Thematic

a. SELECTION -- No contestant may use exactly the same themes and/or literary work(s) that s/he used in previous competitive years. No contestant may enter the same selection in two qualifying events.

b. THEME -- The contestant is to present a program of interpretation based on a theme of his/her choice. Each program is to contain three or more separate selections or cuttings from different works. Anthologies may be considered multiple sources. Introductory, explanatory and connective material must not exceed one-third of the total presentation.

c.PUBLICATION -- All contestants must use published materials. "Published" as used in these rules means materials commercially printed, published, readily available, and nationally distributed. Only the original printed source or a photocopy of the original printed source shall be considered adequate proof of publication. Unpublished material used for introductions and transitions of interpretations shall be the original work of either or both of the contestants. Transitions and other added material must not change the author's intent.

d. MANUSCRIPT - An original or photocopy of the original selection must be submitted at registration. Script check is the last step in the registration process. Schools that do not complete the registration process are not eligible to compete in the tournament. The portion(s) of the author's work being used in the interpretation must be highlighted. All introductory and transitional phrases shall be clearly indicated as such on the manuscript. Transitions and other added material must not exceed 150 words and must not change the author's intent. Contestants must adhere to the material as submitted when performing during rounds.

e. TIME: Interpretations shall be no more than seven (7) minutes in performance including introductory and transitional materials. There is no minimum time limit. Exceeding this time limit by more than 30 seconds shall be penalized by a lowering of one rank. For each final round, a tournament official, or designee shall serve as the official timer, and will have the discretion of waiving time violations for contestants exceeding the time limit due to audience reactions. This may be extended to the semi-final round at the discretion of the tournament director or designee.

f. PERFORMANCE -- The thematic selections must be interpreted from a manuscript in the hand or hands of the contestant. The contestant may interpret the selection by referencing the manuscript or may give the selection solely by memory without reference to the manuscript, but in either event must hold the manuscript in his/her own hand or hands at all times. No costumes or props, with the exception of the intact manuscript, shall be permitted in thematic interpretation.

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Prose

a. SELECTION -- No contestant may use exactly the same literary work(s) that s/he used in previous competitive years. No contestant may enter the same selection in two qualifying events. Prose expresses thought through language recorded in sentences and paragraphs: fiction (short stories, novels) and non-fiction (articles, essays, journals, biographies). No plays or other dramatic materials, such as a movie script, may be used.

b. PUBLICATION -- All contestants must use published materials. "Published" as used in these rules means materials commercially printed, published, readily available, and nationally distributed. Only the original printed source or a photocopy of the original printed source shall be considered adequate proof of publication. Unpublished material used for introductions and transitions of interpretations shall be the original work of either or both of the contestants. Transitions and other added material must not change the author's intent.

c. MANUSCRIPT - An original or photocopy of the original selection must be submitted at registration. Script check is the last step in the registration process. Schools that do not complete the registration process are not eligible to compete in the tournament. The portion(s) of the author's work being used in the interpretation must be highlighted. All introductory and transitional phrases shall be clearly indicated as such on the manuscript. Transitions and other added material must not exceed 150 words and must not change the author's intent. Contestants must adhere to the material as submitted when performing during rounds.

d. TIME: Interpretations shall be no more than seven (7) minutes in performance including introductory and transitional materials. There is no minimum time limit. Exceeding this time limit by more than 30 seconds shall be penalized by a lowering of one rank. For each final round, a tournament official, or designee shall serve as the official timer, and will have the discretion of waiving time violations for contestants exceeding the time limit due to audience reactions. This may be extended to the semi-final round at the discretion of the tournament director or designee.

e. PERFORMANCE -- The selections must be interpreted from a manuscript in the hand or hands of the contestant. The contestant may interpret the selection by referencing the manuscript or may give the selection solely by memory without reference to the manuscript, but in either event must hold the manuscript in his/her own hand or hands at all times. No costumes or props, with the exception of the intact manuscript, shall be permitted in prose interpretation.

