Students, academics and the arts · For speech and debate coaches, activities directors and principals
A speech and debate hall of fame for every event your team competes in
List every state qualifier and champion by event, with the coaches and seasons behind them. Debaters and speakers get the same kind of wall your athletes have walked past for years.
No account needed to start. Free to use. No payment details required.
What is a speech and debate hall of fame?
A speech and debate hall of fame is a school record of a team’s state qualifiers, champions and coaches, usually organized by event and season and placed near the team’s room or the auditorium. HistoryShowcase lets coaches list every qualifier by event, show partnerships as one entry, and give champions and inducted alumni full profiles.
Updated
- Made for
- Speech and debate coaches, activities directors and principals
- Where schools put it
- Outside the speech and debate room, Auditorium lobby, Recruiting new members
- Layouts
- Honors ledger, Pennant, Portrait gallery, Profiles
- Visitors can filter by
- Event, Year
- Cost
- Free to use. No payment details required.
Weekend tournaments, no one watching
Speech and debate students compete almost every weekend of the season, often at schools across the state, in rooms with a judge and a timekeeper. They bring home trophies and qualify for state, and most of the school never hears about it. The team’s history lives in a coach’s old ballots, a shelf of trophies and the tournament results printed at the end of each meet.
A speech and debate hall of fame puts those results where the whole school can see them. Visitors browse by event, so a novice extemper can see who qualified in extemp before them. Champions and longtime coaches have full profiles. Each season gets its own entry, so a strong year doesn’t blur into the rest.
How does a speech and debate hall of fame compare with a trophy shelf?
| What matters | Trophy shelf | HistoryShowcase |
|---|---|---|
| Who sees it | Mostly students in the team’s room | Anyone passing the screen or opening the link |
| Finding your event | Read trophy plates one by one | Filter by event and year |
| Partner events | Both names on a small plate | One entry with both names in the title |
| Coaches’ years | Rarely recorded on trophies | Profiles with each coach’s years and teams |
| Physical awards | The actual trophies, on display | Photos of the trophies in each profile |
What goes in a speech and debate hall of fame
State qualifiers by event
Every student who qualified for state, listed under policy, Lincoln-Douglas, public forum, congress, extemp, oratory and each interpretation event your team enters.
Champions and finalists
State and national finishes with the event, partner if any, and year, each opening a full profile.
Partnership events
Both names on policy, public forum and duo entries, so neither partner is left off.
Hall of fame inductees
Alumni the program chooses to induct, with biographies that include what they did after graduating if they wish to share it.
Coaches
Every head coach and assistant, with the years they led the team and the program’s growth under them.
How to organize a speech and debate hall of fame
Visitors usually look for their own event first, so let the Event filter do the sorting across every collection.
Your siteSpeech & Debate
- State qualifiersHonors ledger
One row per entry with the event and year; partners share an entry.
- Champions and finalistsPennant
Top finishes shown as banners, each opening a profile.
- Hall of famePortrait gallery
Inducted alumni with portraits and full biographies.
- CoachesProfiles
Each coach with their years and a short history of their teams.
Visitors can narrow it by
- Event
- Year
How do you start a speech and debate hall of fame?
Collect state results by season
Gather the qualifier lists and final results your coaches have kept, starting with the most recent seasons.
Enter them as rows
Import a spreadsheet with the student, event and year, or let Smart Add read a results document and suggest entries.
Publish, then induct
Publish the qualifier lists first, then add hall of fame inductees as your program chooses them.
Where should a speech and debate hall of fame go?
- Outside the speech and debate roomWhere the team meets after school all season.
- Auditorium lobbyFamilies see it at showcases and banquets.
- Recruiting new membersShare the web address with incoming students thinking about joining.
Speech and debate hall of fame questions
Our events have changed names over the years. How should we list them?
Use the event name as it was when the student competed, and add a short note in the summary if the event has a new name today.
How do we show a partnership?
Make one entry with both names in the title and the event in the subtitle, so it appears once in the list.
Who decides on hall of fame inductees?
Your program does. The display holds whatever you choose to publish, and nothing goes live until someone with publishing access publishes it.
Related ideas
Give your speakers and debaters a wall of their own
Free to use. No payment details required.
