MIDDLE SCHOOL INFORMATION

EXPLANATION OF RULES BY SPEECH CATEGORIES

IMPROMPTU SPEAKING RULES

A.     The time limit is five minutes maximum. There is no minimum time limit. Brevity should be penalized only if it discloses a lack of knowledge of subject or lacks complete speech. Over‑time will be a detriment.

B.     Topics will be announced to the contestants individually. The judge will call the first speaker on the ballot into the room, announce the topic to him or her, and give the speaker thirty seconds, no more, to prepare. When the first speaker is finished, the second speaker will be called and the same procedure follows. Speakers will stay in the room after their speeches until the round is finished; they may not leave the room after they have given their speech. The speaker will be judged for his or her ability to think on one's feet. The speaker is judged for the continuity of the speech and the material he or she is able to call forth on. the spur of the moment and mold that material into a logical speech. The speaker will also be judged on the mechanics of speech ‑‑‑ poise, quality and the use of voice, body action, and the ability to hold the attention of the audience. The student will be penalized if he or she does not stay within the time limit.

D.     Topics will be: a word, a saying and a current event. The topics will be alternated each round. No specific order of topics will be announced. The current event topic will be in a question form.

DRAMATIC AND HUMOROUS INTERPRETATION RULES

A.     The selection must be a memorized cutting taken from a play, short story or novel of recognized literary
quality which has been published in a book or magazine. ft may be either prose or poetry.

B.     The selection shall require not more than eight minutes nor less than four minutes for delivery. Failure to meet the time requirement will be a detriment.

C.     The art of interpretation is to be regarded as recreating the characters in the story presented and making them seem living and real to the audience. Adaptations may be made for the purpose of continuity only. They should be judged for their appropriateness as contest material and their suitability to the particular contestants using them.

D.      This is a contest in oral interpretation, not solo acting. Although gestures and pantomime are not barred, they should be used with restraint. The contestant will be graded on poise, quality and use of voice, inflections, emphasis, pronunciation, enunciation, and especially the ability to interpret characters correctly and consistently.

E.     Narrative should be vivid and animated so as to be interesting and integral to the story rather than just "filler" between portions of dialogue. The final test of good interpretation is the ability to use all these factors so successfully and unobtrusively that the hearer forgets that this is a contest and in perfectly created atmosphere is carried away to the time and place of the story being unfolded.

ORATORICAL INTERPRETATION RULES

A.     These selections are orations which have been delivered at some time and place by their authors, who may or may not be expert speakers.

B.      Any subject matter appropriate for a contest of this nature may be used. The selection must be delivered from memory.

C.     The oration shall require not more than eight minutes nor less than four minutes for delivery. Failure to meet these time limits will be a detriment.

D.     This contest comprises orations delivered at some other time and place by their authors. The test of the speaker, therefore, is the ability to reproduce not only words, but also the thought, emotion and effect of the original orator. Subject matter is not to be judged except as to its appropriateness to a contest of this sort. It may be either old or new. The time, place and circumstances of its original presentation by its author must be set forth by the contestant.

E.     The mechanics of speech must be observed faithfully ‑‑‑ poise, quality and use of voice, effectiveness and ease of gesture, emphasis, variety and enunciation. No particular style of delivery should be demanded of the orator; rather, he or she should be free to develop or select an individual style and then be judged according to the degree of perfection obtained and effectiveness in influencing the audience addressed.

ORIGINAL ORATORY RULES

A.     This oration is composed and memorized by the student who delivers it.

B.     Any appropriate subject may be used ‑‑‑ e.g., a eulogy of a great person, a plea for the solution of a current political, social or economic problem.

C.     The original oration will require four to eight minutes to deliver.

D.     Not more than 150 words of the oration may be a direct quotation from any other speech or writing. Plagiarism will cause disqualification.

E.     Hypothetical illustrations should not be personalized.

F.     Since these orations have been written by the contestants delivering them, the judges will watch for thought, composition and delivery. However, since this is a contest in speech, emphasis will be placed on the speech phase. Thought and composition will be considered primarily in the way they are employed to make the speech effective.

G.     The orator will not be expected to solve any of the great problems of the day. Rather, he or she will be expected to discuss intelligently, with a degree of originality, in an interesting manner, and with some profit to the audience, the chosen topic. He or she will be given wide latitude in the ideas expressed, but will be held accountable for the manner in which they are expressed.

H.     Delivery will be judged for mastery of the usual mechanics of speech ‑‑‑ poise, quality and use of voice, and bodily effectiveness ‑‑‑ and for the qualities of directness and sincerity which impress the oration on the mind of the audience.

POETRY RULES

A.     The student should prepare a poetry reading recital type of presentation which should range from four to eight minutes. The poetry should be of the student's own selection, and more than one poem must be used. The poetry selected should have something in common, a line of thought that runs through all: for example, three poems by the same author, two poems by different authors expressing the same idea, two poems presenting directly opposite viewpoints, three poems which use the same pattern of structure, rhythm or rhyme.

B.     This line of thought should be the basis for selection of the poems. The student will prepare a script of continuity which he or she will deliver extemporaneously, stating what there was in the poems which prompted their selection, pointing out their basic commonalties.

C.     Poetry must be read from script. No notes for the extemporaneous explanation are permitted. The judge's decision will be mainly influenced by the reading of the poetry itself. The purpose of the explanation is to add continuity and unity to the poetry recital.