Poetry

a. SELECTION -- No contestant may use exactly the same themes and/or literary work(s) that s/he used in previous competitive years. No contestant may enter the same selection in two qualifying events. Poetry is writing which expresses ideas, experience, or emotion through the creative arrangement of words according to their sound, their rhythm, their meaning. Poetry may rely on verse and stanza form. Plays or fiction written in verse would be acceptable material in this event. A student may use one long poem or a combination of two or more poems unified by author or theme.

b. PUBLICATION -- All contestants must use published materials. "Published" as used in these rules means materials commercially printed, published, readily available, and nationally distributed. Only the original printed source or a photocopy of the original printed source shall be considered adequate proof of publication. Material used for introductions and transitions of interpretations shall be the original work of the contestant.

c. MANUSCRIPT - An original or photocopy of the original selection must be submitted at registration. Script check is the last step in the registration process. Schools that do not complete the registration process are not eligible to compete in the tournament. The portion(s) of the author's work being used in the interpretation must be highlighted. All introductory and transitional phrases shall be clearly indicated as such on the manuscript. Transitions and other added material must not exceed 150 words and must not change the author's intent. Contestants must adhere to the material as submitted when performing during rounds.

d. TIME: Interpretations shall be no more than seven (7) minutes in performance including introductory and transitional materials. There is no minimum time limit. Exceeding this time limit by more than 30 seconds shall be penalized by a lowering of one rank. For each final round, a tournament official, or designee shall serve as the official timer, and will have the discretion of waiving time violations for contestants exceeding the time limit due to audience reactions. This may be extended to the semi-final round at the discretion of the tournament director or designee.

e. PERFORMANCE -- The selections must be interpreted from a manuscript in the hand or hands of the contestant. The contestant may interpret the selection by referencing the manuscript or may give the selection solely by memory without reference to the manuscript, but in either event must hold the manuscript in his/her own hand or hands at all times. No costumes or props, with the exception of the intact manuscript, shall be permitted in poetry interpretation.

Sports Broadcasting

A limited preparation event designed to promote and improve audio play-by-play and commentary of athletic events. Specifically, this event encourages development of sports communication and knowledge as well as delivery and presentation skills. This event will consist of three preliminary rounds. The first four preliminary rounds will consist of a 30-minute preparation period and a 5-minute performance. Round One will consist of the first five-minutes of the game. Round Two will consist of the last five minutes of the first half. Round three will consist of the first five minutes of the second half. Round Four will consist of the last five minutes of the game.

Before Round Five begins an new 30- minute preparation period will be used to prepare for a new game. Round Five will consist of the first five minutes of the second game. Round Six will consist of the last five minutes of the first half. Round Seven will consist of the first five minutes of the second half. Round Eight will consist of the last five minutes of the second half.

If a Round Nine is necessary, an new 30- minute preparation will be used and the same process will continue.

For the preparation periods, students will receive:

• A digital copy of a 5-minute section of the game. (preliminary plans include NCAA basketball.)
• The sports information packets from each university/team.
• Updated team statistics and the final box score

There will be one prep.

JUDGING CRITERIA:

• Demonstration of depth/breadth of knowledge of the sport(s), team(s), game(s) and player(s) at hand.
• Demonstration of effective delivery, including volume, pitch, rate, articulation, clarity and involvement.
• Demonstration of an ability to determine/prioritize the importance of information provided.
• Demonstration of an ability to understand, follow and respect the time limits of the event.

NIETOC SUPPLEMENTAL EVENTs PAIRING & TABBING PROCEDURES

Contestants eliminated from the main events after Round 4 may participate in two of these events if pre registered for each. The students should report promptly to supplemental re-registration during the posted time.

All rounds prior to semifinals and finals will be judged by a single judge. Semifinal sections will use three judges and the final round will use five judges.

In these contests, all who are ranked Down twice are eliminated. The Up/Down ratio is listed below:

PAIRING - PRELIMINARY ROUNDS

Each student is guaranteed two preliminary rounds.

a. Sectioning: Pairings should be randomly made and then sections adjusted to meet the following conditions.

1. Pairings: No student is placed in a section with another student from their same school.
2. Selection: No student is placed in a section with the same interpretation selection, if possible.
3. Opposition: Each student, as far as possible, should meet different opposition in each preliminary round.
4. Limitations: With a limited number of entries and/or many entries from a single school and/or large numbers of students doing a particular selection, some of the pairing criteria may be mathematically impossible.

b. Order: Each student will appear in the to half of the speaking order in one preliminary round and the bottom half of the speaking order in the other preliminary round

c. Position: Each student is given a different speaking position in each round.

