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 2025-2026 season, the speech check mark standards are as follows:

All speech events EXCEPT Impromptu: Top 35%

Impromptu: Top 25%

Rounding for speech events will be to the nearest whole number. For example, if you have 48 students in a speech event (not impromptu), 35% would be 16.8, which would be 17 check marks. If you have 47 students, 35% would be 16.45, which would be 16 check marks.

For the 2025-2026 season, the debate check mark standards are as follows:

All debate events: Top 35%

All debate speaker positions: Top 35%

Rounding for speech events will be to the nearest whole number. For example, if a debate event has 48 debaters/teams, 35% would be 16.8, which gets rounded up to 17 check marks. If a debate event has 47 debaters/teams, 35% would be 16.45 and goes to the nearest whole number, which would be 16 check marks.

Debate speaker points also round to the nearest whole number.

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 16th 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.