In April 2019 the National Individual Events Tournament (NIET) voted to change its name to the National Speech Tournament (NST). The beginning of the AFA-NIET can be traced back to 1972 when the leadership of the American Forensic Association recognized that in order to be truly representative of the forensic community, the AFA should support those persons interested in individual events. Dr. Jerry M. Anderson and E. R. Tame proposed a constitutional change in 1972 which would broaden the AFA purpose to include individual events. The membership passed this change in 1973. other events in 1972 included the appointment of E. R.. Tame as Chair of the Educational Practices Committee, which began the consideration of how to include more emphasis on forensic activities and have other national championship tournaments, beyond debate, sponsored by the AFA. Based upon this early work, the membership of the AFA voted in 1973 to create a National Individual Events Tournament Committee. Read more
More History:
AFA-NST Distinguished Alumni Award
AFA-NST Team Attendance Over the Years
AFA-NST Outstanding New Forensics Coach Award