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Original Oratory
NOTE: All work MUST be original and created by the competitor(s) himself. By submitting your work you are agreeing that MIST has the right to return or keep all work/submissions/entries.
If you voilate and/or not fulfill any of the following rules, you could loose points or even be disqualified from the tournament.
- The topic of this competition: Reflect on this year's theme. Your essay must clearly relate to this year's theme.
- No more than 2 students from each team can register for this competition.
- This competition is NOT a team effort. Each competitor must turn in a separate piece of work.
- The competitor presents a memorized oration composed by him/herself.
- The Orator must provide 3 COPIES of his/her script to be turned in during the competition orientation. MIST will not photocopy any scripts. Contestants must come prepared with their copies. The script that is submitted at this time is the one with which the competitor must compete with.
- Orations must be labeled with the MIST ID ONLY. If the contestant name appears anywhere on the oration, it will be disqualified.
- Judges shall call/know each competitor by his/her MIST ID only.
- An orator holding a manuscript or notes will be ranked last.
- The orator must be truthful. Any non-factual reference, especially a personal one, must be so identified.
- There is no minimum time. No oration shall exceed 7 minutes. The starting and ending time will be marked on each ballot.
- The keeping of time will be communicated to contestants. Judges will indicate minutes left by holding up the amount of fingers for minutes left. 30 seconds will be represented by a closed fist and no time left by a making a zero with your whole hand.
- If the contestant continues beyond the maximum time, the STOP card must be shown and or an audible STOP voiced at the end of the 30-second grace period. If the contestant continues beyond the STOP signal, the contestant will be ranked last. Total elapsed time will be indicated on the ballot.
- The oration may not contain more than 150 words of quoted material. Extensive paraphrasing from other sources is prohibited.
- No props or visual aids may be used.
- Orators caught plagiarizing or extensively paraphrasing will be disqualified.
- Judging criteria will be based upon the official MIST National Ballot.
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