Campus Hosts 18 Schools in Forensics Tournament

Story by Broadside Staff Writer Fizah Malik. Photo by Emily Sharrer.

Last weekend, if you were lingering in the halls of Enterprise, Robinson or David King Hall, you may have been startled to see many students arguing with the walls in front of them, making hand gestures and distorting their faces, but no, they’re not crazy; they’re in forensics.

Every year, on the first weekend of October, students from all over the nation come together at George Mason University with one goal in mind: winning.

James Madison University partnered with Mason to host the “Virginia is for Lovers” Forensics Tournament on campus this past weekend, marking the Mason Forensics Team’s second tournament so far this year. In its 32nd year, the tournament is a two-day event that runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year, 18 schools showed up to compete, making this the largest college forensics tournament held during the first semester on the East Coast, according to sophomore co-tournament director Quincey Smith.

“We’re really excited to not only just showcase our team at this event, but also George Mason University,” Smith said.
Sophomore forensics team member Katie Miller added, “The tournament is a good precursor for the rest of the year. It shows us what we were capable of.”

Forensics is public speaking and an oral interpretation of literature, with events designed to focus on each of the ways the spoken word can be used to persuade or move an audience.

Schools from all over the nation came out to compete and show off their talents in the art of speech interpretation and persuasion. The range of talent in separate events makes each event fun to watch. Students prepare their pieces of literature or speeches for months, perfecting every gesture, pronunciation of words and the quality of the work.

This speech competition gives students the opportunity to practice their talents in 11 events, which include persuasive and informative speaking, duo interpretation, poetry and pros interpretation, extemporaneous speaking, communication analysis, after dinner speaking, dramatic interpretation, program oral interpretation and impromptu. During this weekend’s tournament, there were over 50 entrants in the tournament’s largest event, impromptu speaking.

Each event is designed differently than the next, with a different set of rules.

The tournament has two blocks of rounds for each category, thus students are able to compete in up to six events per tournament. This gives them a chance to show off their range of skills in the different categories.

This tournament differs from others in the forensics world, since the first day the top six students in each category are placed and the second day there are two rounds and then a final, in which the top 12 students from the impromptu round and the top six in all other events “break” or go to the final and then they are ranked in the final round.

As well as the students receiving awards, individual schools also get their chance to win. The first and second day of the tournament the top five schools are awarded “sweeps.” This means the top five schools with the most combined points for their team are awarded. On the second day only one school is given an award for their team’s performance for the whole weekend, excluding James Madison and Mason.

Since 1975, the George Mason Forensics team has ranked in the national top 35 schools for forensics. The team placed fifth at last year’s national competition, and Peter Pober, director of forensics, thinks that this year’s team has what it takes to make a repeat performance at this year’s national tournament.

“We had a great day yesterday with 35 placements in the tournament and now we’re enjoying hosting,” Pober said on Sunday. “The team is so dedicated and talented.”

Auditions for the spring semester will be held in early November. For more information contact Peter Pober at ppober@gmu.edu.