Introduction The rulebook only applies to contests that culminate in the 2024 AgoraCon International Public Speaking Finals. I. Contest Types 1. There are four Official Contests Types, each of them with their unique speech content and judging requirement Educational Speech Contest Storytelling Contest Humorous Speech Contest Social Awareness Speech Contest II. Applicability 1. This rulebook applies to all official speech contests organized by all Agora levels. 2. For countries without an Agora Ambassador, all decisions attributed to the Ambassador in this rulebook shall be taken by voting among all club presidents of the clubs in the country. III. Eligibility 1. To be eligible to compete in any Agora contest, the contestant must meet all of the following criteria: (a) Be a registered member of the Agora Speakers International Foundation. (b) Be an active member of an officially registered club, where "active member" is defined as: Having attended at least 3 club meetings in the past three months AND Having performed at least 2 supporting roles (roles other than a prepared speech or leadership project) in the club during the past two months AND Has fulfilled all his or her financial and other requirements as set by the club for all members. 2. All contestants must sign the following forms: A declaration of speech originality. A model release granting permission to be photographed and recorded at any level of the contest, and for those photographic and video materials to be incorporated as part of the digital asset library of the Foundation. 3. Submission of speeches to be accompanied by: Club name, number, meeting schedule Proof of club membership Valid email address and international cell number of speaker Club president name, valid email address and international cell number 4. The following Agora members are not eligible to compete in Agora Contests: Employees of the Agora Speakers International Foundation. Members acting as judges at any level of the same contest. Members of any official Agora Speakers International Foundation governing bodies. Direct relatives of any of the above three groups. Direct Relatives are spouses/partners, siblings (whole or half-blood), and lineal descendants and ancestors. Present or Incumbent Agora Country Ambassadors. 5. A person that is a member of more than one Agora club may enter each contest from only one of them. IV. Contest Levels 1. Contests proceed in multiple levels (or stages). 2. The defined levels and timetable for 2024 are: Club Level – Individual officially registered club contests in March and early May International Semifinals - Encompasses all winners of the club-level contests Final date for submission of speeches via a Zoom recording Midnight UTC 12 May International Finals - Encompasses all clubs worldwide. The contest dates are 24-25 August V. Speech Topics 1. Unless otherwise specified by the specific contest rules, every participant is free to choose the topic of his speech, subject to the General Speech Content limitations. 2. All speeches must comply with the following local laws: The local laws of the country hosting the Contest The local laws of the country where the member is physically present when delivering the speech The local laws of the contestant's country of origin. 3. The contestant may use the same speech throughout all levels of the contest, or they may present different speeches at different levels or a combination of both. 4. All speeches entering a contest must be original: At least 80% of the speech content must have been created by the contestant. The speech must not have entered any other contest (Agora or not) previously. Every contestant must select, for each of the speeches he wants to participate with, one and only one contest category per speech. The contestant must indicate, for each submitted speech, which contest category they want to enter in, with each speech being allowed to enter in one and only one category. At least 80% of the speech content must be in the contest language. 5. Speeches that encourage, promote, incite, praise or otherwise endorse hatred or violence against other people are not allowed VI. Languages 1. All Official Contests are held at least in English and in Spanish. 2. At the discretion of Convention Host, official Contests may be held in languages other than the above languages, as long as there are at least 5 finalists willing to participate. 3. At the discretion of the Convention Organizers, World Finals of Official Contests in non-English languages will be held only if ALL of the following are met: There are at least 5 finalists willing to participate . There are at least 5 native-speaking judges of that language available at the International Convention. The burden of making these judges available to the Convention will fall on the countries organizing and/or sending finalists in that contest. The contest does not overlap any of the English contests. VII. Level Progression 1. For each contest and level, only the winning person in that contest can proceed to the next level. 2. Each level may optionally send the runner-up in a contest as a backup contestant in case the winner fails to participate.