During March, AFC attended the Novice National Forensic Association’s 40th Annual Novice National Tournament, the International Forensics Association Tournament in Tokyo, Japan, the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament, the National Online Forensics Championship and the Asynchronous Speech Championship.
After completing five of their six total national tournaments this season, the team has won more than 100 awards. Most notably, AFC won the National Championship in Team Individual Events Sweepstakes at the 2023 Novice National Tournament.
Additionally, students won nine individual event national championships in duo interpretation, extemporaneous speaking, impromptu speaking, persuasive speaking, poetry interpretation, prose interpretation, rhetorical criticism, slam poetry and individual sweepstakes.
Read below for the full list of awards received by UA students at each of the five tournaments.
2023 Novice National Tournament
Jason Park: National Champion in Individual Sweepstakes, National Champion in Persuasive Speaking, National Champion in Prose Interpretation, National Runner-Up in After Dinner Speaking, National Runner-Up in Impromptu Speaking, and 3rd Place in Extemporaneous Speaking
Sabrina Richard: 3rd Place in Individual Sweepstakes, National Champion in Rhetorical Criticism, National Runner-Up in Program Oral Interpretation, 3rd Place in After Dinner Speaking, 3rd Place in Persuasive Speaking, 4th Place in Slam Poetry, and 5th Place in Prose Interpretation
Jayden Kennedy: 4th Place in Individual Sweepstakes, National Champion in Poetry Interpretation, National Champion in Slam Poetry, National Champion in Duo Interpretation (with partner, Maggie Leach), and 5th Place in Program Oral Interpretation
Maggie Leach: National Champion in Duo Interpretation (with partner, Jayden Kennedy), National Runner-Up in Prose Interpretation, National Runner-Up in Poetry Interpretation, and 4th Place in After Dinner Speaking
Skylar Evans: 3rd Place in Informative Speaking and 3rd Place in Poetry Interpretation
Jaiden Lagalo: 3rd Place in Dramatic Interpretation and 4th Place in Prose Interpretation
Team: National Champions in Team Individual Events Sweepstakes and Overall Quality Award
International Forensics Association (IFA) Tournament
Neff Watts: International Runner-Up in Program Oral Interpretation and 3rd Place in Prose Interpretation
2023 Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament (PKD-NCT)
Isaac Sherman: National Champion in Extemporaneous Speaking, National Runner-up in Pentathalon (Individual Events Sweepstakes), National Runner-Up in International Public Debate Association Debate, and 4th Place in Impromptu Speaking
Sandhu Aladuwaka: National Champion in Impromptu Speaking, Semifinalist in Communication Analysis, and Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking
Casey Buisson: 3rd Place in Communication Analysis, 3rd Place in Informative Speaking, 5th Place in Duo Interpretation (with partner, Jaiden Lagalo), 4th Place in Pentathalon (Individual Events Sweepstakes), and Semifinalist in Dramatic Interpretation
Jason Park: 3rd Place in After Dinner Speaking, 8th Place in Pentathalon (Individual Events Sweepstakes), Semifinalist in Persuasive Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Impromptu Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Prose Interpretation, Top Novice in After Dinner Speaking, and Top Novice in Prose Interpretation
Andrew Schmidt: 3rd Place in Extemporaneous Speaking, 10th Place Top Speaker in International Public Debate Association Debate, Quarterfinalist in Impromptu Speaking, and Quarterfinalist in Informative Speaking
Jaiden Lagalo: 5th Place in Duo Interpretation (with partner, Casey Buisson), Quarterfinalist in Dramatic Interpretation, and Excellence Award for Prose Interpretation (Top 30% in the Event)
Jayden Kennedy: 6th Place in Program Oral Interpretation, Quarterfinalist in After Dinner Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Duo Interpretation (with partner, Maggie Leach), and Quarterfinalist in Poetry Interpretation
