The theme for the 2011 NIETOC tournament is FOLKLORE.
1 - A single published, printed story, anecdote, tale, myth or legend must be retold without notes or props. ISBN information must be provided upon registration.
2 - The maximum time is 5 minutes, but the story may be briefer without penalty. Any introduction must be included within the 5-minute limit.
3 - The student may not use material s/he used in a previous competition year, nor can s/he use material that is being performed in another interpretation event.
4 - The delivery must be extemporaneous, not read. No book or script may be used. The story may be delivered standing or seated.
5 - Gestures, pantomime, and characterization may be used with restraint, but the focus must be on the narrative.
6 - The retelling must be true to the original tale. The contestant may not add original material or materially change the content of the story.
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 Unpublished material used for introductions and transitions of interpretations shall be the original work of either or both of the contestants.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.
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.
a. TOPIC -- Expository speeches are original compositions of the contestant. The expository speech is a speech to inform, and should describe, clarify, illustrate or define an object, idea, concept, or process. A fabricated topic/subject may not be used. In expository, a student may not use any portion of his/her original oration entered at the NIETOC tournament.
b. ORIGINALITY -- All speeches entered must be the original work of the contestant. All speeches must have been prepared during the current competitive year. Speeches that have been used in tournaments or service club contests in previous years shall be disqualified; this rule applies to a new speech by a speaker based on the same subject used in a previous year or to any subject used for any original speech by the same contestant during the same or previous years.
c. MANUSCRIPT -- An original or photocopy of the original speech must be submitted at registration. The manuscript must follow the MLA or APA style guidelines for internal citations and must include a "works-cited" page. 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. Contestants must adhere to the material as submitted when performing during rounds.
d. VISUALS -- No visual aids may be used during the expository speech.
e. TIME: Speeches shall be no longer than seven (7) minutes; there is no minimum time. Exceeding this time limit by more than 30 seconds shall be penalized by a lowering of one rank. Judges should use discretion if the speaker is forced to exceed this time limit due to audience reaction.
f. DELIVERY -- The speech must be delivered from memory with no reference to notecards and/or manuscript.
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:
Each student is guaranteed two preliminary rounds.
a. Sectioning: Pairings should be randomly made and then sections adjusted to meet the following conditions.
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.
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:
- No student meets another from the same school.
- No student meets another with the same interpretation selection.
- 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.
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.
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:
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:
The NIETOC reserves the right to deny or refuse to accept the application from any participant to the competition. The NIETOC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, modify or alter the procedures, rules or regulations regarding any aspect of the competition without notice.
Students who qualify for the NIETOC are able to enter up to two main events and two supplemental events. The choice of events to participate in is up to the student(s), along with coaches and parents.
