League Policies
In any competitive event, boundaries must exist in order to create a level playing field. These are rules that are in place to avoid a competitive advantage of any competitor over another. A confirmed violation of these rules will result in a penalty.
- Tournament Administration will apply a four-rank penalty to the judges’ final ranks for any competitor who has a script or notes within their view during their speech at any tournament other than a Regional or National Championship. Online competitors must announce the script use before the speech begins.
- A pre-show is not permitted. A pre-show refers to rehearsed blocking, synchronized movement, or additional performance prior to the beginning of the timed speech.
- Only feet are permitted to intentionally touch the floor at any time.
- Gymnastics are not permitted. Gymnastics include acrobatic-type blocking such as flips, cartwheels, leaping over people or objects, etc.
- Costumes are not permitted. Costumes include any item(s) worn in addition to the competitor’s tournament attire.
- Visual aids are not permitted. Visual aids are items used to enhance the speech. In an online tournament, this also includes green screens, virtual backgrounds, or on-screen text.
- Competitors must present their speeches center stage (or within the camera frame for online tournaments) and must not infringe on the judges’ table or personal space.
- Requesting verbal or physical participation (e.g., raising hand, clapping, verbal responses, closing eyes) from audience members, including judges, is not permitted.
- In online tournaments:
- Other individuals may be present during the speech but must not be intentionally visible on screen.
- A single, stationary camera must be used (i.e., no zooming or panning is permitted).
- Only audio presented live from the competitor is permitted (i.e., audio that is computer-generated, recorded, generated by a third-party, etc. is not permitted).
- Direct quotations may comprise up to 350 words of the total words in the speech.