The University of Texas at Dallas speech team continues to grow and improve its program, earning second place in a statewide spring tournament.
“We had an exceptional showing at the state tournament — probably one of our best tournaments yet,” said Dr. John Gooch, coach of Comet Speech and Forensics and associate professor of rhetoric in the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology.
At the Texas Intercollegiate Forensic Association (TIFA) state tournament in February, team members also placed second and third in several categories, including national parliamentary debate, international public debate, extemporaneous speaking and impromptu speaking.
In addition, computer science junior Sneha Elangovan and history and neuroscience senior Arlin Khan were named to the 2022-23 TIFA all-state team.
“To go to the state tournament and to do that well — especially among the larger teams from Texas State University and UT Austin – was tremendous,” said Gooch, who also is the head of communication studies in the Bass School.
Elangovan, Khan, international political economy senior Margaret Belford and information technology and systems senior Alexander de Jesus-Colon qualified to compete at the American Forensic Association’s National Speech Tournament, held in April.
The UTD squad members did not make it to the finals but said that participating in the nationals was valuable.
“It was a great learning experience,” Elangovan said. “Even though we didn’t make it to the semifinals, we took notes and were like, ‘We know what we want to do next year; we’re going to get to where they are.’”
Gooch said he looks forward to recruiting more members for the nearly 5-year-old team and expects to compete well in future tournaments.
“I would love to see us take first-place overall at one of these tournaments,” he said. “I am very excited about what’s going to happen next year. I expect very good things to happen.”
Student Media Win Awards at Statewide Contest
University of Texas at Dallas student media received seven awards at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association annual conference this spring.
UT Dallas’ student newspaper, The Mercury, which competed in the Division 1 category, earned second-place honors for Editorial and Feature Page/Spread Design-Newspaper, and third-place awards for Cover Design-Newspaper and Overall Design-Newspaper. It also received an honorable mention for Sports News Story. Radio UTD placed third for Blog across all divisions.
One of the judges in the Division 1 Editorial category, wrote, “This was perhaps the most difficult category to select placement within, as any one of the winners could have moved up or down a place easily. The efforts here are so good; it’s extremely difficult to parse the positioning. In addition, another half-dozen entries that might have easily won in any other years were excluded due to the excellence of the winners. This category gives me hope that students still have the fire in the belly necessary to do quality editorial work, while still having the writing and reporting chops to avoid pointless hyperbole in making their points. This category was a joy to read.”
Mercury staff members also participated in live contests at the conference, and psychology senior Fatimah Azeem, the paper’s past managing editor and new editor-in-chief, placed second in newspaper design.
Jonathan Stewart, interim director of student media, said the results show a lot of potential for The Mercury.
“There is a great deal of excellent work that comes from the team of writers and editors,” he said. “It just feels as though the wind is blowing in a new direction, and The Mercury is ready for a new voyage.”
Accolades is an occasional News Center feature that highlights recent accomplishments of The University of Texas at Dallas faculty, students and staff. To submit items for consideration, contact your school’s communications manager.