UK Selected To Host 2016 National Speech and Debate Tournament
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 26, 2015) — The University of Kentucky has officially been selected to the host of the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament in March of 2016.
This national forensics tournament is one of the largest annual collegiate speech and debate competitions in the country, with more than 80 teams and 1,000 competitors usually taking part from across the nation. The event features competition in more than 20 different public speaking and debate categories from poetry interpretation to persuasive speaking and student congress.
UK Forensics placed 14th in the nation at last year’s tournament.
“This is an incredible opportunity for the university and our forensics team,” says Director of Forensics Timothy Bill. “We are incredibly excited and humbled to have the chance to host such a great tournament.”
Currently UK Forensics hosts the Bluegrass Invitational speech and debate tournament on campus in October. UK has also been selected to host the Kentucky Forensics Association state championship tournament in February. The team’s local Pi Kappa Delta affiliate, the Kentucky Nu chapter, was formed when the team began operation in August 2012.
The announcement of the 2016 national host site was made at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association in Chicago. To be selected to host the tournament, an institution must successfully bid against other schools to demonstrate why it is the most suitable host site for the tournament. Because of UK’s rich history of hosting large academic events such as the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and the high school Tournament of Champions, UK Forensics was able to persuade the Pi Kappa Delta national council that UK was up to the challenge.
This will be the first time Pi Kappa Delta has returned to the Province of the Southeast for a national tournament since 2008.
This year’s Pi Kappa Delta national tournament will be held at Ohio University in March. The team’s next invitational tournament will be the Gorlok Gala hosted by Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri.
UK Forensics is a student organization within the College of Communication and Information. The team competes in 12 different public speaking events and three forms of debate.
To find out more, please contact Director of Forensics Timothy Bill at timothy.bill@uky.edu.
MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan, (859) 257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu