HATTIESBURG

Dear Speech Colleagues,

Hattiesburg High School Forensics is pleased to host the 33rd Hub City Classic Speech Virtual Speech and Debate Tournament. Consider this your special invitation to attend Friday and Saturday, March 18-19, 2022.

Hattiesburg High School is proud to announce that the Hub City Classic is a Tournament of Champions bid school for the National Individual Events Championships to be held virtually May 12-15, 2022. Please visit www.nietoc.com for additional information.

The Classic has hosted schools from California, Kentucky, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Louisiana over the past few years. Students should expect quality speech competition in a supportive environment.

The Hub City Classic will offer:

Debates: Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, Congressional Debate,
Individual Events:

Flight A: Dramatic Interpretation, Original Oratory, Program of Oral Interpretation, Impromptu;
Flight B: Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Informative Speaking, Extemporaneous Speaking, and Declamation.
*All speech events, with the exception of Impromptu and Extemp, will be asynchronously recorded and sent to Nadia.

Multiple-entry policy:
Students may enter up to one debate (including Congressional Debate), one Flight A IE and two Flight B IE’s OR enter two Flight A’s and two Flight B’s.

Although we would much prefer to host our guests at Hattiesburg High School for our traditional Mardi Gras event in February, we are saddened to be forced to make this decision due to the uncertainty of planning an in-person event in the weeks to come.

Debate topics:

Lincoln Douglas
NSDA LD Mar/Apr
In a democracy, a free press ought to prioritize objectivity over advocacy.
Public Forum
NSDA PF Mar
In the United States, the benefits of increasing organic agriculture outweigh the harms.
Congressional Debate
Legislation: click here to view.

Event Rules:

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

Students entering Congressional Debate may only enter one (1) Flight A Events and two (2) Flight B Events.
No substitutions will be made in Congressional Debate. If a student does not show up or chooses not to compete, the school will lose that seat.
Laptop computers and tablet devices may be used by delegates, but may not be used to receive information for competitive advantage from non-competitors (coaches, assistant coaches, teammates, other students, etc.) inside or outside of the room in which the competition occurs.
Each preliminary room will have 15 or fewer competitors. The total number advancing to the final Super Sessions will be determined by the number of preliminary chambers established.

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE

RESOLVED: In a democracy, a free press ought to prioritize objectivity over advocacy.
Debates in this division will follow the standard 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 format.
Each debater has four minutes of prep time to use as they wish.
Five preliminary rounds will determine breaks to elimination rounds. Rounds 4 and 5 will be power-matched based on the earlier preliminary record.
Due to the truncated format of our debate rounds, we ask that NO DISCLOSURES are given during the rounds. While we appreciate the need for them, the tight schedule does not provide enough time for them.
A novice debater is a competitor in their first year of competition in ANY event. If a student competed in middle school, but did not compete in debate events on that level, they may be considered novice during their first high school season.
Laptop computers and tablet devices may be used by delegates, but may not be used to receive information for competitive advantage from non-competitors (coaches, assistant coaches, teammates, other students, etc.) inside or outside of the room in which the competition occurs.

PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE

RESOLVED: In the United States, the benefits of increasing organic agriculture outweigh the harms.
The debate will follow the 4-4-3-4-4-3-3-3-3-2-2 format.
Each team will have 3 minutes of prep time to use as they wish. We will respect the NSDA pilot of 1 additional minute of prep.
Five preliminary rounds will determine breaks to elimination rounds. Rounds 4 and 5 will be power-matched based on earlier preliminary record.
Due to the truncated format of our debate rounds, we ask that NO DISCLOSURES are given during the rounds. While we appreciate the need for them, the tight schedule does not provide enough time for them.
A novice debater is a competitor in their first year of competition in ANY event. If a student competed in middle school, but did not compete in debate events on that level, they may be considered novice during their first high school season. For a team to enter the novice division, both speakers must be in their novice year.
Laptop computers and tablet devices may be used by delegates, but may not be used to receive information for competitive advantage from non-competitors (coaches, assistant coaches, teammates, other students, etc.) inside or outside of the room in which the competition occurs.

DECLAMATION

The selection has a maximum time of ten minutes. It must be memorized. There is a 30-second grace period. Students who exceed the time limit by more than 30 seconds should not be given first place in the panel.
A selection in Declamation must have been originally delivered as a speech by its author, a person other than the present speaker.
The speaker should convey the original author’s message in a sincere, honest, and realistic manner. Attempts at dramatization rather than communication should be avoided.
A copy of the Declamation must be present at the tournament for verification purposes.

DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION

The selection shall require no more than ten minutes. There is a 30-second grace period. Students who exceed the time limit by more than 30 seconds should not be given first place in the panel. There is no official minimum time limit.
The selection should be a cutting from a published work such as a novel, short story, play, or poetry. Recorded material that is not printed and published is prohibited. Monologues are acceptable. The original source of the piece must be a present and a digital copy of the cutting should be available at the tournament for verification purposes.
The selection should be serious in tone
The selections must be memorized. Students are free to move, but should remember that this is a contest in interpretation, and not in solo acting.

