The Tournament of Champions (TOC) is a national high school speech and debate tournament held at the University of Kentucky every year in a weekend in April. Tournament of Champions is considered to be the national championship of the “National Circuit", and is one of the most prestigious and competitive American high school speech and debate tournaments. Tournament of Champions currently holds competition in Policy debate, Lincoln–Douglas debate, Public Forum debate, Congressional Debate, Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, Informative Speaking, Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Oral Interpretation, and Program Oral Interpretation. The Tournament of Champions is operated independently by the University of Kentucky. Nevertheless, The Tournament of Champions uses the rules and regulations provided by the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), including resolutions or topics for many events. History Origins The National Tournament of Champions was conceived in 1972 by Dr. J.W. Patterson, Professor of Speech and Communications and Director of Debate at the University of Kentucky from 1960-2010. Patterson's previously had coaching high school policy debate at Muskogee Central High School in Oklahoma before joining the University of Kentucky However, when considering the need for another national championship tournament, he came to the conclusion that major national tournaments in the early 1970s had three major problems: Quality of judges, internal politics and long lag times. Thus, Patterson created the tournament with the hope that his competition would redress the issues with other national championships. In its initial (1972) competition, Tournament of Champions was positively received by highly regarded policy debate teams and continued to become more influential and popular in successive tournaments. Advisory Committee After the first eight tournaments, Patterson recognized that the "national circuit" influence of the tournament required that the event adapt. Consequently, Patterson began to formalize a system of "Tournament of Champions Advisory Committees", encouraging coaches to give feedback and suggestions. However, while the committee informally began in 1980, official formal committees were not established until 1990. Addition of Other Events One major development in Tournament of Champions' structure was the addition of Lincoln Douglas Debate. "LD" first appeared at the National Forensic League National Championship in 1980, but was not included in TOC until 1986. Despite Patterson's efforts to include the event as early as 1983, strong opposition from the Advisory Committee prevented Patterson from adding Lincoln-Douglas. The next event added to the annual Tournament of Champions competition was Public Forum Debate. However, unlike