Welcome to the home page for the 2026 National Online Forensics Championships - HS/MS/Elem tournament hosted by NOF on Jun 1-7, 2026

Status: System shutdown (No new schools, changes, adds, or drops )

2026 National Championship

Competitor Live Doc

For tournament schedule, please click the 'Schedule' button to the left of this page. You can filter by event, division, or day.

Tournament Announcement:

Please note that the topic schedule for HS Worlds Debate has been adjusted. Updated schedule available on the debate topic document on the right of the page.

Round 1: This house supports removing agricultural subsidies for dairy and meat products.

Round 3: This house would hold AI companies legally accountable for crimes that their models enable.

ELIM 1: This house believes that the global south should refuse climate commitments until historical emitters pay reparations.

Middle School Congress will be having both a Semifinal and Final round - please see the Schedule for the most up to date information

--------

Middle and High School Events:

Pattern A: Info, Pers, STE, Imp, Assigned Platform

Pattern B: POI, POE, Prose

Pattern C: DUO, DRA, HI + MS SPAR Elims Sunday 1pm

Pattern D: Declamation, Storytelling, Extemp, NOF Mock Trial

Pattern E: Congress (may not enter debate)

Pattern F: LD, PF, NOF Parli, Big Questions, World Schools (may not enter Congress)

Pattern G: SPAR

Elementary Events:

Pattern H: Congress, SPAR, Public Forum, NOF Parli

Pattern J: Assigned Platform, Duo, Impromptu, Declamation, Poetry, Prose, Storytelling, Informative, Persuasive

Individual Events

Three prelims will be held; elimination rounds will be held as necessary.
All multiple-entered students are responsible for making it to their other rounds on-time. Any student not checked-in with their judge at the beginning of the round may miss their chance to speak. Judges are obligated to wait for a competitor until 10 minutes before the end of the allotted time for the round. Competitors missing their round will receive last place in the round.
Prelim Ranking: Ranks/Decimal/Drop High Rank

Elim Ranking: Total Rank/Number of Firsts in Event/Rank in Elim/Decimal in Elim/Judge Pref in Elim
Speaker Points will not be used.
Competitors will be recognized with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honors awards. See NOF Bylaws for more information.
All competitors in elimination rounds will receive recognition at the award ceremony following all elimination rounds.
The top speaker in each event will be recognized as the National Champion.

Limited Prep Events:

Impromptu topics will be provided to each competitor in the Live Video Room (their competition room) chat box. Judges will need to copy/paste the topics (provided on the eBallots) in the chat window for the competitors.
Each competitor will receive a different set of impromptu topics.

Extemp questions will be provided through ExtempRoom.com. Join code: Nats26 Competitors in extemp should go to the help room with any questions.

Platform Events:

While competitors are allowed to still use electronic Visual Aids, they are encouraged to have them printed to show to the audience while presenting. Screens often result in distorted views.

Screen sharing to show a PowerPoint or image is permitted. Competitors should be familiar with the 8x8 video sharing feature and do so at their own risk. Any technological issues may influence judge ranks.

Interp Events:

Books are encouraged but not required. Given the nature of the video conferencing system, holding books while perorming can block many cameras. Competitors are encouraged to use them to hold true to traditional forensics tournaments but this adaption is left to the competitiors. Judges are instructed not to penalize competitiors for not using books.

Debate

Standard pairing will be used with 2 random rounds followed by 2 High-Low rounds.

In Elims, brackets will be broken to facilitate debating.
Competitors will be recognized with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honors awards. See NOF Bylaws for more information.
Speaker Point Scale will be 100-70
Prelim Ranking: Wins/Total Points/HL Points/Z Score/Opp Wins
Speakers Ranking: Total Points/HL Points/Ranks/Z Score
A 5 minute forfeit rule will be put in place for all debate rounds.

Topics:

High School LD: Resolved: Democracies ought to prioritize the protection of civil liberties over national security.

High School Public Forum: Resolved: The United States is justified in using force to remove authoritarian leaders from power.

Middle School LD and Public Forum, and Elementary Public Forum: Resolved: Protecting the environment is more important than economic growth.

Big Questions (all divisions): Resolved: Moral systems rooted in theism are preferable to non-theistic moral systems.

Worlds (all divisions): see tournament documents on registration page.

NOF Parli (all divisions): Impromptu topics given in-round.

