Non-graduating students who placed in the top 14 of a main event at the previous year’s National Tournament may bypass the district contest in the year immediately following, allowing them to attend the next National Tournament in the same main event. If the student advanced to the NFL Speech & Debate National Tournament final round of a main event in a partnership event, both students must assent to return and attend the following national tournament in the same partnership and in the same event.

The district will permit an auto-qualified student to participate in the district contest and to double enter as specified above. No rule regarding double entry may be violated by auto-qualification. The entry must indicate acceptance of the auto-qualification through his or her Single Entry Letter of Intent prior to the entry’s district competition. The district chair should notify the national office of acceptance of the auto-qualification when reporting district results. A student that accepts auto-qualification may double enter based on the rules above but must sign their single letter of intent, which is binding, in favor of the event of their auto-qualification. If the entry signs the single letter of intent and rejects their auto-qualification, the results of the district contest are binding.

Accepted auto-qualifiers do NOT count against a district's quota or bonus in determining the number of national qualifiers in an event. For example, if a district has an auto-qualifier in Duo Interpretation, and 15 Duo entries, it will send two entries based on tournament results, plus the auto-qualified entry, for a total of three entries at the national tournament.

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