2021 Overarching Rules

Eligibility

Students must attend the school with which they are registered and register with school permission. A "school" is a diploma-granting institution - club teams and leagues may not register together unless the students actually attend the same school. Home schooled students must follow local guidance on extracurricular and athletic activities.

A responsible adult must be "on site" for the duration of the tournament. "Responsible adult" means someone beyond high school age who is acting with the permission of the school to represent the school's students if an issue arises. An adult being "on site" means they are available and able to get in touch rapidly with any student or judge representing the school. 

Middle school students are welcome to attend, but there are no separate middle school divisions so they must be prepared to compete against older students.

Please note: Pennsbury students will be eligible to compete and break in all events.

Event-Specific Rules

In the absence of PFI-specific rules, the following rule sets will govern events:

• NCFL rules: Dec, DP, Duo, EX, Oratory, Prose (OI), Poetry (OI)
• NSDA rules: Informative, POI, Congress, CX, LD, PF
• PFI rules: Congress, Impromptu

However, the Tournament Director reserves the right to modify consequences for rules violations in consideration of severity and intent.

INTERNET RULE: Open access to the Internet for research for all competitors in all events. Communication is limited to sharing speech docs with participants in the round.