After a successful launch last year, the Extemper’s Bible will once again host a Nationals Points Race in order to determine the country’s most consistent competitor across a series of nationally-recognized events. Following the model of the Extemp Central National Points Race, we will be using different tiers to determine the comparative difficulty of tournaments across the nation.
For the most part, the NPR will be the same as it was in the 2020-21 season. However, there will be a few changes:
- Given the shrinking size and small regional draw of the Marshall Speech Spectacular, it will no longer be a NPR tournament.
- Given the regional nature of the Capital City Round Robin and the fact that it was not held last year, it will no longer be a NPR tournament.
- Given that the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) now features extemp and that it has reasonable national draw, we will be including it as a Tier 5 tournament this year, with the potential to jump even higher should attendance continue to grow.
- Given its relative success last year and the lack of Southeastern tournaments in the NPR, we will be including the Durham Academy Cavalier Invitational as a Tier 5 tournament this year, with the potential to jump even higher should attendance continue to grow.
- After being moved to Tier 4 temporarily due to concerns over its online hosting structure, the George Mason Patriot Games should return to Tier 3 this year. However, if it keeps its asynchronous extemp structure for the 2021 Patriot Games, it will be moved down once again.
- The Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin has had its point distribution changed, with separate awards for 7th to 16th place competitors. You can find this new points distribution below.
Given the uncertain nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NPR may possibly be subject to more changes throughout the season. However, we will always announce changes to points/tiering before an event begins, never afterwards.
You can find the tiering system that the Extemper’s Bible will be using below.
We would like to hear your thoughts on our list of tournaments recognized, our tournament tiering, and our points distribution! While we will cannot add/remove tournaments after the season begins, we are open to your feedback – please email us at james@extempers.org and/or steve@extempers.org!
TIER 1 EVENTS: NSDA Nationals, Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin, Extemp Tournament of Champions
These are the most well-known tournaments for high-level Extemp competition – the NSDA National Tournament in terms of pure recognition, and the MBA Round Robin and the Extemp ToC in terms of judge pool and depth of competition.
| Placement | Points Earned |
| 1st | 1500 |
| 2nd | 1250 |
| 3rd | 1150 |
| 4th | 1000 |
| 5th | 900 |
| 6th | 800 |
| Semifinalist | 550 |
| Quarterfinalist | 400 |
| Octofinalist | 200 |
There will be no distinction made between IX and USX at NSDA Nationals in terms of points received. The final round winners in both categories will receive an additional 250 points as a bonus.
As the Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin has a different format from traditional tournaments and is widely recognized as the most prestigious event on the national circuit, the point distribution for MBA competitors is different. Nonetheless, it is still considered a Tier 1 event.
| Placement | Points Earned |
| 1st | 1600 |
| 2nd | 1400 |
| 3rd | 1300 |
| 4th | 1200 |
| 5th | 1100 |
| 6th | 1000 |
| 7th | 750 |
| 8th | 700 |
| 9th | 650 |
| 10th | 600 |
| 11th | 550 |
| 12th | 500 |
| 13th | 450 |
| 14th | 400 |
| 15th | 350 |
| 16th | 300 |
TIER 2 EVENTS: NCFL Nationals, University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions, Harvard National Forensics Tournament
While not as prestigious as the Tier 1 tournaments, these events consistently attract top-level talent from across the nation.
| Placement | Points Earned |
| 1st | 1200 |
| 2nd | 1000 |
| 3rd | 900 |
| 4th | 800 |
| 5th | 700 |
| 6th | 600 |
| Semifinalist | 450 |
| Quarterfinalist | 250 |
| Octofinalist | 100 |
TIER 3 EVENTS: Yale Invitational, The Glenbrooks, GMU Patriot Games, Cal Invitational
While not true “national” tournaments, these events attract extempers across several states and often serve as the premier tournament in their region of the country.
| Placement | Points Earned |
| 1st | 900 |
| 2nd | 750 |
| 3rd | 675 |
| 4th | 600 |
| 5th | 525 |
| 6th | 450 |
| Semifinalist | 250 |
| Quarterfinalist | 100 |
TIER 4 EVENTS: New York City Invitational, Barkley Forum, The Sunvitational, Florida Blue Key Tournament, University of Texas Longhorn Classic
These tournaments can be thought of as smaller versions of Tier 3 tournaments, with strong outrounds and competition pools. They may attract regional talent with some out-of-state competitors.
| Placement | Points Earned |
| 1st | 600 |
| 2nd | 500 |
| 3rd | 450 |
| 4th | 400 |
| 5th | 350 |
| 6th | 300 |
| Semifinalist | 125 |
TIER 5 EVENTS: James Logan MLK Invitational, Stanford Invitational, Villiger Tournament, Princeton Classic, UK Season Opener, Duke Invitational, National Individual Events Tournament of Champions
Competitors must final at these tournaments in order to receive points in the National Points Race, as they are often much smaller tournaments for local schools.
| Placement | Points Earned |
| 1st | 400 |
| 2nd | 300 |
| 3rd | 250 |
| 4th | 200 |
| 5th | 150 |
| 6th | 100 |
For tournaments where entrants can compete in both USX and IX, competitors will be given points for their single best placement in either category; for example, if someone finishes 3rd in USX and semifinals in IX, they will be given third-place points. (This will lead to many more competitors gaining points, but will not allow any individual competitor to move ahead in the rankings massively from one tournament.)
Lastly, the Extemper’s Bible only recognizes four round robins – the MBA Extemp Round Robin, the GMU Patriot Games Round Robin, the Florida Blue Key Round Robin, and the Durham Academy Cavalier Challenge. Excepting the MBA Round Robin, whose point distribution has already been listed, only the top three finishers at Blue Key, GMU, and the Cavalier Challenge will receive points for their Round Robin performance. Their point distributions can be found below.
| Placement | Points Earned |
| 1st | 250 |
| 2nd | 175 |
| 3rd | 100 |