The National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) is the largest interscholastic

speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

and

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

organization serving middle school and high school students in the United States. It was formed as the National Forensic League in 1925 by Bruno Ernst Jacob.

History

20th century

As a Ripon College student, Jacob created a pocket handbook, ''Suggestions for the Debater''. After becoming a professor at Ripon College, Jacob received a letter inquiring about the existence of a debate honor society. This led to the founding of the National Forensic League, with the earliest members joining on March 28, 1925. The National Forensic League was an honor society that recognized middle and high school students and coaches for participation in speech and debate activities. Students earned merit points for participation and were held to a Code of Honor. Karl Mundt served as the organization's national president from 1932 until 1971.

21st century

The League's name was changed on May 17, 2013 to the National Speech & Debate Association and the National Speech & Debate Association's Honor Society. A press release explained "As a communication organization, we need to effectively communicate who we are and what we do. There is a common misunderstanding of 'NFL' or 'forensics,' including confusion with the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

or crime scene investigation; changing our name to focus on the activity of speech and debate will appeal to more students, coaches, alumni, sponsors, and the general public." As of 2024, the league has 141,132 student members and 2,000,000 alumni. It has chapters at 3,152 high schools and 578 middle school chapters. Its headquarters are located in

West Des Moines, Iowa West Des Moines is a city in Iowa, United States. Most of the city is in Polk County, Iowa, Polk County, some of it is in Dallas County, Iowa, Dallas County, and small portions extend into Warren County, Iowa, Warren and Madison County, Iowa, Madi ...

Symbols

NSDA's core values or pillars are Equity, Integrity, Respect, Leadership, and Service. After its name change in 2014, the association retained its original insignia, including keys, pins, and seals.

Membership

Members in the National Speech & Debate Association's Honor Society earn points and are recognized by increasing membership degrees, including membership, merit, honor, excellence, distinction, special distinction, superior distinction, outstanding distinction, and premier distinction.

Activities

NSDA provides competitive speech and debate activities, resources, comprehensive training, scholarship opportunities, and advanced recognition to more than 140,000 students and coaches each year. The annual National Speech & Debate Tournament marks the capstone of speech and debate activities for more than 140,000 members across the country. Students must qualify for the National Tournament through their District Tournament. To create standards for national competition, the National Speech & Debate Association defined a number of speech and debate events that are prevalent in the United States that have been adopted by many states.

Speech

Speech involves a presentation by one or two students that is judged against a similar type of presentation by others in a round of competition. There are two general categories of speech events, public address events and interpretive events. * Public address events feature a speech written by the student, either in advance or with limited prep, that can answer a question, share a belief, persuade an audience, or educate the listener on a variety of topics. * Interpretation events center upon a student selecting and performing published material.

Public Address events

Source: * Extemporaneous Commentary (EXC) *

Declamation Declamation (from the Latin: ''declamatio'') is an artistic form of public speaking. It is a dramatic oration designed to express through articulation, emphasis and gesture the full sense of the text being conveyed. History In Ancient Rome, decl ...

(DEC) * Expository (EXP) *

Impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

(IMP) * Informative Speaking (INF) * International Extemporaneous Speaking (IX) * Mixed Extemporaneous Speaking (MX) * Original Oratory (OO) * Original Spoken Word Poetry (SW) * Pro Con Challenge (PCC) * United States Extemporaneous Speaking (USX)

Interpretation events

Source: *

Dramatic Interpretation Dramatic Interpretation (often shortened to "Dramatic Interp," "Drama" or just "DI") is an event in National Speech and Debate Association (and NSDA-related) high school forensics competitions. In the National Christian Forensics and Communicatio ...

(DI) * Duo Interpretation (DUO) *

Humorous Interpretation Humorous Interpretation (often shortened to "HI", or "Humor") is an event in competitive middle and high school forensics leagues such as the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association and the National Speech and Debate Associat ...

(HI) *

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

(POE) * Program Oral Interpretation (POI) *

Prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

(PRO) *

Storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

(STO)

Debate

Debate involves an individual or a team of students working to effectively convince a judge that their side of a resolution or topic is, as a general principle, more valid. Students in debate come to thoroughly understand both sides of an issue, having researched each extensively, and learn to think critically about every argument that could be made on each side.

Debate events

Source: * Big Questions (BQ) *

Congressional Debate Congressional Debate (also known as Student Congress, Legislative Debate) is a competitive interscholastic high school debate event in the United States. The National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA), National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) ...

(House and Senate) (CON) * Extemporaneous Debate (XDB) * Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD) *

Policy Debate Policy debate is an American form of debate competition in which teams of two usually advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government. It is also referred to as cross-examinat ...

(CX) * Public Forum Debate (PF) * World Schools Debate (WS)

Notable members

Many NSDA alumni have risen to the pinnacle of their respective fields.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1925 establishments in Iowa Student organizations established in 1925 Organizations based in Des Moines, Iowa Organizations established in 1925 Student debating societies Secondary school honor societies