This year students from 81 South Dakota high schools competed in the 106th Annual SDHSAA State Oral Interpretation Festival on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4 and 5, in Sturgis at Sturgis Brown High School.
The State Oral Interpretation Festival, sponsored by the South Dakota High School Activities Association, brings together South Dakota’s best high school oral interpretation speakers in a “festival” setting. During the State Festival the students will compete to achieve a “Superior” rating which is the equivalent of a state championship in their contest event. State Oral Interpretation Festival competition is divided into seven contest events: Non-Original Oratory, Interpretation of Serious Reading, Storytelling, Poetry Reading, Humorous Reading, Duet Interpretation, and Readers Theatre. Schools are divided into three different classes based on student enrollment grades 9-11. Winner participates in Class A. Class A had 104 entries from 30 different schools.
Winner was represented by Duncan English and Shannon Duffy. Duncan presented in Non-Original Oratory and Serious. Duncan had to present each of his pieces before three judges, in each category, and not exceed a 10 minute thirty second time limit. For his pieces he also had to have a copy of the piece and refer to it when presenting. Shannon presented in Storytelling and also presented her piece before three judges but had a five minute thirty second time limit and the piece had to be totally memorized. For his outstanding performances, Duncan was awarded a Superior rating and a medal in both of his categories. This was Duncan’s fourth year participating at State Oral Interpretation Festival and his third year of bringing home a Superior medal. When a Class A and Class B school have two superior ratings at the State level, they are awarded a Team Excellence Award. Winner received a Team Excellence Award
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