Apples of Gold

A Special Message to AACS High School Competitors, Coaches and Parents

Each year the Bob Jones University Division of Speech Communication is privileged to host two major Christian high school speech competitions: our own Fine Arts Festival and the American Association of Christian Schools National Competition. We consider these events to be highlights of our year because of the wonderful opportunity both competitions afford to meet students and assist them in their development as communicators for Christ. We appreciate especially the dedicated parents, teachers, and sponsors who work with these young people in preparing for the events.

Occasionally we receive questions from sponsors and contestants about the relationship between the two competitions and about the judging standards we use to evaluate contestants in the various events. Below we offer some clarifications that may help answer the two most frequently asked questions: "Why are the rules different for the two competitions?" and "What are you looking for when you judge?"

  1. Why are the rules different for the two competitions? The rules and categories for the two competitions differ primarily because each competition has a separate governing body. In our own Festival, we choose categories that reflect what we teach in our department, and we establish rules that generally conform to standard forensics practices as articulated by organizations such as the National Forensic League.
  2. In the A.A.C.S. National Competition, our task is to enforce the rules and categories given us by the A.A.C.S. We work closely with the A.A.C.S. leadership in coordinating the event and in supplying judges for the competition, but the A.A.C.S. is solely responsible for the rules and evaluation standards used in their national competition. The current A.A.C.S. National Competition Manual serves as our guide when judging any category for their organization.
  3. What are you looking for when you judge? This broad question is difficult to answer. There are, however, some overall factors our judges usually employ in both competitions to guide their ranking decisions.

Quality of Literature

In judging oral interpretation events, we place great emphasis on the contestant's choice of quality literature. We believe the contestant should choose challenging material written by a reputable author. We believe the educational element of forensics competition is greatly enhanced when students work on good literature. All other factors of performance being equal, our judges will usually give a higher ranking to the contestant who performs the more challenging, higher-quality literature.

Introductions

We expect contestants to provide a brief but helpful introduction to the piece. This introduction should establish the title and author of the work, orient the audience to the literature, and provide a context for the performance.

Movement

Our overall standard for movement in interpretation events is appropriateness. As a rule we are less concerned with the amount of movement than we are with whether or not the movement enhances the audience's experience with the literature. We acknowledge, however, that when performing in a forensics competition the student should probably incorporate less overt movement than he or she might employ in another performance context. The two events that spark the most controversy about movement are oral interpretation of poetry and oral interpretation of Scripture. In each of these events we find suggested movement and overall physical restraint generally more appropriate for competition than extensive movement. However, the ultimate test is still appropriateness. Did the movement aid in the communication of the literature?

Conversational Quality

We believe performance is communication. Consequently, our judges place a premium on naturalism in performance. Students should avoid the artificial and unnatural "stage voice" so often adopted for performance. The student should strive also for clarity in articulation, a pleasant vocal tone, and accurate pronunciation.

Contestants and sponsors who visit for both or either of the competitions should remember that our judges are human and that most of the events fall under the heading of "interpretation," not "dogmatics." We try to be consistent in our judging, but there are differences of opinion among speech teachers here and everywhere about what constitutes good performance.