The National Speech and Debate Association awards membership to any student who earns 25 points in Speech and Debate competition. You earn points in competition (6 for a debate win, 3 for a loss; 6 for speech rank of 1, 5 for rank 2, etc; up to 24 points per Congress day, adding up speech scores out of 6). You also earn points for judging, Mock Trial, school plays, and other performances in front of adult audiences. Tell me if you do something outside of Speech and Debate that would earn points!
25 points makes you a member. That gets you a membership card and certificate. You earn new degrees at 75, 150, 250, 500, 750, 1000, and 1500. Team strength is all degrees of active members. It changes how many entries we have at NSDA National Qualifiers.
Your league membership allows you to:
You'll also see our team points standings on the wall in my room, updated each month so you can watch yourselves float toward the top. Points aren't why we do this, but they sure are fun to count!
You'll receive a letter with more information when you earn your 25th point. At that point, you will need to pay the lifetime membership fee and create an account at speechanddebate.org and link it to your points entry at our school.
See the Results and Records lists for our NSDA points history.