NCFCA 101

NCFCA holds several types of tournaments.  For a comprehensive overview, please see: Tournament Types and Commitment Overview.

Tournament Types

Students can participate in several kinds of tournaments throughout the year:

• Junior Tournaments are designed for students age 12 and under from families with either a Qualifying - OR - Non-Qualifying Affiliation. These events focus on growth and feedback and offer no advancement.

• Practice Events are for students age 12 and older from families with either affiliation type. These tournaments are generally only offered from October through early December, and like junior tournaments, these are for growth and feedback only, without advancement.

• Qualifying Tournaments are for eligible competitors from families with a Qualifying Affiliation. These events give students the opportunity to earn advancement to higher-level competition. 

• Regional Championships are the next level of competition, with invitations earned when a competitor advances in competition at a Qualifying Tournament.

• The National Championship is the end-of-season national event. Entry is limited to competitors who qualify through our Qualification System in National Opens, Regional Championships, or the National At-Large System.

Regional vs. National Tournament Events

• Regional events serve families within a designated geographic region, while  

  • Generally, each of NCFCA’s 14 regions holds three in-person Qualifiers and one Regional Championship each season. 

• National events are open to competitors from any region across the country.
  • National Opens are Qualifying Tournaments and are hosted both in person or online.
  • The NCFCA season concludes with the National Championship in June

In-Person vs. Online Competition
Most NCFCA tournaments are held in person at host locations such as churches or universities. NCFCA also offers online competition, where students compete live from home with real-time judges connected through NCFCA’s online platform

Tournament Snapshot

• Preliminary Rounds: Every debate competitor will debate in six prelim debate rounds (occasionally a competitor will have a bye for one round), and every speech competitor will deliver each speech in three prelim speech rounds.

• Elimination Rounds: The top-ranking students advance to elimination rounds. In NCFCA culture, this is called breaking. Students who break at a Qualifying Tournament are invited to their Regional Championship.

• Junior Programming: Many in-person tournaments include Junior Activities and Junior Tournaments for students age 12 and under

• Introducing NCFCA Christian Speech & Debate  short video-glimpse into tournament life

• Sample In-person Regional Qualifier Schedule

• There’s a Monster at the End! whimsical NCFCA blog post depicting a day-in-the-life of a tournament attendee