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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.). The National Committee meets several times a year for rules revision. The officials vote on each rule change, which affects the entire high school forensics community. The word "forensic" is an adjective meaning "of public debate or argument." The word is derived from the Latin word ''forensis'', meaning "of the Forum ." The sense of the word "forensic" that means "pertaining to legal trials" dates from the 1600s ( Oxford English Dictionary ) and led to the use of the word " Forensics " in reference to legal evidence. HISTORY Founded May 25 , 1925 by Bruno E. Jacob in Ripon, Wisconsin , the NFL hosted the first national High School speech tournament in 1930 with 49 schools from 17 States . National speech and debate tournaments were not held during World War II ; however, due to encouragement by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , the national Student Congress continued to be held. 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 its establishment in 1925. EVENTS Each year, the NFL hosts the National Speech And Debate Tournament . This tournament attracts over 3000 high school students who compete for national honors in a wide variety of events. These events include:
Students who qualify to the National Tournament in a main event yet are eliminated in the preliminary rounds may participate in one of the following Supplemental Events:
In addition to Supplemental Events, these Consolation Events are also held at the National Tournament:
All the above events (except Duet Acting) are NFL-sponsored events which one can compete in at the NFL National Tournament . There is also talk of Prose and Poetry becoming full events at the National Tournament, as well as the addition of Programmed Oral Interpretation (POI) as a supplemental event. THE ROSTRUM ''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 coaches and debaters. ''The Rostrum'' is a popular place for Debate Camp s and Brief Companies to place their advertisements supporting the magazine. ''The Rostrum'' is free to all NFL members, and also contains information on results from the national tournament, opinion pieces on the evolving debate world, and strategy tips for debaters. POINTS earned with 500 points. The sterling silver pin is 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall.]] 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 such as 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 years past, Student Congress ('''StuCo''') speeches given each received a score of up to six points. New NFL rules now allow up to eight points per speech. 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. 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 Tournament s 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 membership certificate. The following are the Membership Degrees: 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 highly 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. MEMBERSHIP According to the National Forensic League , any participating high school student who has attained 25 points becomes a member of the organization. However, this new member is required to pay a $15 lifetime fee. Even though membership is lifelong, one can only compete as a high school student (although coaches may receive points as well, as explained above). The lifetime ranking of an NFL member is determined by his or her Point Score, explained in the . STATE LEAGUES 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:
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:
State leagues operate independently. Some leagues sponsor events not offered by the NFL. These events may still qualify for NFL points, however. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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