Dear Forensics Community,

Building upon the success of last year’s online college championships, National Online Forensics is excited to announce the 2026 National Online Forensics Async College Championships for College. This will be a asynchronous championship tournament for College competitors. Please be sure to check back for updates as we approach the event dates!

Tournament Dates: March 30 through April 6th

National Online Forensics sees a tremendous value in an online national championship that can afford more competitors and programs the opportunity to compete and showcase their skills on a national level. Following the success of the College Sync Championship, we're proud to offer this innovative format allowing students another chance to compete.

2026 Tournament Schedule 

Monday 8:00 PM PST - Registration Closes; No new schools may enter the tournament.

Tuesday - Coaches will be notified of collapsed events and missing competitor videos, and can edit entries (add, drop, change video link).

Wednesday 9:00 AM PST - Deadline for coaches to add/drop competitors and enter missing video links. All competitors without posted video links will be subject to being dropped from the tournament at this point in time.

Wednesday 12:00 PM PST - Preliminary ballots will be sent to judges as soon as possible following final add/drops. 

Friday 12:00 PM PST - Preliminary ballot rankings and preliminary feedback due back to the Tournament Director. Ballots unreturned at this time will be subject to penalty, and resent to available judges. 

Friday 8:00 PM PST - Final rounds paired, breaks posted, final ballots sent to judges as soon as possible following preliminary ballot review. Additional preliminary ballot feedback requests sent to judges.

Sunday 8:00 PM PST - Final ballot ranks and feedback due back to the Tournament Director.

Monday 6:00 PM PST - Deadline for additional ballot feedback; Award ceremony video posted once all ranks are finalized.

Key Points:

• Registration is due by March 30th at 8:00pm pst on ForensicsTournament.net

• Entry fees payable by credit card on the website. Payment will be available the week of the tournament.

• Each school is required to provide one judge for every 5 entries. At the discretion of the Tournament Director, uncovered entries may be allowed (penalty fees apply).

• The tournament will use asynchronous video conferencing. Please see the Best Practices section of this invite for tips on how to effectively use the platform.

• The Opening Ceremony, most college final rounds, and the Awards ceremony will be live-streamed on YouTube.

We hope you and your team can join us for a celebration of the hard work our forensics competitors have been doing all season.  If you have any questions please feel free to email us at alexandra@nationalonlineforensics.org 

Sincerely,

The National Online Forensics Team

Individual Events

• Three prelims will be held; elimination rounds will be held as necessary.

• Competitors may enter a maximum of four individual events.

• 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.

• 1 Judge is required for every 5 entries per pattern

• 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:

• Limites Prep topics will be made available on the tournament homepage on March 28th at 12:00pm PST

Platform Events:

• While competitors are allowed to still use electronic Visual Aids, they are encouraged to have them printed on 8.5x11 pages to show to the audience while presenting. Screens often result in distorted views; please review videos prior to submission to ensure all visual aids can be clearly seen.

Interp Events:

• Books are encouraged but not requires. Given the nature of the video entries, olding 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.

Sweepstakes

• Top schools will be recognized

• Top 5 individual event speakers will be recognized.

• See the NOF Bylaws for event point values. 

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.

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

• Please check each video link and video prior to submitting on behalf of the competitor

• 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.

• 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.

• Request help by emailing tournament director Alexandra at alexandra@nationalonlineforensics.org

Judge Logistics / Best Practices

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

• Judges are required to read the full event rules prior to starting their ballot; please pay special attention to any collapsed events.

• 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 to indicate that they have “picked up” their ballot. 

• 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.