Guidelines for Judges

Schedule: Please follow the schedule to the best of your ability.

Ballots: Fill out each ballot completely. This can get tedious when judging Congress and IE's, but it's essential that you are thorough. Take special care to RANK and RATE all IE and Congress competitors, and make sure that debaters are matched with their code and the side of the debate they are arguing.

Ranking: If you are judging an IE round, you will rank each student you watch from 1- however many people are in the round. Only one student should be ranked 1, only one student should be ranked 2, and so on until you get through all the students in the round. There should be no duplicate numbers.

Rating: if you are judging an IE or Congress round, you will also need to rate each student you watch. The possible ratings will be Superior, Excellent, Good, and Fair which you can indicate with the letters S, E, G, and F. As you watch each performance, take notes on the ballot and use the chart on the ballot to keep track of the quality of the performance. When all students have finished, use your notes and chart to rate the students appropriately. Unlike the ranking system described above, it will be possible to have duplicate ratings. Thus you might watch two "Superior" performances, but you will need to indicate which was better by ranking one above the other. The best performance will earn a score of 15 which stands for "first place-superior." The next best performance might also be superior, so they would earn a score of 25 which stands for "second place-superior".

Speaker points: If you are judging a debate round, you will need to award speaker points to each participant. These points should gauge not just diction, voice and body language, and articulation, but more so the debater's ability to control the round, argue persuasively, and treat his/her opponent and judge respectfully. The student or team with the higher speaker points  should almost always win the round. Although the ballot makes it possible to award between 0 and 30 speaker points, please don't award anything below 20 points for any debater, and only then if they were rude, disrespectful, or inarticulate. As a general guideline, try to award between 25 and 30 speaker points. If for whatever reason you award fewer speaker points to the winning debater or team, please write LOW-POINT WIN next to your signature before you turn in your ballot.

Bias: Although we all enter a round with biases and preconceived notions, we ask that you try to enter a round as a figurative blank slate. Don't vote against a speaker because they deliver a speech that you disagree with, and don't make arguments or rebuttals for debaters that they didn't make for themselves. This is sometimes difficult to do, especially when debaters make seemingly ridiculous arguments such as the extinction of llamas leading to global warming or nuclear war. Try your best to stay unbiased.

Timing: Some students will want to time themselves, others will ask you to keep time and give time signals. Please accommodate however you see fit.

Disclosure: We encourage you to disclose (reveal who you voted for) at this tournament if you feel comfortable doing so but do not give an oral RFD's.

Rules: The rules in debate are up for debate. Generally speaking, debaters will hold each other accountable for following rules or guidelines in their rounds. If you feel inclined to vote on a rule violation, vote for whichever argument is more convincing. If you witness any blatant cheating, lying, plagiarism, collusion, or any questionable or unethical behavior, please notify the tab room immediately, even during a round if needs be.

Room usage: As the only adult in the "room" during rounds, please ensure that students are respectful to everyone. When we are back in person, if students bring food or drink into rounds, ask them to remove or discard it. After the fourth round, ask students to arrange desks in order and leave the room clean.

Laptops: Laptops are allowed in all events at this tournament, but access to the internet is prohibited during competition other than in prep!