Alex Brewbaker: 7th Place Top Speaker in Junior-Varsity International Public Debate Association Debate, Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Communication Analysis, and Quarterfinalist in Informative Speaking
Garrett Reynolds: Semifinalist in After Dinner Speaking, Semifinalist in Informative Speaking, Semifinalist in Persuasive Speaking, and Quarterfinalist in Communication Analysis
Ben Hand: Semifinalist in Extemporaneous Speaking, Semifinalist in Informative Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Impromptu Speaking, and Quarterfinalist in Poetry Interpretation
Blake Eversmann: Semifinalist in After Dinner Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Informative Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Program Oral Interpretation, and Excellence Award for Extemporaneous Speaking (Top 30% in the Event)
Bhavana Ravala: Semifinalist in Persuasive Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Communication Analysis, Quarterfinalist in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Excellent Award for Impromptu Speaking (Top 30% in the Event)
Sabrina Richard: Semifinalist in Persuasive Speaking, Quarterfinalist in After Dinner Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Program Oral Interpretation, and Top Novice in Persuasive Speaking
Markie Whitney: Semifinalist in Persuasive Speaking
Rebekah Langford: Quarterfinalist in After Dinner Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Dramatic Interpretation, and Quarterfinalist in Informative Speaking
Maggie Leach: Quarterfinalist in Duo Interpretation (with partner, Jayden Kennedy) and Quarterfinalist in Poetry Interpretation
Team: National Runner-Up in Individual Events Team Sweepstakes and National Runner-Up in Combined Team Sweepstakes
2023 National Online Forensics Championship
Isaac Sherman: National Runner-Up in IPDA Debate Top Speaker Awards. Gold in IPDA Debate
Andrew Schmidt: Gold in IPDA Debate
Markie Whitney: Bronze in IPDA Debate
Team: 3rd Place in Team Sweepstakes
2023 Asynchronous Speech Championship
Casey Buisson: National Runner-Up in Communication Analysis, 5th Place in Impromptu Speaking, 9th Place in Individual Sweepstakes, Semifinalist in Duo Interpretation (with partner, Jaiden Lagalo), Semifinalist in Informative Speaking, and Quarterfinalist in Prose Interpretation
Jason Park: National Runner-Up in Novice Individual Sweepstakes, Semifinalist in Extemporaneous Speaking, Semifinalist in Persuasive Speaking, and Quarterfinalist in After Dinner Speaking
Andrew Schmidt: National Runner-Up in Impromptu Speaking and Semifinalist in Extemporaneous Speaking
Isaac Sherman: National Runner-Up in Extemporaneous Speaking
Bhavana Ravala: 3rd Place in Extemporaneous Speaking, Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking, and Quarterfinalist in Persuasive Speaking
Rebekah Langford: 4th Place in Informative Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Dramatic Interpretation, and Quarterfinalist in Prose Interpretation
Garrett Reynolds: 5th Place in Persuasive Speaking and Quarterfinalist in Informative Speaking
Blake Eversmann: Semifinalist in Extemporaneous Speaking, Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking, and Semifinalist in Informative Speaking
Sandhu Aladuwaka: Semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking and Quarterfinalist in After Dinner Speaking
Skyler Evans: Semifinalist in Persuasive Speaking
Jaiden Lagalo: Semifinalist in Duo Interpretation (with partner, Casey Buisson)
Ben Hand: Quarterfinalist in After Dinner Speaking, Quarterfinalist in Impromptu Speaking, and Quarterfinalist in Informative Speaking
Jayden Kennedy: Quarterfinalist in Prose Interpretation and Top Novice in Program Oral Interpretation
Maggie Leach: Quarterfinalist in After Dinner Speaking and Top Novice in Prose Interpretation
Sabrina Richard: Quarterfinalist in Persuasive Speaking and Top Novice in Communication Analysis
Alex Brewbaker: Quarterfinalist in Impromptu Speaking
Markie Whitney: Quarterfinalist in Persuasive Speaking
Team: 3rd Place in Team Sweepstakes
The Alabama Forensic Council (AFC) recently competed in five national tournaments and brought home its 24th team national championship and nine individual events national championships among other awards.
