Frequently Asked Questions

1. High schools (grades 9-12) may participate upon joining the Association.
2. Faculty advisors/directors must read the High School Speech Handbook and familiarize themselves with rules and parameters of the contest series.
3. Starting mid-January (date posted on Speech Contests page) and due by two weeks prior to a school's subdistrict festival, all coaches must register online, with an accurate roster of adjudicators and student names, certifying interscholastic eligibility (usually handled by an athletic/activities director or an administrator), and assigning students to specific category entries. During that window of dates, coaches may log back in and make changes to registration, up until the cutoff date for changes set by each subdistrict manager/host. See SpeechWire registration instructions in the High School Speech Handbook (linked above).
4. As part of the online registration process, coaches book a State Festival time slot (Friday evening or Saturday morning); these are available on a first come, first served basis.
5. Entries are not compared to/ranked against one another; each performance is evaluated on its own merits.
   
   1. Subdistrict: over the course of three rounds each entry must earn at least two scores of 16 or better to move on to the district level. This is done automatically through SpeechWire.
   2. District: over three rounds each entry must earn at least two scores of 21 or better to move on to the State level.
   3. State: each entry presents one round; entries earning 25 points receive a gold medal; entries earning 23-24 points receive a silver medal; entries earning 20-22 points receive a bronze medal; entries earning 5-19 points receive a copper medal.
6. After subdistrict coaches have a brief window to drop students who have advanced but will not continue to participate, as well as to list adjudicators who will meet the school's obligation at the district festival.
7. After district, coaches have a brief window to drop students who have advanced but will not participate at State, as well as to list adjudicators who will meet the school's obligation at the State Festival.

Each school can designate if most of its team will participate at an in-person contest, or if it prefers a virtual option for subdistrict, district, and State. Coaches also can designate individual entries to attend the virtual contest at any of those levels, as long as they also earmark adjudicators to accompany contestants at each contest in which they have participants.

Any entry may move from in-person and virtual and vice versa between contest levels (see diagram/infographic).

If the entire school will participate virtually at any level, the coach must complete a separate application form on the WISDAA website Speech Contests page expressing that intent, including rationale. The form must be received at least two weeks prior to the school’s normal subdistrict, district, and/or state festival. The Eligibility-Review Committee will assess each request.

All virtual contests will be asynchronous adjudication of prerecorded videos. There will be no live virtual option this year (just too much to manage in concert with return to in-person contests, especially considering how few schools participated live in 2020-21).

Schools are limited to entry limits in place (see FAQ re: entry limits) irrespective of concurrent participation at both in-person and virtual festivals.

We understand schools may have a variety of reasons for moving any or all of its entries from in-person to virtual.

If the entire school will participate virtually at any level, the coach must complete a separate application form on the WISDAA website Speech Contests page expressing that intent, including rationale. The form must be received at least two weeks prior to the school’s normal subdistrict, district, and/or state festival. The Eligibility-Review Committee will assess each request.

Generally speaking, contests ask for one WISDAA certified adjudicator for every five entries, or fraction thereof. Some contests require fewer or more. This means that if a school has 7 entries, it should bring two adjudicators. Some contests will allow schools to pay a fee for uncovered adjudicators, not because they have extras they can hire for a school, but to incentivize schools to bring their own adjudicators. It is a burden on any host when schools do not provide all of the adjudicators they are expected to. The State Festival requires one adjudicator for 1-8 entries, two adjudicators for 9-19 entries, and three adjudicators for 20-25 entries.

Anytime a school participates at more than one venue (including online) during a particular contest level (subdistrict, district, State), it must provide adjudicators for each contest, in that contest’s ratio of adjudicators to entries (e.g., a school has 7 entries at its own subdistrict and 2 entries at a different subdistrict – it must supply two adjudicators for its own subdistrict and one adjudicator for the other subdistrict).

No. WISDAA has retired its pilot requirement for a printed list of Works Cited.  Instead, students must give clear in-speech citations of outside sources consulted, and adjudicators will hold students accountable for drawing information from credible sources.

