NOTE: This is a "Project," meaning developments are being made across the country in several different places by active Stoa members. The notes here are for experimental purposes and should not be regarded as official Stoa policy.

New to Stoa 2011 tournaments are pilot projects across the nation introducing a novel idea: electronic script submissions. This page attempts to document the problems, solutions, challenges and advantages of the pilot projects that have been conducted over the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school year.

Problems: Long Lines, Anxiety, Confusion

One of the largest complaints about speech tournaments is the script submission process. Here is how it has been run in the past:

1.   Student prints a hard copy of their script submission form.

2.   Student photocopies a hard copy of his literary work.

3.   Student highlights sections from his work.

4.   Student submits his hard copies the morning of the tournament to the Script Submission Table.

5.   Student is put "on the spot" at the final hour before competition begins, knowing during competition that their piece may have inconsistencies.

6. Student is sent home after the tournament without their submitted script. The student will need to print another copy for the next tournament.

Solution: Electronic Script Submission

The electronic submission process is Stoa’s attempt to solve for the turmoil this process creates. Rather than submitting a hard copy, students submit a soft copy prior to the day of the tournament. Here’s a modification of the process above: 

1.   Student follows the online instructions from the Tournament Director or the Tournament Site.

2.   Student scans electronic copies of her literary work, or saves electronic copies of her platform pieces.

3.   Student either electronically highlights pieces to event rules, or scans in a copy of her piece highlighted.

4.   Student emails her copy to the Script Submission Committee of the tournament.

5.   Student is either sent a message with a list of corrections, or sent a 1-page acceptance letter to print and bring to the tournament.

6. Student brings to the tournament a printed copy of the acceptance letter and the other required documentation for the event. These printouts are returned to the student -- with any necessary corrections -- at the end of the tournament. 

Challenges and Advantages

So far this process has been piloted in California, Missouri and Arkansas. Challenges have certainly been evident, but the advantages have been great. Both challenges and advantages considered, Electronic Script Submission is definitely an option worth pursuing for future Stoa tournaments.

·      Challenges

o    Lack of participation. I suppose this will change over time. Irvine experienced very little participation, but it was early in the year and people leaned on the traditional method. Arkansas PITOC, a late-season tournament, had more participation.

o    Training. This is a brand new process, and how to review (or how carefully to review) the scripts is a point of concern that will need to be narrowed in the future.

o    Technological learning curve. The elements of a proper script submission is difficult to merge with so many technologies available. Scanning and highlighting works has been the most difficult process to master.

·      Advantages

o    Short lines. Script submission is much less of a problem at tournaments as in year’s past.

o    Quick submission. The printout makes filing and moving on much swifter.

o    Paper, paper, paper. For years, scripts were submitted and never returned. Tournament directors often griped about having to hold onto boxes of submissions.

o    Easy searches. Adjudications often require quick searches of pieces, something difficult to do with a manual copy. Ctrl-F for “find” is simple with electronic versions.

o    Pre-tournament fixes. Probably the greatest advantage, students are given the opportunity to fix genuine problems with their scripts.

o    Fewer adjudications. Most script problems are not intentional deviance, but honest errors in judgment. With corrections made ahead of the tournament, embarrassing errors are not discovered in the heat of the moment.

This is a pilot project for the 2010-2011and 2011-2012 school year. Stoa plans to develop a more streamlined process with specific guidelines, samples, directions for tournament directors to consider implementing. This process may be applied at NITOC 2012 and become a simpler and more reliable process for script submissions in all Stoa tournaments.