Welcome to the 2026 NOF Summer Royale!

Hosted virtually by National Online Forensics

Dear Forensics Community, 

We are excited to welcome you back to the world of forensics for the 2026-2027 Season! To kick things off, we would love to host your team for our Summer Royale August 15th. This fast-paced tournament (with $0 travel costs) is a great way to get your students excited for the fall speech & debate season! 

Tournaments are offered across all grade levels 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

2026-2027 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).

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