National Public Speaking Championships

• You must be a high school student to enter. 
• Competitors may not use speeches or readings that they have presented at any interschool competition before this school year. 
• Each participant will have to take part in four events: parliamentary debating, impromptu speaking, persuasive speaking and interpretive reading. The events are described in more detail on the attached sheet.
• Interpretive Reading and Persuasive Speaking will be done asynchronously. Students will need to make video recordings of their presentations and email the links to the host by January 28. The links will then be sent to the judges. 
• SEDA will send up to 8 students. If more than 8 students are interested, SEDA will hold a qualifying event. If less then 8 students are interested, SEDA will not hold a qualifying event. 
• There is no registration fee, but each competitor MUST provide a judge available for the tournament including the asynchronous rounds. This can be two or three judges splitting the judging duties rather than one person doing all of the judging. 
• SEDA will provide preparation workshops for those interested. 
• The top six students at the Nationals will represent Canada at the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships. They are expected to be held online in early April 2021, although in the very unlikely event that the COVID-19 situation is dealt with by March, they might take place in person in South Africa in July 2021. The World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships involve the same events as the National Public Speaking Championships although students may give an after-dinner speech rather than a persuasive speech if they want to. 

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