DUO INTERPRETATION

The selection shall require no more than ten (10) minutes. There is a 30-second grace period. Students who exceed the time limit by more than thirty seconds should not be given first place in the round.
The selection shall be a cutting from a single published work of literature. Recorded material that is not published is not acceptable. Lines which are attributed to a character in the published material may not be attributed to another character in the performance. The original of the piece must be present at the tournament for verification purposes.
Participants will establish focus for the other character, but except for during the introduction, eye contact is not allowed.
The selection must be memorized.
The two performers may play one or more characters as long as the performance of the two competitors remains as balanced as possible.
Participants should react to each other’s verbal and nonverbal expressions, but they may not touch each other. Touching during introduction is allowed, however.

EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING

The tournament director will prepare a list of topics on current foreign and domestic issues. The student will draw three questions and return two before he/she begins his/her preparation period.
The student will have thirty minutes of time to prepare his/her speech. There is a 30-second grace period. Students who exceed the time limit by more than 30 seconds should not be given first place in a panel.
The student may use one notecard with a maximum of fifty words on it.
The student is responsible for providing his/her own extemp file, which may include published books, magazines, newspapers, and journals or articles from those sources, provided they are intact originals or copies of the originals and that there is no written material on the original or the copy. The student may prepare a topical index without annotation for his/her use.
Extemporaneous Speaking files will be inspected by tournament staff at some point before or during competition.
Laptop computers and tablet devices may be used by delegates, but may not be used to receive information for competitive advantage from non-competitors (coaches, assistant coaches, teammates, other students, etc.) inside or outside of the room in which the competition occurs.

HUMOROUS INTERPRETATION

The selection shall require no more than ten minutes. There is a 30-second grace period. Students who exceed the time limit by more than thirty seconds should not be given first place in the panel.
The selection shall be a cutting from a published work such as a novel, short story, play, or poetry. Recorded material that is not printed and published is prohibited. Monologues are acceptable. The original source of the piece must be present at the tournament for verification purposes.
The selection must be memorized. Students may move in any direction, but should remember that this is a contest in interpretation, not in solo acting.

IMPROMPTU

Impromptu will be a LIVE speech event.

INFORMATIVE SPEAKING

Speeches in informative generally have some combination of problems, causes, and implications (or what your topic means to society as a whole.
A visual aid is allowed and preferred. It may not be digital or involve electricity.
The speech must be an original composition of the contestant designed to inform, not to entertain primarily. A copy of the speech must be present at the tournament for verification purposes.
The speech should describe, clarify, illustrate, or define an object, idea, concept or process. It should not be persuasive.
A fabricated topic/subject may not be used.
A student may not use any portion of his/her Original Oratory or Expository Speaking speeches in this event.
The maximum time of this event is ten (10) minutes. There is no minimum time limit. There is a 30-second grace period. Students who exceed the time limit by more than thirty seconds should not be given first place in the round.
No animal or other people may be used as aids or aides. Items of dress put on and removed during the course of the presentation are considered visual aids and may not be part of the contestant’s presentation
The speech should be memorized.

ORIGINAL ORATORY

The oration shall require no more than ten minutes. There is a 30-second grace period. Students who exceed the time limit by more than 30 seconds should not be given first in the panel. There is no official minimum time limit.
The oration may be on any appropriate subject and must be the original work of the student with no more then 150 words of the oration used as a direct quotation from another speech or writing.
An original copy of the Oratory must be present at the tournament for verification purposes. The copy should include a current bibliography of all sources used. The copy may be digital as long as it is easily accessible.
The performance must be memorized.

PROGRAM OF ORAL INTERPRETATION

Competitors may mix selections from prose, poetry, and drama together to create one theme. The competitor must use at least 2 of the 3 literature types. The delivery of the entire program must be delivered from a manuscript.
The selection shall require no more than ten minutes. There is a 30-second grace period. Students who exceed the time limit by more than 30 seconds should not be given first place in the panel. There is no official time limit.
Movement during the performance is allowed. The manuscript may be used as a prop during the performance.
The focus of the event is to develop a theme or argument through the use of narrative, story, and/or characterization.

HATTIESBURG HS HUB CITY CLASSIC

14 March 2022 deadline for asynchronous speech videos
17-19 March 2022 for asynchronous speech judging
18-19 March 2022 for live debate
19 March 2022 for live limited prep speech

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HATTIESBURG HS HUB CITY CLASSIC​

14 March 2022 deadline for asynchronous speech videos17-19 March 2022 for asynchronous speech judging18-19 March 2022 for live debate19 March 2022 for live limited prep speech