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Deadline: April 1st, 2025, 11:59 pm

The Mockingbird Scholarship

— NSDA Nationals —

In order to increase equal access to speech and debate for all students in Alabama, the Alabama Branch of Outreach Debate is proud to announce the Mockingbird Scholarship, a need-based grant awarded to high school forensics programs in Alabama.

To support Alabama teams attending the National Speech and Debate Tournament, we are proud to present a budget of $1,000.00 in scholarships to be awarded to local teams. This scholarship can be used to cover entree fees, hired judging fees, and other tournament costs.

The scholarship will be awarded to the following parties in order of priority:

  1. Small forensics programs in need of financial assistance

  2. Individual students from large and/or historically successful programs that require assistance

  3. Special circumstances at the discretion of our organization

This form is intended for coaches to complete on behalf of their team and/or individual students. Applications regarding multiple students from the same team should be entered under one submission.

For further information, please view our complete procedures and the FAQ below.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • In most cases, Outreach Debate will write a check to the recipient school or team. If your team or school requires a different method of transfer, please state accordingly in the Additional Concerns section of the application form.

  • Yes — coaches are free to use awarded scholarships at their discretion as long as the scholarship committee determines their intended use aligns reasonably with the National Speech and Debate Tournament.

    However, large travel cost requests may fall outside the budget of this scholarship and may not be awarded or only partially granted.

    If teams require assistance for both tournament and travel costs, we still encourage coaches to list both in their itemized list in the application. Requesting a large sum does not jeopardize an application as a whole.

  • Our scholarship committee consists of four college and high school students serving on the executive board of Outreach Debate. The committee reflects the following policies:

    1. Students and coaches from Alabama are strictly prohibited from serving on the committee.

    2. Review of applications will be blind, omitting school, coach, and student names.

    To learn more about the members of the committee, view our complete procedures.

  • Not yet — this wave of scholarships is intended only for teams attending the National Speech and Debate Tournament.

    However, Outreach Debate has secured budgets of equal or larger amounts than this wave to support Alabama teams beginning in the fall of 2025. These scholarships will be open to all teams.

    Check our website periodically and stay tuned for emails from the Alabama Speech and Debate Association for more information in the coming months.

Have additional questions or concerns?

Send us an email at communications@outreachdebateal.org