Karl E. Mundt Oral Interpretation Tournament

October 22, 2021

The 38th annual Karl E. Mundt Dakota Invitational Oral Interpretation Tournament will be held Saturday, October 23, at Dakota State University in Madison, S.D.

Over 150 competitors from 19 South Dakota schools will be participating. The students will compete in three rounds in the morning, and final rounds in the afternoon. Students perform in various categories including poetry, oratory, humor, storytelling, drama, duet, and reader’s theatre.

The tournament is named after former South Dakota Senator Karl E. Mundt, a high school speech and debate coach who came to Eastern State Normal School (now Dakota State University) in 1928. He served as head of the speech department at Eastern State, where his students excelled at the state and national speech competitions. In addition, Mundt was a founding member of the National Forensics League, a society promoting high school speech and debate activities. Mundt served as the organization’s president from 1932 to 1971.

The Dakota State Invitational is sponsored by the DSU College of Arts and Sciences.