NITOC Qualifying Green Check Marks Explained

To qualify for the honor of competing at NITOC, students must earn 2 green check marks per event. They can earn their checkmarks by finishing in a certain placement in each event.

For the 2024-2025 season, the speech check mark standards are as follows:

All speech events EXCEPT Impromptu: Top 40%

Impromptu: Top 25%

There is no rounding in speech events. For example, if you have 47 students in a speech event (not impromptu), 40% would be 18.8, which is 18 check marks.

For the 2024-2025 season, the debate check mark standards are as follows:

All debate events: Top 38%

All debate speaker positions: Top 40%

We DO round up in debate events for any decimal point above .5. For example, if a debate event has 47 debaters/teams, 38% would be 17.86, which gets rounded up to 18 check marks. If a debate event has 46 debaters/teams, 38% would be 17.48, which does not get rounded up and would be 7 check marks.

Beginning in the 2024-2025 season, Stoa will no longer offer the state invitation model for any events. he state invitation system was initially enacted during our founding to increase exposure to Stoa by inviting members in newer states to participate in NITOC. Now that Stoa is in its 15th season and many other resources have been put in place to help new areas grow, the Stoa Board of Directors felt that this could be eliminated as another way to help with our NITOC facility size expectations. Therefore, all students coming to NITOC must do so through the normal checkmark system for all of their events.