The California High School Speech Association, or CHSSA, is a speech and debate organization offered to all schools in the state of California. It is the governing body for local and state speech and debate competitions in California, with higher-level competition under the auspices of the

National Forensic League The National Speech and Debate Association is an American student debating society. It was established in 1925 as the National Forensic League; the name was changed in 2014. It is one of four major national organizations that direct high schoo ...

and the

National Catholic Forensic League The National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) is a speech and debate league that was formed in 1951. It is organized into regions that correspond to Roman Catholic dioceses. Member schools include both public and parochial high schools. The NCFL r ...

. The league held its first championship tournament in 1958, and continues to hold championship tournaments every April.

Events

The California High School Speech Association offers the following events (bold denotes events that are recognized by the

Debate

* Policy Debate (TM) * Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD) *

Public Forum Debate Public Forum debate is a widespread form of middle and high school competitive debate which centers on current events and relies on both logic and evidence to construct arguments. Invented in the US, Public Forum is one of the most prominent Americ ...

(PF) *

Congressional Debate Congressional Debate (also known as Student Congress, Legislative Debate) is a competitive interscholastic high school debate event in the United States. The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) ...

(CONG) *

Parliamentary Debate Parliamentary debate (also referred to as "parliamentary" or "parli") is an academic debate event. Many university-level institutions in English-speaking nations sponsor parliamentary debate teams. In addition the format is currently spreading to ...

(PRL)

Speech

Original Events

Original Oratory {{Multiple issues, {{No footnotes, date=November 2017 {{Notability, date=May 2020 Original Oratory (often shortened to "OO") is a competitive event in the National Speech and Debate Association, Stoa USA, National Catholic Forensic League, and o ...

(OO) * Original Prose & Poetry (OPP) *

Expository Narrative exposition is the insertion of background information within a story or narrative. This information can be about the setting, characters' backstories, prior plot events, historical context, etc. In literature, exposition appears in t ...

(EXP)

Interpretation Events

Duo Interpretation Duo Interpretation, or often simply called Duo Interp, or just Duo, is an official speech event of Stoa USA, the National Speech and Debate Association, the National Catholic Forensics League, National Christian Forensics and Communications Associ ...

(DUO) * Dramatic Interpretation (DI) *

Humorous Interpretation Humorous Interpretation (often shortened to "HI", or "Humor") is an event in competitive middle and high school forensics leagues such as the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association and the National Speech and Debate Associatio ...

(HI) *

Thematic Interpretation Thematic interpretation is an approach to heritage interpretation originally advocated by Professor William J. Lewis (University of Vermont) and subsequently developed by Professor Sam H. Ham (University of Idaho). In the thematic approach, an inte ...

(TI)

Spontaneous Events

* International Extemporaneous (IX) * National Extemporaneous (NX) *

Impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

(IMP)

CHSSA Leagues

CHSSA divides the state of California into four areas and eleven leagues of competition, based on region. Any school can become a member of CHSSA, and its ability to compete in league tournaments is determined by school location.

Area 1

*Golden Gate Speech Association (GGSA) - includes the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, San Francisco, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma and Trinity. *Coast Forensic League (CFL) - includes the counties of Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz.

Area 2

*Capitol Valley Forensics League (CVFL) - includes the counties of Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra, Tehama, Yolo, and Yuba *Southern Valley Forensics League (SVFL) - includes the counties of Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, and Tulare *Yosemite Forensics League (YFL) - includes the counties of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Solano, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne

Area 3

*Tri-County Forensics League (TCFL) - includes the counties of Los Angeles (partial), San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. *Southern California Debate League (SCDL) - includes the county of Los Angeles (east) *Western Bay Forensics League (WBFL) - includes the county of Los Angeles (west)

Area 4

*Orange County Speech League (OCSL) – includes the county of Orange *Citrus Belt Speech Region (CBSR)Citrus Belt Speech Website
/ref> – includes the counties of Kern (partial), Riverside, and San Bernardino *San Diego Imperial Valley Speech League (SDIVSL) – includes the counties of San Diego and Imperial

References

External links

California High School Speech Association Official Website

National Forensic League Official Website

Point of Information: Central Website for High School Parliamentary Debate
Student debating societies Organizations based in California