2027 Tournament Director: Heather McKaig
Assistant Tournament Director: TBD
2027 Tournament Events
SPIRIT OF COMPETITION
While this competition is meant to be a “fun” tournament, we expect a reasonable level of professionalism and decorum. In the “spirit of competition,” students should be prepared accordingly. Pieces should reach minimum time recommendations, be reasonably prepared, and be appropriate for presentation to a public audience (see Standards for Performance, below). Further, performance pieces should never ridicule or degrade other participants, schools, or the activity. Pieces should meet the standards for appropriateness used during the regular competition season. Failure to meet these standards may incur scoring penalties or other team sanctions determined appropriate by the tournament director and/or the MSCI Executive Board. MSCI shall base these decisions on the seriousness of the rule infringement.
STANDARDS FOR PERFORMANCE
All performances should be appropriate for a general audience. Although these presentations are not specifically designed for children, the material should be deemed suitable for family viewing. The material may contain little to no violence, no strong language, no drug use or references and no sexual dialogue or situations. The performances can contain witty jokes and humor and some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation, but they are common everyday expressions. It is expected that in all categories these considerations will still be followed.
Poetry Slam - Students perform their original poetry in a spoken-word competition evaluated by 5 judges (scored on a scale of 1-10, using one decimal point). Poems must be no longer than 3 minutes. Students may not use any props, stools, or musical accompaniment. Poems and physical actions must still comply with the Standards For Performance, found above. The high and low score will be dropped and the three remaining scores will be added together to determine the poet’s score for the round. There will be a .5 deduction for each 10 seconds the poem goes over 3 minutes, with a 10-second grace period. This means that the penalty goes into effect at 3:11. All participants need to be prepared with a minimum of 3 poems, as students may not repeat poems and will need a third poem if they qualify for the final round. There will be 2 preliminary rounds of slam, so each poet will read at least twice. Students will be placed in sections of 4-8 for each flight. There may be 2 or more flights of slammers in each round. The final round will take place in the theatre during lunch. After finals, Slam participants will eat lunch and spend the remainder of the day participating in a writer’s workshop.
Progressive Debate – In Progressive Debate individuals, as opposed to teams, debate. Debaters will present using the April NSDA Public Forum topic. There will be approximately 4-6 debaters in each round. Speaker number one will present a short constructive speech (3 minutes). Speaker two will cross examine speaker one (2 minutes). After the cross examination, speaker two will present a rebuttal to speaker one (3 minutes), then immediately move into their own constructive arguments (3 minutes). Debaters will continue until the final speaker. The first speaker will cross examine the last speaker and then present a rebuttal to the last speaker’s arguments. Speakers will be scored like an individual forensic event. Judges often will be lay judges with no special debate training. Ballot Here.
Resolved: TBD
While this competition is meant to be a “fun” tournament, we expect a reasonable level of professionalism and decorum. In the “spirit of competition,” students should be prepared accordingly. Pieces should reach minimum time recommendations, be reasonably prepared, and be appropriate for presentation to a public audience (see Standards for Performance, below). Further, performance pieces should never ridicule or degrade other participants, schools, or the activity. Pieces should meet the standards for appropriateness used during the regular competition season. Failure to meet these standards may incur scoring penalties or other team sanctions determined appropriate by the tournament director and/or the MSCI Executive Board. MSCI shall base these decisions on the seriousness of the rule infringement.
STANDARDS FOR PERFORMANCE
All performances should be appropriate for a general audience. Although these presentations are not specifically designed for children, the material should be deemed suitable for family viewing. The material may contain little to no violence, no strong language, no drug use or references and no sexual dialogue or situations. The performances can contain witty jokes and humor and some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation, but they are common everyday expressions. It is expected that in all categories these considerations will still be followed.
Poetry Slam - Students perform their original poetry in a spoken-word competition evaluated by 5 judges (scored on a scale of 1-10, using one decimal point). Poems must be no longer than 3 minutes. Students may not use any props, stools, or musical accompaniment. Poems and physical actions must still comply with the Standards For Performance, found above. The high and low score will be dropped and the three remaining scores will be added together to determine the poet’s score for the round. There will be a .5 deduction for each 10 seconds the poem goes over 3 minutes, with a 10-second grace period. This means that the penalty goes into effect at 3:11. All participants need to be prepared with a minimum of 3 poems, as students may not repeat poems and will need a third poem if they qualify for the final round. There will be 2 preliminary rounds of slam, so each poet will read at least twice. Students will be placed in sections of 4-8 for each flight. There may be 2 or more flights of slammers in each round. The final round will take place in the theatre during lunch. After finals, Slam participants will eat lunch and spend the remainder of the day participating in a writer’s workshop.
Progressive Debate – In Progressive Debate individuals, as opposed to teams, debate. Debaters will present using the April NSDA Public Forum topic. There will be approximately 4-6 debaters in each round. Speaker number one will present a short constructive speech (3 minutes). Speaker two will cross examine speaker one (2 minutes). After the cross examination, speaker two will present a rebuttal to speaker one (3 minutes), then immediately move into their own constructive arguments (3 minutes). Debaters will continue until the final speaker. The first speaker will cross examine the last speaker and then present a rebuttal to the last speaker’s arguments. Speakers will be scored like an individual forensic event. Judges often will be lay judges with no special debate training. Ballot Here.
Resolved: TBD