Winter Holiday Break

Asynchronous Speech Tournament

December 20, 2024 to January 2, 2025

Hosted by Leatherstocking Forensics League

*All Times Listed are EST

Dear Forensics Community,

We are pleased to invite you to Leatherstocking Forensics League’s asynchronous tournament.

Entry fees are $5 per student and downloadable certificates will be emailed to the top three students in each category.

Entries and Videos are due by 8 pm EST on Thursday, December 19th.

Rounds will be pushed by 9 am EST on Saturday, December 21st. Judges must click the ACCEPT ROUND button by 7 pm EST on Sunday the 22nd to confirm their acceptance of their judging obligation. Ballots and results are due by 8 pm EST on Thursday, January 2, 2025. Results will be published on Friday, January 3rd.

ALL EVENTS WILL BE ASYNCHRONOUS AND RUN IN 3 ROUNDS:

A NOTE ON OI - Oral Interpretation - In an attempt to make the tournament an opportunity for OI students to receive feedback on both their poetry and prose, the tournament will run with three judged rounds of OI Prose and three judged rounds of OI Poetry. You may enter your students in either one or both of the categories and attach the appropriate video link to each.

We are hosting some “new to our league” events to encourage more students to get started. General rules are below. These events include:

• Storytelling

• Sports Extemp

• Sightreading

• Sales Pitch

We will also offer Junior High (7th and 8th grade) events in Sightreading, Duo Interpretation, Extemporaneous, Oral Interpretation, Declamation, and Impromptu.

Sightreading, Impromptu, Sales Pitch, Sports Extemp, and traditional Extemp topics will all be available under Uploads. TOPICS WILL BE UPLOADED BY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13TH.

NEW EVENTS:

These additions are being made to encourage additional participation and the development of programs and opportunities. Offerings will be based on the sole decision of the host team coach in conjunction with the LFL Tournament Director, Suzanne Culver.

Sightreading - A performance of poetic material is provided by the tournament. Competitors shall be given one minute to review the literature, and then create an interpretation-based performance of that literature. While the preparation time is limited to one minute, the duration of the performance should be dictated by the length of the literature provided (i.e. there is no time limit to the performance, only the prep time. Tournaments should keep this in mind when selecting literature). The tournament will provide the same piece of literature to all competitors in each round. (This will run similarly to impromptu speaking)

Storytelling - A memorized performance of a single published, printed story, anecdote, tale, myth, or legend. The story may be delivered standing or seated, thus one chair is permitted, however, this is not an acting event; thus, no costumes, props, lighting, etc., are to be used. Maximum time is 5 minutes including introduction. This event is designed to create a storytelling scenario that uses the competitor's commitment to bringing a narrative to life for a child of approximately ages 3-7.

Sports Extemp - Similar to extemporaneous but all topics will be drawn from the last six weeks of Sports Headlines.

Sales Pitch - Competitors will have 30 minutes to prepare both a 30-second elevator pitch along with a subsequent 3-minute sales pitch. Topics will generally be new inventions, technological breakthroughs, or identified community or societal needs. All rounds will be run similarly to extemporaneous.

VIDEO INFORMATION:

Videos should be recorded (either by the coach or the students), uploaded to YouTube as "Unlisted", and then a link to that video should be added to the student's registration information in Tabroom where it asks for Piece/Quals

JUDGE INFORMATION:

• Ballots have event descriptions for your reference. If you have questions as you're judging, please email me by replying to this email chain.

• Ballots require a minimum word count of 30 words. Please provide competitors with positive and constructive feedback - a.k.a. "glows" and "grows" - so they may continue to improve.

• Points must be awarded in addition to rankings with no ties. The point range is 70 to 100.

• 95 -100 points: Outstanding A+

• 90-94 points: Excellent A

• 85-89 points: Very Good B+

• 80-84 points: Satisfactory B

• 75-79 points: Acceptable C+

• 70-74 points: Needs Improvement C

• Results will be based on rankings, reciprocals, and then points.

• Judges are responsible for timing pieces. Please do not consider the length of the video as the length of the piece. Many students also include additional information at the beginning that is not to be consider part of their timed performance.

Cost is $5 per student and payments are accepted by check to Leatherstocking Forensics League, 340 North Street, West Winfield, NY 13491 or venmo to @sculver135

If you have questions about the tournament, please contact Suzanne Culver at sculver135@gmail.com.

Thank you!