How to Qualify for IE State Finals?

IE Regionals and State Finals Advancement
The regional tournament has been eliminated as the qualifier for the State tournament.
Beginning with the 2025-2026 season, in order to qualify for the state tournament:

• Contestants must participate in at least two Invitational tournaments (that are at least three rounds and takes place on a single day with at least two schools) in order to qualify. Students must compete in all three rounds at each tournament. 
• In at least one of the two tournaments, the contestant must participate in the event in which they plan to compete at the state tournament. 
• Coaches will be responsible for the composition of their team at the state tournament and will be responsible for registering contestants. They may register two entries per event.
• Coaches are responsible for verifying that their contestants qualify for the state tournament and have participated in two tournaments and have followed the guidelines set. 
• If any student is found not to have met the qualifications for the state tournament, they may be disqualified. Formal MIFA processes will be followed. 
• The pre bid system will be eliminated for this season.
• Special circumstance bids will still be considered if an individual is unable to attend one of the tournaments. Please see speech activities to look at the guidelines regarding special circumstance bids. We will highlight due dates for this at a later date. ​​
• MIFA will host an in-person, last-chance tournament for competitors needing to qualify. The organization will also host a video submission, asynchronous event, where students can also qualify for the state competition.
• Soon, we will update Speech Activities to highlight the areas that will be affected regarding eliminating the regional tournament as a qualifier. 
• In addition, we will release information regarding seeding or the lack thereof, as the committee is still in the process of exploring seeding options due to this change. 

2026 IE Season Tournaments1/24/26  MIFA Punxatourney at Troy HS
2/7/26  Birch Run
2/14/26  MSU (also MIFA Theatre State Festival)
2/21/26  Beaverton
2/28/26  Grand Rapids Christian and Grass Lake
3/7/26  M@D (MIFA @ Dexter) and Houghton Lake
3/14/26  MSCI at Novi
3/21/26  Walled Lake Western and Portage Central
3/28 - 4/4  MIFA Spring Break Online IE (video submission / not live) 
4/11/26  MIFA Last Chance Qualifier (Location TBD)
4/18  Gaylord

Special Circumstances Bid - application DEADLINE is Mon 4/13/26
Special Circumstance Bid Application
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Forms for Regional Participants
> Interpretation Events Certification Form 
> Public Address Events Certification Form
​​> IE Regions Map
> IE Member Schools by Region