American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament

The American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET) is an intercollegiate, individual events based forensics tournament held in conjunction with the first Saturday in April, beginning on the prior Friday and continuing through the subsequent Monday. Of the two most prominent college-level IE (individual events) national tournaments (the other being National Forensic Association Nationals), the AFA-NIET has significantly more stringent qualification procedures and a smaller, but more exclusive field of competition. The AFA-NIET represents the culmination of the forensics season for many collegiate speech teams.

The 2016 AFA-NIET was hosted by the University of Florida over the course of April 1–4. 69 Schools attended the 2016 AFA-NIET, fielding over 1,100 entries in the 11 offered events.

Formed in 1949, the American Forensic Association was created with the goal of teaching students to utilize the skills of argumentation and advocacy. In the first decades of its existence, the AFA was primarily focused on promoting debate competitions, with little to no interest in individual events.

As a result in the rapid rise of interest in individual events in the late 1960s, Dr. Seth Hawkins of Southern Connecticut State University, Dr. Raymond Beaty of Ohio University and Dr. Jack Howe of California State University, Long Beach began to propose ideas of an organized national tournament focused on individual events. Dr. Beaty reported that his proposals were entirely disregarded by the debate community. During the 1970-71 forensics season, Dr. Hawkins made the decision that, despite the lack of support from the debate community, the increased interest in IEs justified the establishment of a national championship tournament. This tournament was held on the campus of Ohio Northern University, 23 schools participated, and the annual IE tournament that would eventually become known as NFA Nationals was established.

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