Some in-person contests may offer contestants the ability to connect to their WIFI network to receive and edit their packet digitally. Students may not use that connection for any other purpose.

Students must have a SpeechWire account, created by their coach by inputting the student's email address in their account Roster. Students will log on at the contest and when it is time to draw, they will be able to access the electronic packet, which will be a link to a Google Doc file, which will prompt the student to copy the packet to their drive to begin editing.

Students using this option will be able to recite from their device when presenting to the adjudicator.

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All these steps must be followed, for legal/liability reasons, as well as to ensure students do not fall through the cracks for tracking advancement through the festival series.

1. For entries earmarked for a virtual festival, the coach only needs to mark those entries in SpeechWire as attending the virtual festival; no further permissions are necessary (however, #5 below still applies).
2. When requesting a different in-person contest, the head coach must request permission of the district chair and inquire with the different festival manager/host if they have space.
3. Upon receiving permission, the coach must request  a different festival for the applicable entry(ies) in SpeechWire.
4. Whether the coach is requesting for the whole team, or for individual entry(ies), the coach is required to accompany students -- or another school district employee or vetted school district volunteer may go in the coach's place. Contestants will NOT be allowed to perform without a school official present. Parents are not allowed to fulfill this role unless they have gone through a background check and been vetted by the school as a recognized volunteer.
5. The coach must provide adjudicators as required by the ratio of adjudicators to entries for that different contest.

When initial Speech registration opens on SpeechWire (see the Speech Contests page), coaches will be able to immediately book a State Speech slot for Friday or Saturday, on a first come, first served basis. This is to allow planning and ensure enough classrooms for each contest round. Schools who plan to have more than 4 entries combined between Group Interpretive Reading and Play Acting must book a Saturday slot.

A school may register up to 30 entries overall, for their squad, with up to four (4) entries in any category, with the following additional limitations:

• No more than six (6) entries between Solo Acting Humorous and Serious.
• No more than six (6) entries in Group Interpretive Reading and Play Acting. If a school brings 5 or 6 group entries to the State Festival, it must attend on Saturday.

The WISDAA has traditionally not required a minimum time for presentations, although adjudicators are encouraged to evaluate development — or lack thereof — of each presentation. This should be evaluated in the criterion regarding development in speech categories, and in the criterion regarding understanding meaning in interpretive categories.

To advance from Subdistrict to District, an entry must earn at least two scores of 16 or better.

To advance from District to State, an entry must earn at least two scores of 21 or better.

Per Rules for Speech (WISDAA High School Speech Handbook), §6.1.6. "A student or group may not use the same selection or original speech more than one year in any WISDAA event, whether it be in the same or another category.  In Play Acting or Group Interpretive Reading a school may not use the same cutting or script in two successive years, nor may it use a cutting or scene from its production in the Theatre Festival held during the same school year.  Students or groups may not reuse material they performed in Middle Level events."

Material is allowable as long as it fits the literary genre prescribed in the rules for the particular category a contestant is participating in, and it meets content expectations of the contestant’s school/school district administration. 

Due to copyright laws, material may not be transcribed from video sources, such as YouTube or streaming services. When attempting to locate original source material, the genre of such material is what prevails, not the mode of performance. This means if a YouTube performer is presenting a prose narrative, the material is categorized as prose, and NOT as drama. For more details on rules and allowed genres, please see the Speech Handbook on the Categories & Topics page.

For contestants in Farrago and Solo Acting (Humorous or Serious), students also are required to perform quality material (see definition below), although this standard could be applied to any interpretive category. A side note: for schools participating in national qualifying contests, such as those offered by the NSDA and NCFL, there are more stringent rules pertaining to how the material is published, and coaches should consult those rules, accordingly.

Quality material is defined as that which “gives insight into human values, motivations, relationships, problems and understandings and is not characterized by sentimentality, violence for its own sake, unmotivated endings or stereotyped characterizations.” It is recommended that such material be sought for all interpretive categories, even if there is no specific evaluation item related to selection of material.

