Original oratory

An Original Oratory is a prepared speech, written by the speaker, on a topic of the speaker’s choice. This speech is a former NCFCA event, and was replaced in the 2011-2012 speech season with Biographical Narrative. The category still exists in Stoa, as of the 2013-2014 speech season.

Goal
The goal of an Original Oratory speech is to develop a polished, winsome speaker who can present an engaging, well-organized speech on any topic. 

Preparation Rules
An Original Oratory is an original and scripted speech written by the competitor, and may be on any topic the competitor wishes. The purpose of the speech can vary, from informing to persuading, entertaining to inspiring and may even eulogize an inspirational figure. The speech may be used in any league during the competitive year, but once the competitor has competed with the speech, it may not be used in any future years of competition.

The speech also may only be used in one category per tournament, but the competitor can switch the speech to another category in a later tournament. The competitor may only do one Original Oratory speech. They cannot enter two speeches in one category.

The speaker must submit a typewritten script at tournament registration, complete with a filled-out Stoa Platform Speech Script Submission form, which can be found on the Stoa Website, and a Works Cited Page. Only a maximum of 30% of the speech may be directly quoted material. 

Presentation Rules
The Original Oratory speech must be memorized. If the competitor must use a written script, they receive a 2-rank penalty. If there are direct quotes in the speech, they must be verbally cited (I.E.: "Jo Schmo once stated...") in order to avoid plagiarism.

No props of any sort may be used to illustrate the speech, and gratuitous vulgarity is forbidden.

The time starts when the speaker begins speaking and ends when the speaker finishes. The speaking time limit is 10 minutes, and there is no minimum time. 

Script Submission
Original Oratory competitors must complete the general Stoa Platform Script Submission Form

Primary Judging Areas
Original Oratory is judged on the content of the speech and the presentation abilities of the speaker.