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Iowa Speech and Debate Teams are invited to the 2026 Iowa High School Forensic League State Tournament on March 5th, 6th, and 7th at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa! We anticipate continuing the excellent history of competition in the state as we crown a new crop of State Champions.

A couple of important notes as we approach the tournament:

Qualification: Please remember that last year the coaches voted to adopt a new Constitution for the IHSFL. This Constitution includes a new qualification requirement for the state tournament (See Article V, Subsection E). To qualify to compete in any event, students must have received 25 points in that event at tournaments in the State of Iowa. If you have fewer than 5 entries that meet that requirement, your school can enter ‘unqualified’ entries up to 5 total entries. If you have students who are not qualified, but would nevertheless like to compete, you may apply for a waiver of the qualification requirements usingthis Google Form. Given that this is the first year of the new requirements, the committee would encourage you to be generous with applying for waivers so that we can get a sense of whether the qualification procedure is working as intended.

Schedule: Due to renovations at Simpson, there are some serious room constraints that the committee is working through. We do not have a full schedule yet, but we want to make you aware that it will require some flexibility. For those making travel arrangements, please know that we anticipate starting the speech tournament earlier on Thursday than in years past and the debate tournament earlier on Friday than in years past. We will update the schedule as soon as we know enough to do so!

Topics: A reminder that the IHSFL Tournament uses the NSDA February Topics, despite being in March.

Coaches Conference: The committee is pleased to announce the return of the Coaches Conference, a luncheon for head coaches in between the conclusion of the speech tournament and the beginning of the debate tournament. This working luncheon is intended to allow all of the coaches in the state to be in one place to discuss any issues that may affect all of us. If you are planning to host a tournament in the 2026/2027 School Year, please make every effort to attend the luncheon and please do your best to have a couple of dates in mind. Our hope is that we will be able to outline a tournament schedule for next year at the luncheon so that programs can make travel and competition choices as soon as possible!

Please RSVP with your intent to attend the Coaches Conference

Special Awards: Please nominate students and judges for our special awards! Please refer to the Constitution (Article VI, Subsection A and B) for the explanation of the nomination and voting procedures. Please take particular note that the nominations should be 250 words or less! Nominations are due by Friday, February 27th.

Coach of the Year Nomination Form

Senior of the Year Nomination Form

IFL Committee Nominations: There will be a number of open positions on the IHSFL Committee next year as terms expire (Jeremey Fitzpatrick, Sam Juhl, and Parker Klyn). If you are interested in filling one of those roles and helping maintain and grow Speech and Debate in the State of Iowa, please consider self-nominating for a committee spot. Nominations are due by Monday, February 23rd.

Committee Self-Nomination Form

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to any member of the committee!

Jeremy Fitzpatrick, Johnston High School (jeremy.fitzpatrick@johnston.k12.ia.us)

Lydia Cowins, Des Moines Christian (lydiamagic1@gmail.com)

Sam Juhl, East High School (Samuel.Juhl@dmschools.org)

Parker Klyn, Roosevelt High School (parker.klyn@dmschools.org)

Simon Sheaff, Dowling Catholic High School (ssheaff@dowlingcatholic.org)