First, review the definition above for quality material. This is a great standard to apply to literary material in all interpretive categories. Start by asking students books they’ve read (on their own and/or in classes) or movies/television shows they’ve viewed that resonated with them. Ask what current issues in society are important to them. Knowing students’ interests helps you find material they can be passionate about, which will come through in their performance. The school library is a great place to start. In fact, some librarians have a limited budget for acquiring new materials, so they may have a catalogue of plays and other materials. The public library is another place to look, and asking English and theatre teachers for ideas can be helpful. Be wary of vendors who publish literature for “contest” or “classroom” performance, since these often lack the depth of what can be found in other works of literature the student would need to cut to contest length. The process of cutting can be a tremendous learning experience for students, as they determine what themes and character qualities they wish to cultivate in their performances.

Drama is literature with line attributions to particular characters and with stage directions, such as a play. Dramatic literature is not allowed in Group Interpretive Reading, and is required in Play Acting.

No. Adapting other genres of literature (such as novels or poetry) abuses copyright/intellectual property rights of the material’s original author. We have been asked if an adaptation of another’s work fits the definition of “original,” and the answer is no. Those concepts and ideas are still the intellectual property of the original author. Fortunately, we have a Group Interpretive Reading category, where works of literature that are not drama are perfectly suitable for performance.

Plays written in dramatic verse (such as Shakespeare's or Sophocles') are dramatic literature, and as such, must be performed in categories where drama/plays are allowed. They are not considered poems, per se, even though they are written in meter/verse. Therefore, they should not be performed in high school Group Interpretive Reading, but may be used in Middle Level Readers Theatre, since that category allows for dramatic literature.

Song lyrics are poetry, unless the song comes from a stage or film musical (e.g., Hamilton, or The Greatest Showman) -- then they're considered drama (dramatic literature). The exception would be a song that existed prior to its incorporation in a musical (e.g., "Dancing Queen" in Mamma Mia! or "Rhythm of the Night" in Moulin Rouge).

This is a complicated question, due to several factors.

In Solo Acting Humorous/Serious, rules state: "material shall be a cutting from serious or humorous drama or other literature adapted to the dramatic format with brief narrative transitions…” Stand-up comedy is often not published in print form, and students should never transcribe directly from a performance (that is a violation of copyright law).

Additionally, in Farrago and Solo Acting Humorous/Serious, adjudicators assess how the material chosen meets the definition of “gives insight into human values, motivations, relationships, problems and understandings without sentimentality, violence for its own sake, unmotivated endings or stereotyped characterizations.” In response to that criterion, adjudicators often comment on the superficial and stereotyped nature of characterizations in stand-up comedy.

The other pitfall of performing such material is it’s easy to mimick the original comic, since there isn’t much of a characterization with which to cultivate a more original interpretation. That then raises issues of artistic/performance plagiarism.

Depending on the nature of the material, though, it may work for Prose Reading or Farrago (or if published in print, Solo Acting Humorous). A number of stand-up routines include powerful social commentary and analysis, and are important messages worth sharing. Coaches and students should engage in conversation pertaining to how material meets that objective, while falling within the parameters mentioned above.

The rules are silent with regard to touching the floor or lying on the floor. It is a choice performers may make. Although students may not be disqualified for touching the floor, judges can take movement into consideration in the overall evaluation of a student’s performance.

In interpretive categories, if contestants wear clothing implied for a particular character or described in the script, that is a costume. In group categories, merely dressing alike does not constitute a costume, unless the script calls for it (such as characters who are twins). In speech categories, if a student is wearing the attire called for by a particular occasion or topic, that is a costume. However, in Demonstration Speaking, students should wear attire appropriate to what is being demonstrated.

