2 days ago
Student speech and debate tournament where stars got their start turns 100
More than 6,300 of the nation's top high school speakers are headed to Des Moines next week for the National Speech & Debate Tournament.
Why it matters: Future leaders in politics and culture are likely to be at this tournament now in its 100th year.
Flashback: A young Oprah, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Hasan Minhaj and Stephen Colbert all once competed.
The actor Josh Gad (Olaf in "Frozen") gave one of the most memorable speeches in the history of the event.
The organization says four of the nine current U.S. Supreme Court justices are speech and debate alums — and Neil Gorsuch is a former national champion.
How it works: At nationals, 12 main categories of competition fall under the umbrellas of "speech" or "debate."
In debate events, competitors verbally spar over morals and values, current events, or policy plans, or in mock sessions of a legislature.
In "public address" speech events, competitors deliver persuasive or informative speeches. In one event, high schoolers have 30 minutes to prepare a seven-minute oration on questions like, "Will Syria be able to establish a stable government any time soon?"
"Interpretation" events look more like competitive acting, featuring humorous or dramatic monologues, or a scene with a partner.
Case in point: Minnesota's Sanyu Mwassa and Mariam Elias-Danjuma won the championship for their "duo interpretation" about how white audiences demand Black artists to perform pain.
By the numbers: Since 2000, more Minnesotans have won the tournament's main events (43) than competitors from any other state, including the speech and debate hotbeds of Texas (38), California (37), Florida (35), Illinois (13) and Missouri (12).
