rhyme, but must be written in verse.  Selections are to be READ from a manuscript, brought to life by the body and voice without walking about the room.  This category is great for beginners, but can be very competitive.

Interpretation of Prose

Time limit:                     8 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            1

Participants are to prepare a cutting of a single story or group of stories.  Prose is defined as literary work not written in verse (short stories, not poems).  Selections are to READ from a manuscript, brought to life by the body and voice without walking about the room.  This category is great for beginners, but can be very competitive.

Oral Interpretation of Literature

Time limit:                     8 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            1

Participants will prepare one 8-minute cutting of a prose selection AND one 8-minute cutting of a poetry selection to be presented in alternating rounds.  Selections are to READ from a manuscript, brought to life by the body and voice without walking about the room.  This category is great for beginners.

Farrago

Time limit:                     10 min (with 15 sec grace period)
# of participants            1

The challenge in this category is to interpretively READ several cuttings from various literary works of differing genres all connected by a common theme of your choice.  For instance you may choose the theme of jealousy.  Then you would read a short poem about jealousy, a short story about jealousy and a short cutting from a play about jealousy all totaling less than 10 minutes in length.  The selections are to be read from a manuscript, brought to life by the body and voice without walking about the room.

Group Interpretive Reading

Time limit:                     12 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            2-5

A group of teammates work together to interpretively READ a selection.  The material may be poetry, prose, essay, or a combination of these forms.  The key to this category is the group’s ability to present as a unit; sometimes speaking independently, sometimes in unison.  The group may also move and take on various stances and groupings as they present.   The selection is to be read from a manuscript, brought to life by the body and voice.

Play Acting

Time limit:                     12 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            2-5

Teammates will present a memorized scene from a play acted out using only a table and chairs.  Teammates may interact with each other in the same manner they would on a stage.

Solo Acting Humorous

Time limit:                     10 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            1

This is the Cadillac of interpretive categories.  Participants are to memorize a cutting from a single work of drama.  The participant may enact one or many characters brought to life using the body and the voice while remaining relatively stationary in the room.  The primary intent of this category is to make the audience laugh.  This category is only for experienced or highly motivated team members.  Successful entries have the potential of going to the national tournament.
 

Solo Acting Serious

Time limit:                     10 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            1

This is the Cadillac of interpretive categories.  Participants are to memorize a cutting from a single work of drama.  The participant may enact one or many characters brought to life using the body and the voice while remaining relatively stationary in the room.  The primary intent of this category is to create an emotionally moving scene that captures the audience.  This category is only for experienced or highly motivated team members.  Successful entries have the potential of going to the national tournament.

Duo Interpretation

Time limit:                     10 min (with 15 sec grace period)
# of participants:            2

Two team members work together to present a scene from a play or other dramatic work.  Unlike Play Acting, teammates are not allowed to look at or touch each other.  Instead, they deliver their lines side-by-side with an off-stage focus (more like solo acting with two people than like play acting).  No props, costumes, or visual materials are used.  The scene is created using the body and voice.  Successful entries have the potential of going to the national tournament.

Storytelling

Time limit:                     8 min (with 15 sec. grace period)
# of participants:            1

At the start of the season students are given a list of four story categories.  Participants must compose a story to fit each one of the categories.  Stories may be original or borrowed from a source.  At the start of each round, the judge will randomly select on of the categories for you to present.  You will take the same four stories with you each week, but you will not tell the same story twice at any given tournament.  Stories are told from a seated position in a stationary chair as if you were speaking to a group of children.  Stories are told from memory.