D.     Students should realize that eye contact with an audience is an essential element in an oral reading situation.

E.    The poetry selections must be of recognized literary quality, taken from a published book or magazine.

DUO INTERPRETATION RULES

A.    The selection may be of dramatic or humorous nature and must meet IHSFA material requirements and standards.

B.     The Duo must have two participants. It is legal to have more than two characters.

C.     Participants must read from a script.

D.     Participants must not play to each other. This is interpretation, not acting. No eye or physical contact is allowed between the two students.

E.     No props or costumes are allowed.

F.       Selections must run from four to eight minutes. Failure to meet this time requirement will be a detriment.

G.     A memorized introduction and transitions may be used.

H.     No Duo Interpretation participant may enter into Dramatic or Humorous Interpretation competition using any part of the same material used in the Duo event.

EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING RULES

A.     Topics for this contest will be taken from articles discussed in leading magazines during the three‑month period immediately prior to the tournament. The topics will deal with people, social, economic, scientific or political events of state, national or international interest. Magazines to be used for the selection of topics will include Time,  Newsweek and U.S. News and Report since September 1st.

B.     Topics will be given to the students in question form.

C.     There is no minimum time limit; maximum time limit will be seven minutes. Brevity will be penalized only if it discloses lack of information on the topic; over‑time will be a detriment.

D.    The first contestant will draw three topics thirty minutes before speaking time and will discard two and speak on the third. The remaining contestants will draw in like manner in the order of speaking at intervals of seven minutes. Drawing of topics will precede the first and second rounds; the third (final) round topic will be chosen by the student from his first or second round draw.

E.     After topics have been selected and recorded, the contestants will be assigned to rooms for preparation of material which will be made without consultation or discussion with anyone. Reference books or magazines shall be provided by the student. Card files or Reader's Guides may be consulted only for the purpose of locating magazine articles. Highlighting of magazines is allowed; a file of clippings is allowed; no outlines or annotations of magazine articles are allowed. Violation necessitates disqualification.

F.     A director of Extemp will be in charge of the preparation rooms. The director will check out the extemp
contestant on his or her way to the round event. Failure to check out with the director will mean a last place in the particular round.

G.    Extemp contestants will be held accountable for:

1. strict adherence to the precise statement of the topic drawn and will be discounted for shifting to another topic on which the contestant might prefer to speak;

 2. well‑chosen information relative to the subject as presented in current periodicals;

3. the organization of materials according to a logical plan to produce a complete speech within the time limit; and

 4.   effective delivery, including the usual mechanics of speech.

H.     The Extemp speech is not to be a memory test of the material contained in any one particular magazine article but rather an original synthesis of current fact and opinion on the designated topic.

I.      Notes may be used, but they should not exceed fifty words.

DISCUSSION RULES

A.  Discussion Format

• What is the problem?
• Why is it a problem?
• Are there any possible solutions?
• Arrive at a consensus of the solution

B. Student Procedure

• Students will bring a personal outline with them to the discussion table. This will be a one page outline (front and back). The outline should be a personal outline in any form the student desires; however it should not merely be a cut/paste from the Internet.
• Students will be selected at random to serve as the moderator/leader for the round
• The moderator will be determined by the tournament director prior to the meet, and no student should serve as a moderator more than once during the meet.

C. Discussion Topics:

November Topic

Is standardized testing such as ISTEP the most effective way to evaluate a student’s academic achievement?

December Topic

What should be the response to global warming?

January-February Topic

What would be the best response to the childhood obesity crisis?

*Random selection of discussion leader—the discussion leader should be a different contestant for each round. You might want to designate the discussion leader on the ballot.

RADIO BROADCASTING RULES

A.    There will be three rounds of participation for all contestants. The order will be as follows:

Prep Time         Speaking Time

Round I                                          

Commercial Copy                        30 minutes             1 minute

Round II                                         

Editorial                                         1 minute                 1 minute

Round III                                        

News Program                                                               2 minutes

B.  Instructions for each round are as follows:

I .   The commercial copy will advertise a product which is recognizable in its nature or use. All participants will receive the same informational copy about the product such as product name, effects and contents, cost, and availability. The contestant shall be given 30 minutes in which to write, edit, and rehearse a one-minute final version of his or her original commercial.

II.   Editorial material will be chosen by the Tournament director. Each contestant  will receive the same copy and have one minute to prepare for its delivery. He or she may mark the copy but may not change its content.

III.  News Program: The  student participating should bring a two minute prepared news program which they have arranged, edited and practiced beforehand. The news program, presenting events of local, state or national importance should not exceed two minutes.

C.  Basis for judging each round, corresponding to I, II, and III above, are:

I . Salesmanship, friendliness, fluency, conviction, accuracy, voice and articulation;

II.  Persuasiveness..dignity, accuracy, articulation, fluency, voice variety, authority;

III. Selection of items for news worthiness, arrangement, transitions, voice variety, articulation, accuracy, sign on and sign off, authority, sense of timing.

D.  Students should not see each other perform in the round; judges will not be able to see students while they are "on the air."

PROSE INTERPRETATION RULES

A. The student should prepare a selection of prose, that is at least four minutes in length and no longer than eight minutes. The reading may be from one short story, excerpt(s) from one longer work (not originally in script form), or one essay, either fiction or non‑fiction taken from a book, magazine, or newspaper that is published in print and is readily available to the public. Local high school publications are not permissible. The focus of the piece should be on narration as opposed to dialogue. Emphasis should be placed on literary quality. Adaptations of the material should be made for the purpose of continuity only.

B.  While eye contact is important, it should be remembered that this is a reading event. The presentation itself is not to be memorized, but interpreted from the script.

C.  An introduction should include the title of the work and its author " well as any other background material essential to the audience's understanding. Introductions and transitions should be memorized. The judge's decision should be influenced mainly by the interpretation of the selection rather than the introductory material.