With the University of Kentucky National Speech and Debate Season Opener kicking off tomorrow, it is time to unveil the structure of this year’s Extemp Central National Points Race.
The Extemp Central National Points Race is a season-long competition that seeks to identify the top extempers across a select group of prestigious national circuit events. Extemp Central recognizes that in some years the top extemper in the nation may not win the National Points Race due to the inability of some competitors to travel extensively. Still, seven national champions are among the eight previous National Points Race winners.
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up |
| 2023 | McKinley Paltzik (Phoenix Country Day School, AZ) – 1130 points | Phoena Lin (Plano West Senior High School, TX) – 531 points |
| 2022 | Daniel Kind (Lake Highland Preparatory, FL) – 1063 points | McKinley Paltzik (Phoenix Country Day School, AZ) – 611 points |
| 2016 | Justin Graham (Trinity Preparatory School, FL) – 876 points | Marshall Sloane (Milton Academy, MA) – 637 points |
| 2015 | Brian Anderson (LaRue County High School, KY) – 775 points | Justin Graham (Trinity Preparatory School, FL) – 725 points |
| 2012 | Lily Nellans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, IA) – 796 points | Isabelle Taft (Henry W. Grady High School, GA) – 565 points |
| 2011 | Nathaniel Donahue (Durham Academy, NC) – 680 points | Dylan Slinger (Lakeville South High School, MN) – 535 points |
| 2010 | Jacob Baker (Bellarmine College Preparatory, CA) – 395 points | James Mohan (Danville High School, KY) – 380 points |
| 2009 | Stacey Chen (North Allegheny Senior High School, PA) – 515 points | Evan Larson (Bellarmine College Preparatory, CA) – 285 points |
The Extemp Central National Points Race divides national circuit tournaments into five tiers. Tournaments were placed in their respective tier due to their level of prestige, size, geographic location, and – most importantly – their ability to attract top-tier competitors. It should be noted that the position of all of the tournaments on a particular tier is not fixed from season to season. For example, seasoned readers will find that this year the George Mason University Patriot Games has been downgraded again due to declining attendance while the Sunvitational has been removed because of weak fields due to running against the Montgomery Bell Academy Extempo Round Robin.
This year welcomes a new tournament to the National Points Race: the Apple Valley Minneapple Speech Tournament that takes place on February 3. Apple Valley becomes the Midwest fifth tier event on the calendar, replacing the Star Tribune Lightning Classic from last year.
One of the reasons we are able to maintain the National Points Race is that we have great readers who contribute results. If you attend a National Points Race tournament this year, please let us know the results of these tournaments. For bigger tournaments, a tab sheet is preferable since competitors who finish outside of finals still earn points.
First Tier: NSDA Nationals
Since NSDA Nationals does not have a unified extemp category – something that this author wishes would change – the field of the tournament that has the “deeper” field will receive a fifty point bonus. The extemp category that has the most extempers from the top twenty-five in its field will receive the bonus. If there is a tie for whatever reason, no bonus will be awarded.
Here are the points awarded for NSDA Nationals in 2023-2024:
| Ranking | Points Earned |
| 1st | 200 (250) |
| 2nd | 170 (213) |
| 3rd | 140 (175) |
| 4th | 100 (125) |
| 5th | 80 (100) |
| 6th | 66 (83) |
| 7th | 50 (63) |
| 8th | 48 (60) |
| 9th | 46 (58) |
| 10th | 44 (55) |
| 11th | 40 (50) |
| 12th | 38 (48) |
| 13th | 36 (45) |
| 14th | 34 (43) |
| Quarter-Finalist | 30 (38) |
| Octo-Finalist | 10 (13) |
| Final Round Winner | 40 (50) |
*Bonus for strong field is denoted in parenthesis.
