The speech and debate scholarship may be awarded to incoming first-year and transfer undergraduate students who wish to compete for the UIS speech and debate team. The award is renewable for up to three years (for a total of four years), with renewability contingent upon participating in required speech and debate team activities and on maintaining good academic standing at the university.

The scholarship is open to all incoming students. Previous speech and debate experience is not required to be awarded this scholarship or to participate on the speech and debate team.

For more information, see the Donor Funded Institutional Scholarships page. To apply for the scholarship, complete the UIS Institutional Scholarship application and make sure to answer the questions related speech and debate scholarship.

As part of your scholarship application, we ask you to provide a sample video of you speaking or performing. Your video does not have to be from a speech and debate competition. It could be from a class in school, a speech given for another organization, or it could be something you create specifically for this application. If you have questions about the format of this video, please do not hesitate to send an email to cgord@uis.edu.

If you are awarded a speech and debate scholarship and choose to accept the award, you must meet these requirements to continue receiving and/or renew your scholarship:

• Participate in weekly practice sessions with the coach each semester
• Compete in at least two competitions each semester
• Adequately prepare your speech(es) for your practice sessions and competitions