UIL News and Notes
By James Campolo
February 28, 2007
UIL Academics
The University Interscholastic League offers the most comprehensive literary and academic competitive program in the nation. It offers more than any other UIL division in terms of activities, with 22 high school and 18 elementary and junior high contests. More than a half million students participate in UIL academic contests.
In addition, the UIL sponsors the Interscholastic League Press Conference, one of the nation's oldest, largest and most highly respected student press associations.
These activities, which exist to complement the academic curriculum, are designed to motivate students as they acquire higher levels of knowledge, to challenge students to confront issues of importance, and to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of specific skills.
Theatre/One-Act Play
The League's one-act play contest, founded in 1927, is the largest
high school play production contest or play festival in the world.
More than 14,000 Texas high school students in more than 1,000
plays participate in 300 plus contests, which take place from the
beginning of March through the three-day, 40-production State Meet
one-act play contest.
The one-act play contest is supported by more than 200 college and
university faculty members serving as critic judges. Forty-five
colleges and universities provide site facilities for zone,
district, area and regional contests. In addition, 150 school
administrators provide facilities and serve as contest managers.
These statistics do not include the numerous junior high plays.
The League's one-act play program is organized and administered
annually as a part of the Spring Meet. The League's drama program
is considered by historians to be the foundation of educational and
community theatre in Texas. It continues to be a major factor
motivating increasing numbers of schools to offer theatre arts as
an academic subject.
In conjunction with the one-act play contest, the League also
sponsors a drama loan library, a free reading library service for
the public schools of Texas. Plays are donated to the library by
all major American play script publishers and are made available to
League member schools for a postage fee. The drama loan library
contains more than 25,000 plays, including most of the plays in
print published in acting edition since 1924 and all current
listings in U.S. publishersí catalogues. The library circulates
approximately 15,000 play scripts during the school year and makes
plays available to University of Texas faculty, drama majors and
students enrolled in drama courses.
Journalism
The late Dr. DeWitt C. Reddick, former dean of the UT School of
Communications, was instrumental in establishing the UIL journalism
program. Through his leadership, interest in high school journalism
flourished to the extent that Texas high schools have more
newspapers and yearbooks than any other state. In fact, no other
state can boast a comparable scholastic journalism program.
The Interscholastic League Press Conference, an affiliate of the UIL, is responsible for providing evaluative services for the state’s student publications. Each year, hundreds of staffs submit their publications to ILPC for judging. Through this rating service, ILPC has profoundly changed the character of scholastic publications, setting standards for content, leadership and design. One of the organization’s major accomplishments was the virtual elimination of the gossip column, which once was popular and prevalent.
In addition to its rating service, ILPC provides a lending library, educational pamphlets and monographs, personal consultations, special instructional sessions during its annual state convention, and an intense five-day summer workshop.
Its state convention is one of the nation’s largest. Each March, more than 3,000 students and advisers attend the two-day convention, held on the University of Texas campus. Activities include 100 plus instructional sessions, individual achievement awards ceremonies, and a grand awards assembly, during which top newspaper, top yearbook and top teacher in Texas are announced.
The summer workshop is held in mid-June Outstanding yearbook, newspaper and photography advisers are hired to instruct students in each of these areas. Generally, the workshop is attended by 500 students and advisers.
In addition to its ILPC program, the League offers four spring meet journalism contests: news writing, feature writing, editorial writing and headline writing.
Speech and Debate
The desire for debate and declamation contests in Texas schools was
the impetus for the formation of the League in 1910. Today the
League’s speech contest continues to be among its most popular.
Standard two-person debate remains an important element of the League speech program, and now the League also sponsors Lincoln-Douglas debate, a form which pits one person against another. In addition, the League provides extemporaneous informative and persuasive speaking and prose and poetry interpretation contests for high school students. The elementary and junior high speech program includes oral reading, modern oratory and impromptu speaking contests.
The UIL speech contests provide a laboratory for the development of many important interests and skills. The interpretation contests allow an in-depth analysis of literature, while the extemporaneous speaking contests help students develop an understanding of current events and political and social issues.
Debate tests students’ mastery of research, analysis and persuasion. All of these contests expand students’ ability to communicate orally ideas and information to an audience.
Many of Texas’ outstanding citizens participated in League speech contests during their high school years, and future leaders continue to have the opportunity to develop these important communication skills.
Elementary/Junior High Program
In 1913, the first year for which there are complete records of
contests offered, the Interscholastic League offered declamation
for the students (boys) ninth grade and below. This was the first
junior high contest offered by the League. By 1914 girls under the
age of 14 had been invited to take part in the declamation contest.
Junior High and Sub-Junior (for students below the age of 10)
spelling had been added to the program by 1920.
In 1923, music memory was offered for students below the eighth grade. The harbinger of the number sense contest was begun in 1924. The contest was open only to students in grades five through seven in the city, and to all rural school students.
Today modern oratory, oral reading and impromptu speaking have replaced declamation in the League’s elementary and junior high speech program. Spelling, music memory and number sense have been retained and have been joined by contests in storytelling, ready writing and picture memory. Each year, more than 1,000 elementary and junior high schools offer the League’s academic contests as a part of their enrichment program for gifted students.
