In addition to all the general contest rules stated by North South Foundation, the following rules are applicable for the 2009 Public Speaking Bee Competition.

1. There are 2 levels of competition for Public Speaking Bee:
   
   
   • PS1 (Junior): Grades 6, 7 and 8
   • PS3 (Senior): Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12
   
   
2. A 1st rank winner at the National Finals of the North South Foundation PS3 (Senior) contest is not eligible for competing in this and future Public Speaking contests conducted by the Foundation. A contestant who participated in a higher level bee cannot participate in a lower level bee in subsequent years.

Contest Procedure:

3. The contestants for the competition will be placed in a separate room. Badge numbers will determine the order of the speakers.
   
   
4. Each contestant will be escorted to a separate room 30 minutes before the contestant’s turn, where he/she will hear the speech topic. Thus the contestants will not know the speech topic ahead of time.
   
   
5. The contestant will be escorted to the contest room to give the speech. The contestants will have up to 3 minutes to give a short speech on the “given topic.”
   
   
6. The contestant will be shown a green card when 2 minutes are reached, a yellow card when 2 minutes 30 seconds have been reached and a red card once 3 minutes have been reached. The contestant should strive to finish up his/her speech within the 3 minutes limit. If the contestant goes beyond 3 minutes 30 seconds, points will be deducted from the total score.

Judging Rules:

7. Each contestant will be scored by a panel of three independent judges. Guidelines for judging criteria
   
   
8. The results of the Public Speaking Contest will be announced right after the Contest.

Winners and Ranks:

9. Each speech will be scored by three independent judges. Based on the average scores of the three judges, winners will be determined. The 1st place winner shall be ahead by at least (.01) to be declared as the champion. In announcing the ranks 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, the judges will follow these rules:
   
   
   • Announce Ranks 1, 2 and 3, if and only if there are at least 10 contestants;
   • Announce Ranks 1 and 2 ONLY, if there are 8 or 9 contestants;
   • Announce Rank 1 ONLY, if there are 5-7 contestants;
   • DO NOT announce any ranks if there are less than 5 contestants.

Tiebreaker Rules:

10. The tie-breaker rules apply ONLY if there are at least 5 or more contestants participating in a given center.
    
    
11. In case of a tie, the participant of lower (or lowest) grade will be the winner.
    
    
12. If there is still a tie among the contestants who are in the same grade, multiple winners will be declared sharing the same rank. When announcing joint winners, the following rules are used:
    
    
    • If two are tied for the 1st place, skip rank 2 and announce rank 3 for the third contestant.
    • If two or more are tied for the 2nd place, skip rank 3.
    • If three or more are tied for the 1st place, skip ranks 2 and 3.

Invitation to National Finals

13. Invitation to National Finals is ONLY for PS3. All contestants at the regional level will be invited to the National Finals subject to an upper limit of 30. First come first serve rule will apply for registration at the National Finals.