Depending on what part of the state a high school is in, it may have a number of types of Speech (forensics) contests for students to participate in:

• WISDAA Subdistrict, District, and State. This is the official qualification series for Wisconsin's oldest and largest -- by far -- contest. Each year, 5,000+ students (grades 9-12) perform in three rounds at one of 55 subdistrict contests around the state (each subdistrict has about 5-12 schools). Students need at least two scores of 16 or better to qualify from subdistrict to district. At district, students perform in three rounds at one of 12 district contests (some of the twelve are split into two contests for the sake of logistics and geographic accessibility), where they must earn at least two scores of 20 or better to qualify from district to State. At State, students perform in one around at UW-Madison, and the score they earn determines the medal they are awarded. The vast majority of Wisconsin schools who participate in forensic Speech activities participate in just these three contests.
• Conference. Some (not all) of the athletic conferences around the state run their own conference meet, where the same schools who compete with one another in athletic sports also compete in Speech. Many of these use accumulated points by students to determine a school's overall standing amongst its peers, while others run a full competitive tournament, where students are comparatively ranked against one another, rather than assessed on their own merits.
• Invitational. This is an independent contest put on by the school hosting it, or in partnership with a school administering the contest at a nearby school. While the name implies it is by "invitation only," in most cases, any school who wishes to participate is invited to bring students. When a coach notifies the WISDAA State Office, we are happy to post the contest on our calendar, provided it uses WISDAA rules (limited deviations are allowed). The Wisconsin Forensic Coaches' Association (WFCA) is a volunteer-run league with separate dues, which offers an organized circuit of weekly invitational Speech tournaments that follow a set of rules originally adopted from WISDAA (which, over the years, has evolved independently); these tournaments have no bearing on qualification to the WFCA's open-invitational state tournament.
• NSDA District Qualifier. The National Speech & Debate Association (previously, National Forensic League) was founded in Wisconsin as an honorary society, later adding a national tournament. Top-placing students from 100+ geographic districts across the United States as well as internationally qualify to participate in the world's largest academic competition, held over the course of a week in mid-June. The tournament is considered the Olympics of speech and debate, and its gala awards ceremony is considered the Oscars of our activity.
• NCFL Diocesan Qualifier. The National Catholic Forensic League offers an additional competition experience of national caliber -- held over a condensed but grueling schedule during the Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Local leagues and their qualifying tournaments are loosely arranged by Catholic diocesan boundaries, though the vast majority of membership is comprised of public schools (non-Catholic/other private schools may belong, as well). Each diocesan league sets its own qualification requirements.

As stated above, while there may be various opportunities in a particular area, a school may just participate in subdistrict, district, and State, and still offer students a robust experience. Confused as to how to get started in any of these, or who to contact? Contact the WISDAA State Office, and we'll help you get connected!

Visit the High School Speech Contests page for a button/link that will take you to SpeechWire, the online registration platform for registering;  step-by-step instructions are available in the WISDAA High School Speech Handbook.

Please review the PDF handbook for your particular activity, which has a number of resources and suggestions. We also compiled a Speech Festival Manager Info page, with instructions and a free online course on using the SpeechWire contest management website/software.

Homeschool students may either participate with an area public or private school,** or as part of a homeschool association that joins the WISDAA.

**WISDAA supports the local school district policy for interscholastic athletics/academic contests. For example, if a home-schooled student is allowed to join the basketball team, a home-schooled student may participate in Theatre, Speech, and Debate activities.

Here is the official policy from the WISDAA’s Constitution/Bylaws:

SECTION III: Membership

Wisconsin homeschooled/online/virtual school students:

1. Conditions: Students must be members of a homeschool association or enrolled full time in an online school. They cannot participate individually, unless as part of their attendance-area school district, if the school district allows participation.
2. Procedures:
   1. Homeschooling associations may apply for membership by registering and paying the yearly dues. Online/virtual schools headquartered in Wisconsin may apply under the same conditions.
   2. As members, their students are eligible to participate in all WISDAA events in the District/Section where the homeschool association is located. Students living in Wisconsin who are enrolled in online/virtual schools that are members of WISDAA may participate in the subdistrict and district festivals in which the online/virtual school is located.

If you're not affiliated with a particular school, or would like to offer your adjudicating services to additional schools and contests:
(1). Subscribe to our e-news notifications; and
(2). Subscribe to alerts from our Jobs Board.

We do not have lists for specific regions of the state, because there's too much overlap between areas with contests schools attend.