Competition Details

Patterns

Pattern A: To be determined after registration closes.
Pattern B: To be determined after registration closes.

Registration

Registration closes May 5 at 6pm Central time.

Events

NITOC will run all 12 Stoa Individual Events and Parliamentary Debate. Team-Policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate formats will be utilizing the Stoa resolutions. For complete rules of these events, visit the StoaUSA Website.

How to Receive a NITOC Invitation

Invitations are sent to competitors based on their results from competitions entered into the Speechranks website.

There are two invitational models:
National Invitation Model: Two Green Check Marks in a NITOC event means you will receive an invitation to NITOC in that event.
State Invitation Model: The top speaker from each state in each NITOC event will receive an invitation to NITOC in that event. The top two debaters in Lincoln Douglas Value Debate and the top two teams in Team Policy Debate from each state will receive an invitation to NITOC in that event.

If you did not receive an email invitation but have fulfilled the requirements listed in at least one of the two models above, you may still register. Stoa validates each registration according to these criteria using Speechranks.

Competitor Eligibility and Dress Code

For Eligibility information visit http://www.stoausa.org/eligibility.
For Dress Code information visit http://www.stoausa.org/tournament-calendar/dress-code.

Stoa Membership Registration

In order to register for this tournament, you must be a Stoa member. When you register, this website will automatically cross-check your Stoa membership registration to see if you may legally enroll in the competition. If you have not yet registered with Stoa, you may do so now by clicking on this link: Stoa Registration

WARNING: Computers lack a sense of humor. They only do exactly what you tell them to do. If you registered as a Stoa member under the name John A. McGillicuty, the computer will not recognize J. A. McGillicuty, John Abracadabra McGillicuty, John McGillicuty, or any number of other possible legal variations of the name. You must register for on this website exactly as you signed up for Stoa registration. We hope this works smoothly for everyone.

Please direct any questions to the registrar, Mrs. Julie Braswell.

Script Submission

Please make sure that you have followed all the prescribed guidelines in preparing your scripts. The following are links to the StoaUSA website to review to make sure you are in compliance:
Interpretive Speeches
Platform Speeches

We strongly encourage you to submit your script electronically saving you time during check-in. Electronic script submission is entirely voluntary. You still must turn in a hard copy of your script when you check in, but there will be a special electronic script submission check-in line just for you. Click Here for Electronic Script Submission Details

Regular script submission is performed only on Monday. Parliamentary Students have a mandatory check-in at 7:30am. All other competitors will check in from 9:00am until 5:00pm. The Late Check-In policy and Late Fee are detailed at Click Here for all Late Check-in Details.

Debate Self Timing

Every debater MUST bring their own timepiece. All debaters should plan to time their own debate rounds. The tournament will try to supply timekeepers, but it is likely that there will not be enough timekeepers for all of the debates.

If you have not timed your own debates this year, be sure to practice before NITOC so that you are comfortable with the process by the time you get to the tournament.

If you are uncertain about this process, please watch this video that explains the procedure.

JKTimer
JKTimer is an iPhone App available on the iTunes Store. It specifically allows Stoa speakers, debaters, judges and timers to time according to speech and debate formats. This app can be found here: iTunes Store: JKTimer

Speech and Debate Seedings

Events at the Stoa National Invitational Tournament of Champions will be seeded based on the rankings on the Speechranks Website. Seeding is based on a student’s three best performances during the speech and debate season. This continued excellence throughout the year is awarded with an invitation to and preferential seeding at NITOC.