NOF Summer Royale

Tournament Invitation

Dear Forensics Community,

We are excited to welcome you to the National Online Forensics Regular Season online tournaments. These monthly synchronous and asynchronous competitions are a fantastic way to prepare your students for Nationals and provide additional rounds for team members throughout the year. With a condensed schedule of three preliminary rounds and one final, competitors get high-quality practice without spending the entire day waiting for rounds. Plus, with $0 travel costs, these tournaments are both convenient and cost-effective. Run by experienced tournament directors, our events are among the best online tournaments your competitors will attend.

Tournaments are offered across all grade levels—from kindergarten to college—in a wide variety of events. Our highly qualified tournament staff is committed to delivering a smooth, engaging day of competition. The schedule takes only half a day to complete (see schedule here), and winners receive Bronze, Silver, or Gold recognition.

Key Information

• Gold medalists will receive $5 Amazon gift cards while silver and bronze will receive recognition during the awards ceremony.
• Each school is required to provide one judge for every 5 IE entries per pattern/2 debate teams. At the discretion of the Tournament Director, uncovered entries may be allowed but penalty fees will apply.
• Registration Deadline: 8:00 PM Pacific the Tuesday before each tournament on ForensicsTournament.net

• Judging Requirements: One judge per 5 IE entries per pattern / 2 debate teams. Uncovered entries may be allowed at the discretion of the Tournament Director with applicable fees.

• Technology: Synchronous tournaments use video conferencing. See the Best Practices section of this invitation for guidance on preparing to compete online.

• Rules: The complete set of NOF rules is available here.

We hope you and your team will join us throughout the year. For questions, please email us at info@nationalonlineforensics.org.

Sincerely,
Robert Cannon, Danny Cantrell & Alexandra Smith
National Online Forensics

2024-2025 Synchronous Information 

Schedule (Pacific Time)

• Round 1: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

• Round 2: 11:45 AM – 1:15 PM

• Round 3: 1:30 PM – 2:45 PM

• Elim Round 1: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM

• Elim Round 2 (if needed): 4:45 PM – 6:00 PM

• Awards: 6:30 PM (earlier if possible)

Events offered:

Entry Policies

• Competitors may triple-enter in IE events (except Extemp, which is limited to double-entry).

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Individual Events

• Three prelim rounds; one final (two elims if entries exceed 30).

• Entry Limit: 3 events per competitor (Extemp limited to 2).

• Judging Requirement: 1 judge per 5 entries.

• Prelim Ranking: Ranks / Decimal / Drop High Rank

• Elim Ranking: Total Rank / # of 1sts / Elim Rank / Elim Decimal / Judge Pref

• No speaker points will be used.

• Competitors will be recognized with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honors awards.

• See the NOF Bylaws for more details.

Judging

• Uncovered Entries: Must be approved by the Tournament Director in advance.

• Judges may be asked to accept ballots outside their registered events. Flexibility is appreciated.

• Judges must remain in the Judges Room until dismissed or until their ballot is picked up via email.

• Incomplete eBallots (minimal or no feedback) may incur a judge no-show fee.

Sweepstakes

• Top schools will be recognized during the awards ceremony, but no physcial awards will be shipped.

Fees

• School Fee: $30

• Individual IE: $5

• DUO: $10

Judging & Admin Fees

• Missed Ballots: $25 (first) / $50 (each additional)

• Uncovered IE/Congress Slot: $35 (with approval)

• Uncovered Debate Team: $125 (with approval)

• Entry Changes after Deadline: $25/change (with approval)

• Judge Drops within 24 hours: $150

• Incomplete eBallots: May result in judge no-show fees

• Tournament Delays (caused by school): $20–$100

• Competitor No-Shows (without notice): $35