The WFCA Handbook contains bylaws, history, category rules, ballots, scholarship information, coaching awards, student congress guides, and tournament documents.
WFCA Category Rules 2025-26.pdf
- The Category Rules document has the same rule sheets that are found in the main handbook. They have been copied into this separate document to make it easy to share the rules with students and judges.
WFCA-WISDAA Blended Category Rules 2025-26.pdf
- For tournament hosts that have a fully blended WFCA-WISDAA rule set.
Some tournaments offer blended WFCA and WISDAA rules so that students may perform using the category rules for which they have prepared. If an element of a performance is allowed in either WFCA or WISDAA, the blended rules will allow students to follow the least restrictive guideline.
This document contains the rules for all WFCA categories, modified to show allowances for WISDAA differences. Do not use these rule sheets for the WFCA State Tournament or other tournaments which specify WFCA-only rules.
What's new in the 2025-26 Handbook – 2026 Topics and other changes:
- Moments in History – This season has two time periods; each student has the choice of
1930-1939 and/or 1700-1799.
- Special Occasion Speaking – This season’s occasions are:
A. A pitch to support a new podcast series
B. A reality show audition
C. A speech to raise funds for a cause/charity
D. A criminal allocution statement
- Storytelling – This season’s topics are:
A. A story about siblings
B. A scary/horror story
C. A story about a first-time experience
-
Farrago has an expanded Rule 2 to include these new sentences:
The title may identify the primary source (e.g., book, anthology, journal, magazine, newspaper, website, etc.) or the specific title within the primary source (e.g., a poem, a play, a short story, a journal/magazine article, a newspaper article, etc.).
A Works Cited of all sources must be available to tournament officials upon request.
Also, the sentence “All selections must be verbally identified by title and author.” now says “…title and/or author.”
- The Student Advisory Committee is a new standing committee in the Constitutional and Operating Bylaws.
- Dues have increased to $85 with a late fee after December 1. Tournament hosts have a December 1 deadline for current year dues.
- Guest school State Tournament participation has been eliminated.
- Statement On The Use Of Artificial Intelligence has been added.
- Deviations from WISDAA Rules:
In categories with manuscripts (Farrago, Group Interpretive Reading, Poetry, Prose), the manuscript may be used a prop in WISDAA and is therefore no longer a deviation.
In categories the categories of Farrago, Poetry, Prose, minimal platform movement is allowed in WISDAA (previously no walking was allowed) and is therefore no longer a deviation. This was implemented in 2023-24 but wasn’t corrected in the deviations.
WISDAA now has separate rules for Solo Acting Humorous and Solo Acting Serious and is therefore no longer a deviation.