Karl E. Mundt Oral Interpretation Tournament

October 20, 2015

The annual Karl E. Mundt Dakota Invitational Oral Interpretation Tournament is Saturday, October 24, at Dakota State University. The event is in its 33rd year with over 250 students and 50 judges participating this year from over 28 Eastern South Dakota schools.

Participants compete in three rounds in the morning and break to final rounds in the afternoon. Students perform in various oral interpretation 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 national and state 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 Invitational is sponsored by the DSU College of Arts and Science along with a grant from the Karl E. Mundt Foundation.