PAIRING - ELIMINATION ROUNDS

Each student not ranked Down in both preliminary rounds shall be scheduled in each succeeding elimination round until s/he has been ranked down twice or reaches the final round.

a. Sectioning: Based on each speaker's ranks, students will be serpentined through the total number of sections, pairing them from low total to high total. See example below:

Section 1	Section 2	Section 3	Section 4
1	2	3	4
8	7	6	5
9	10	11	12
16	15	14	13

Speaker 1 has the lowest total rank, Speaker 16 the highest

b. Balance: Pairing in the elimination rounds shall be balanced. Approximately equal numbers of all Ups and single Downs shall be scheduled in each section. The sum of contestant ranks in each section shall be equal or as close to equal as possible.

c. Adjustment: Unless impossible, the sections will be arranged so that:

1. No student meets another from the same school.
2. No student meets another with the same interpretation selection.
3. Each student as far as possible be sectioned against different opposition BUT equality between sections is a higher priority than different opposition.

d. Uneven sections: When the numbers of contestants in some sections is not the same as in others (i.e. 6, 6, 7 or 5, 5, 6, 6), the average cumes of the speakers in the short section will be added to achieve the section total - then adjusted if necessary.

e. Priority: When in conflict, cumulative rank totals are more important than Ups when balancing sections. See example below:

Student	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Ups/Downs	Cume
A	3/7	3/6	3/6	3/6	All Up	12
B	4/5	1/6	1/6	2/5	1 Down	8

Obviously B is the stronger contestant even though A is all Up

f. Speaker Order: Unless made difficult or impossible by double entry, a student should speak in a different speaker position each round.

g. Priority: New positions for several speakers take priority over exact high to low placement order.

h. Double entry: When a student is appearing in two events, low and high positions will be varied from event to event and round to round.

SEMI-FINALS:

When the number of contestants in a supplemental event reaches 18 or fewer, a semifinal round will be held. Each section will have 3 judges and the sections will be apportioned as follows: 18 (6, 6, 6); 17 (6, 6, 5); 16 (6, 5, 5); 15 (5, 5, 5); 14 (7, 7); 13 (7, 6); 12 (6, 6); 11 (6, 5); 10 (5, 5); 9 (5, 4); 8 (4, 4); 7 (3, 4).

Pairing for the semifinal round will follow elimination round pairing procedures.

FINALS:

Finalist Selection: The final round shall be composed of the top six contestants selected on a low cumulative scoring basis, by adding the round ranking from the preliminary rounds to the total of all of the individual judges' decisions in the semifinal round. If ties bring the number to over six, the following shall be considered in the order of precedence listed to break ties:

1. Judges' preference in the semifinal round; both speakers must have been in same semifinal panel.
2. Rank in semifinal round only; speakers tied need not have been in the same panel.
3. Greatest number of firsts, seconds, etc., in the semifinal only.
4. Greatest number of firsts, seconds, etc., in round ranks of all rounds including the semifinal round.
5. All individual judges' decisions from all rounds on a low cumulative basis.
6. Greatest number of individual judges' firsts, seconds, etc., awarded in all rounds.
7. If speakers who are tied met in a previous preliminary panel, resolve the tie by the higher ranking in that panel.

DETERMINING FINAL RESULTS

The winner in each event shall be determined on the basis of low total cumulative score, counting the rankings of the preliminary rounds, each judge's decision in the semifinal round, and each judge's decision in the final round. See example below:

Speaker	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Semis	Finals	Cume	Place
A	1	2	1	4	4-1-2	1-3-2-4-1	26	1
B	2	1	1	2	1-3-2	1-3-2-6-3	27	2
C	2	1	2	3	2-3-3	1-4-2-5-4	32	3

 

If ties exist, the following shall be considered in order of precedence listed to break ties:

1. Rank in the final round only.
2. Judges' preference in the final round only.
3. Greatest number of firsts, seconds, etc., in finals only.
4. Greatest number of first, seconds, etc., in round rankings for all rounds.
5. Greatest number of firsts, seconds, etc., from all judges in all rounds.