How to Qualify for the Iowa State Speech & Debate Tournament

How does the Iowa Speech & Debate Circuit Work?

The Iowa Speech & Debate circuit is known as the Iowa High School Speech Association (IHSSA). The IHSSA circuit has a set of competitive tournaments that they host each year, which you can find here.

When and Where are IHSSA Tournaments?

IHSSAA local tournaments typically occur on the weekends (occasionally including Friday) from early January to the end of March and occur all throughout the states at venues, such as the Iowa State Center and Cedar Falls.

What competitive events does the Iowa Speech & Debate State Tournament offer?

The Iowa Speech & Debate State Tournament offers the following events for competition: Public Address, Acting, Solo Musical Theatre, Interpretative Reading (Prose & Poetry), Literary Program, Original Oratory, Spontaneous Speaking, Radio News Announcing, Expository Address, Storytelling, Improvisation, Reviewing, After Dinner Speaking, One-Act Plays, Readers Theatre, Ensemble Acting, Choral Reading, Solo & Group Mime, Television Newscasting, Group Improvisation, Musical Theatre, Radio Broadcasting, Short Film, Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Congressional Debate, and Public Forum Debate.

How to Qualify for the IHSSA State Tournament for Each Event?

How to Qualify for Debate Events

Contrary to Speech events, there is no pre-requisite for qualifying to the IHSSA State Speech & Debate Tournament for debate events. Instead, each school is permitted to send a specified number of entries for each debate event. The guidelines are as follows: six (6) for Policy Debate, six (6) for Lincoln-Douglas Debate, six (6) for Congressional Debate, and six (6) for Public Forum Debate. The entries are registered based on the coach’s jurisdiction (i.e. the coach has the jurisdiction to decide what competitors are chosen to compete at the IHSSA Speech & Debate State Tournament).

How to Qualify for Speech Events

To qualify for the IHSSA Speech & Debate State Tournament in a Speech event, you must first attend your district tournament. There are four (4) competitive Speech & Debate districts in Iowa and are as follows: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. To qualify for the IHSSA Speech & Debate State Tournament, you must accumulate at least one division I rating from a judge at your district tournament. A judge has the option to assign a competitor one (1) of four (4) rankings: division 1 (excellent), division 2 (good), division 3 (fair), and division 4 (disqualification). The assigned judge for a preliminary round assigns a rating independently from other competitors. The judge compares the performance of each individual competitor to the high-school amateur standard. If you are able to accumulate at least one division 1 rating from a judge, you will automatically qualify for the IHSSA Speech & Debate State Tournament.

How to Prepare 

If you’ve read all the way until here, you have started to wonder: how do I prepare? There are multiple ways to do so, from running practice rounds with your teammates and other members of your community to spending countless hours revising your scripts to ensure that they are ready for competition. What’s important is that you remain consistent! 

Outside of working with your peers, receiving consistent coaching is key to success. A great option can be programs like Civic Debate Academy’s National Debate Club, which provides access to a team of students with similar goals, robust coaching, preparation materials, and practice rounds. If you want to learn more, click here!