Magnolia District Qualifier

for the 2026 National Tournament

4. Single Entry Letters of Intent

1. Single Entry Letters of Intent

A student may only enter one [main] event at nationals, regardless of the number of events they qualify in. All students who enter more than one event at District Qualifiers (inclusive of House & Senate) must have their entry preferences submitted to the district chair before competition starts on March 13. In plain English, students competing in more than one event must have ranked their choices of events in case they qualify in more than one event, and that ranking must be in the district chair’s hands before Round 1 on March 13 and is considered binding.

For example, a student who ranked Extemp as their first choice prior to the tournament, but who qualifies in both Extemp and Oratory, either outright or as an alternate, must accept the spot in Extemp - they may not change their mind mid-tournament or post-tournament and opt to go in Oratory. They would only compete in Oratory at nationals if they did not qualify at all (either outright or as an alternate) in Extemp.

To take the example one step further, if that student does qualify in Oratory as of the end of the tournament, but is in the alternate list for Extemp, and a spot opens in Extemp, they would be expected to take Extemp spot and give up their Oratory spot, in accordance with the ranking they submitted pre-tournament.

Entry preferences should be entered by coaches (in conversation with their students) under the NSDA Forms tab on the Tabroom.com tournament registration page. (Look for a blue button that reads “Enter SELI Preferences.”) Those preferences can be changed online up until the tournament, but will be considered binding as of 8:00am on March 13, when the district chair downloads them all.