Second Tier: The Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin, Harvard, and CFL Nationals
These second tier events each carry significant prestige on the national circuit. MBA is the season’s first major competition, serving as an elite showcase of talented speakers that earned a bid from last season’s results or the first batch of competitions in the fall. Harvard is the largest invitational tournament on the calendar. And CFL Nationals, while not as big or as long of a tournament as NSDA, attracts a massive enough field to warrant second tier status.
Here are the points awarded for these second tier tournaments in 2023-2024:
| Ranking | Points Earned |
| 1st | 150 |
| 2nd | 120 |
| 3rd | 105 |
| 4th | 75 |
| 5th | 60 |
| 6th | 50 |
| Semi-Finalists | 38 |
| Quarter-Finalists | 23 |
| Octo-Finalists | 8 |
Third Tier: Glenbrooks, the University of Texas Longhorn Classic, the California Invitational, the University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (TOC), and the Tournament of Champions (TOC) of Extemporaneous Speaking
Glenbrooks has been a staple in the third tier since the National Points Race’s creation. It is arguably the biggest and most prestigious competition on the national circuit during the fall semester. The California Invitational attracts a top-tier field of West Coast extempers each season. Both TOC competitions, hosted by the University of Kentucky and Northwestern University, respectively, had relatively equal competitive fields last year. One could argue that the UK TOC is becoming the “fifth” major.
A new addition to the third tier this season is the University of Texas Longhorn Classic. This owes to the prolonged success of Texas competitors at the national level in recent years. The Longhorn Classic has been a fourth tier tournament for the last few races. Now its winners in International and United States Extemp will earn 100 points for their victories.
Here are the points awarded for these third tier tournaments in 2023-2024:
| Ranking | Points Earned |
| 1st | 100 |
| 2nd | 85 |
| 3rd | 70 |
| 4th | 50 |
| 5th | 40 |
| 6th | 33 |
| Semi-Finalists | 25 |
| Quarter-Finalists | 15 |
Fourth Tier: The Yale Invitational, James Logan MLK Invitational, and the Barkley Forum. Duke might be included here if it is an online event.
This fourth tier is thinner than in past National Points Races. It been reserved for strong regional tournaments. Yale draws well in the Northeast and the Barkley Forum draws well in the Southeast. This season the James Logan MLK Invitational is included as a fourth tier tournament to allow for more points opportunities for West Coast extempers as their previous chances were limited to one third tier event and two fifth tier competitions. At the time of this writing, Duke has not yet unveiled its invitation for its 2023 edition. The tournament drew a strong online field last year. If the tournament remains online for this season, Extemp Central will give Duke fourth tier status as an online points opportunity in this year’s race.
Here are the points awarded for these fourth tier tournaments in 2023-2024:
| Ranking | Points Earned |
| 1st | 70 |
| 2nd | 60 |
| 3rd | 49 |
| 4th | 35 |
| 5th | 28 |
| 6th | 23 |
| Semi-Finalists | 18 |
Fifth Tier: The National Season Opener at the University of Kentucky, the New York City Invitational, Florida Blue Key, George Mason Patriot Games, Apple Valley Minneapple Speech Tournament, and Stanford National Invitational:
All of the tournaments in the fifth tier are respectable events that draw strong fields in their local area. This allows the National Points Race to provide more opportunities for extempers at tournaments in large states or regions.
Fifth tier tournaments are make-or-break affairs. Only those extempers who reach the final round will receive points. Remember also that only extempers that finish in the top six receive points at these events even if a tournament breaks more than six competitors to a final round.
For tournaments like Blue Key that allow extempers to compete in each category, only an extemper’s highest finish among the two will count to avoid a double counting of points.
Here are the points awarded for these fifth tier tournaments in 2023-2024:
| Ranking | Points Earned |
| 1st | 40 |
| 2nd | 34 |
| 3rd | 28 |
| 4th | 20 |
| 5th | 16 |
| 6th | 13 |
Extemp Central wishes all extempers good luck in the 2023-2024 season!