Fees

School Fee: $50

Individual Event Entries: $30/entry
Duo Entries: $40/entry
Congress Entries: $30/entry
1-Person Debate Event Entries: $60/entry
2-Person Debate Event Entries: $70/entry
3-Person Debate Event Entries: $80/entry
Judges: First Missed Ballot - $25 / Subsequent Missed Ballots - $50
Uncovered IE/Congress Slot (with Tournament Director Approval): $35/slot
Uncovered Debate Entry (with Tournament Director Approval): $75/team
Changes after the entry deadline: $25 per change (subject to tournament director approval)
Judge drops within 24 hours of the tournament will be charged a $150 judge no-show fee.
Judges who submit incomplete eBallots (with little to no substantive feedback) may be charged a judge no-show fee for failing to complete their judge assignment which includes both ranking the speakers along with giving sufficient comments.
Delay of tournament fees may be assessed from $20-$100 based on the severity of the delay.
Competitor no-shows (coaches did not notify the tournament prior to the missed round) - $35
Any schools seeking to buy out of their judging requirements must have approval by the Tournament Director. Please contact us early so we can let you know if we will be able to approve uncovered entries.

Any judges seeking to be hired by the tournament may register using the judge interest form on the registration page.

The tournament reserves the right to assign ballots to judges which are scheduled:

Due to the complex nature of the schedule, judges may be asked to accept ballots in events they did not initially register. For example, if a judge is signed up to accept debate ballots, but the tournament needs more Impromptu judges, then that judge would be expected to take the Impromptu ballot. We will do our best to accommodate event requests, but may not be able to do so.

To ensure timely pickup of ballots, all judges should wait in the Standby Judge Room until dismissed or they have picked up a ballot via e-mail. This will ensure judges are not missing ballots pushed to them during the tournament.

Official Rules

For more information about National Online Forensics Tournaments, please consult our by-laws: National Online Forensics (NOF) By-Laws

Competitor Logistics / Best Practices

All competitors must have a verified text number or email saved on ForensicsTournament.net Email is preferred - please check that emails are not directed to a spam folder prior to the tournamnet.

Coaches can save and verify competitor contact details from the Student Roster page.
Competitors will receive a text/email with their ePostings information. Postings will be sent approximately 15 minutes prior to each round.
The ePostings will have a link to a Live Video Room where they will perform. Click that link to go to your round. No logins or passwords are required. Judges will be in the same Live Video Room to listen and rank the round.
If multiple-entered, students should go to each room before competing and type in the chat window that they are multiple-entered so judges are aware. Request to compete early and leave promptly to join the next event.
Please do not immediately start to talk when entering a Live Video Room. Another student may be performing. Please wait to be recognized by the judge(s).
Students should remain in the Live Video Room as audience members and have video on, as much as possible.
Students can, if it fits their particular setup, sit while performing. Judges are instructed not to penalize students for sitting while speaking since the particular tech setup may work better while sitting.
Students are also encouraged to use a mic/headphones since audio quality is much better than with an external mic. Judges are instructed not to penalize students for having mics/headphones on.
We recognize technological limitations create some challenges for certain events. But we trust in the ingenuity of the forensics community to adapt to the online environment. Some students may have better quality video, lighting, sound, etc… We will all try our best.
If a student’s internet connection drops or audio quality is poor, they will be required to call into the video conference room and give their speech with audio only. While not ideal, it will ensure all student’s speeches are listened to by a judge. You can get the dial-in information from the info icon in the bottom right of the screen.
Request help by going to the help room and communicate promptly if any issues arise.

Judge Logistics / Best Practices

All judges must have a verified phone or email saved on ForensicsTournament.net. Email is preferred.

Coaches can save and verify contact details from the Judge Roster Page
Judges will receive a text/email with their eBallot link. Judges should click on that link within 5 minutes of receiving it to indicate that they have “picked up” their ballot.
On your eBallot you will have all of the competitors listed in that round along with a link to a live video room. Click that link to go to your video conference room. Competitors who are multiple entered, will have that listed adjacent to their name. Please be flexible in accommodating double entered competitors.
Your eBallot has fields where you can add your feedback to the student. Feedback can be added while they are performing and added throughout the competition until the awards ceremony. The eBallot also has a timer to make it easy to time each speaker.
If a judge’s keyboard is loud they are encouraged to mute audio during performances but please leave the video feed on so competitors can receive your visual feedback.
Judges are instructed not to penalize students for sitting while speaking since the student’s particular tech setup may work better while sitting.
Judges are also instructed not to penalize students for having mics/headphones on since audio quality is usually much better using a mic/headset.
Judges are also instructed not to penalize students for lighting, video/audio quality, video background to the extent possible.
If a judge’s internet connection drops or audio quality is poor, they will be required to call into the video conference room and listen to speeches with audio only. While not ideal, it will ensure all student’s speeches are listened to by a judge. You can get the dial-in information from the info icon in the bottom right of the screen.
For Impromptu/Extemp/IPDA/NOF Parli, the eBallot will have the quotations/questions listed on it under prompts - or in the case of extemp, the prompts will be provided by the tournament prior to the start of the round and competitors will arrive after their designated prep period.