Rostrum

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We are always looking for articles written by our members! Please review the following guidelines before submitting an article to Rostrum.

1. Submissions should have current significance to the high school or middle school speech and debate community, including coaches, competitors, judges, and school administrators.
2. Submissions must be free from religious or political bias or favoritism toward a certain region or school.
3. Submissions may not be inflammatory, libelous, or discriminatory toward any group based on race, culture, nationality, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, or socioeconomic status.
4. Submissions should be written in English and free from grammatical errors or misspellings.
5. Submissions should provide APA or MLA citations for references. Please consult the most recent edition of the MLA or APA guidebook for guidelines.
6. Submissions must include a proper title. Subtitles are also acceptable.
7. Submissions must not have been submitted previously or simultaneously to other publications, except in cases of express consent from the Association’s Executive Director. Permission from the other publisher/organization may also be required.
8. Submissions may be returned for revision or correction before they are published. In such circumstances, it is the responsibility of the author to return the corrected piece in a timely manner.
9. Submissions will not be returned to the author, except for revision. All submissions become the property of the National Speech & Debate Association.
10. Authors will not be paid for their submissions.
11. Article submissions are generally 500 words (1-page article) to 1,000 words (2-page article) in length. Authors may be required to edit or condense longer articles. Authors planning to submit longer articles should contact the Association with an outline or article summary for approval first.
12. Authors should include a short (1 to 2 sentence) biography to accompany their submissions. The biography may include coaching/competitive experience in speech and debate, as well as educational or professional background information.
13. The Association may request a high-resolution (300 dpi or equivalent Adobe PDF, JPG, TIF) author headshot photo, if an article is selected for publication.
14. The Association does not guarantee if or when a submitted piece will be used.
15. Articles should serve a non-commercial purpose.

2024-2025 Submission Deadlines: Articles will be accepted for review on a rolling basis and will be considered for issues throughout the year.

• 2024 September/October issue – August 1, 2024
• 2024 November/December issue – October 1, 2024
• 2025 February/March issue – January 3, 2025
• 2025 April/May issue – March 3, 2025

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Article Examples