Prepared performances with a well balanced storyline and distinct characters.

My name is Patrick Cook (he/him). I primarily judge congressional debate, although I have judged PF and LD and even Extemp once when they were desperate.

As a judge, I look for the three Rs: research, rationality, and respect. Great debaters do their research, have a clear and rational argument, and show respect for their presiding officer, and for their judges and fellow debaters. Those are the most important things.

My background is in academia, so I appreciate a precise citation.

With those basics covered, I appreciate creativity and humor, but I would advise debaters to make sure those never come at the expense of the three Rs. In particular, please take a second to think about whether any attempts at creativity and/or humor are going to detract from how seriously people view your argument or how seriously you seem to be taking the debate. If it doesn't detract and you can be witty -- go ahead!

Hello! I am Christy Cruz from Travis Bryan High School.

I am a parent/Lay judge and I usually judge in the novice divisions, but in case I have to judge varsity, here are my Preferences.

1= I know and comfortable judging.

2= A little confusing, but I can understand.

3= Very confusing, but I will try to understand.

4= Way to confusing and likely won't understand. (Strike)

Traditional/UIL style- 1

LARP/Policy- 2

K- 3

K/Performance Affs- 4

Topicality-3

Theory- 4

Philosophy- 1

DEBATE ROUNDS

To win my ballot: Logical links and clear connections are important whether you're running a traditional or progressive case. Your argumentation skills and strategies is what your opponent is challenging, therefore; a clear, cut, concise connection is what wins the round. Listen to your opponent, (FLOW), provide impacts and know what your talking about. If you've got a few tricks up your sleeve, be sure you know how to use them.

I do not mind speed, but if you decide to spread make sure you slow down on tag-lines. Consider speaker points when spreading. I look to vote for a strong link and one's ability to prove why your case wins the round. Voters are extremely important to me so make sure you use the time in your last speech wisely.

I do my best to flow all arguments presented in the debate and rely heavily on my flow to determine the round winner. Make sure to signpost well, and please give me a roadmap of your speeches.

If you decide to do an email chain please, add me. mhix@neisd.net

Speaker Points

Positives: politeness, confidence, well-placed humor, preparation and well executed strategies/arguments.

Negatives: rudeness and unnecessary condescending comments, pointless cross examination, skirting the issues or avoidance

SPEECH ROUNDS

Staying true to the competition rubrics.

If I can't hear you, then I can't score you. Please, speak loud and clear.

I am a traditional judge. I prefer the logic of the debater to simply spreading cards. Speed is only acceptable if needed to cover all issues on the flow. If you go to fast and I don’t write it you didn’t say it. I will put my pen down if I cannot understand you.

IE's- You should be conversational in extemp and prepared speaking. I should not feel like I am interacting with a robot. You should be conversing with me not pretending there is a wall in front of you. I appreciate humor in an extemp speech. In Interp you should have strong characters that stay strong throughout the piece. I do not appreciate things done just for shock value. Language should be appropriate.

With IEs, I rank according to performance (speaking ability, emotion, body language, etc.) and the creativity you can show (as in, how can you make this piece your own?). My like or dislike of the piece/topic will not be a factor in my decision. In PF, please make sure to explain terminal impacts and why I should weigh your impacts over your opponents'. Arguments should also have a clear connection to the resolution throughout the debate. With World Schools Debate, models should always be well explained and match the focus of the round.

I unfortunately have no experience with other debate events. As a lay judge in these events, I ask that you please be patient and avoid the use of jargon I would be unaware of. Also, I don't flow.

I love balanced, logical, and clear arguments. Please speak clearly and always be respectful to your opponents.

Thank you for your participation and best of luck!

Hello everyone! My name is KJ (he/him), I competed all 4 years of high school and now go to Texas State University.

I am primarily an IE person. I competed in every IE event including OO, Info, and Extemp. I as well competed in World Schools a bit too. I was a 4x state qualifier, state finalist, 5x state semi finalist, 2x NIETOC semifinalist, and a 3x NSDA qualifier. I was as well an All-State and All-American competitor with over 2200 NSDA points. What I am looking for is understanding of the piece. How well thought out it is and how much effort you have noticeably put into it goes a LONG way.

IE's

- Needs to be clean, concise, and have a deeper meaning as to why you're telling the story, interp is acting with a purpose

- Be proud of what you're performing! and have fun with it!

- Characterization is key, I want to see real peoples stories that I am actually able to connect to

- I want to know what's going on! Don't just throw us into the middle of everything, give us some exposition, who are you? Where are you? What is going on?

OO, Info, Extemp, WS

- Are you just telling me the facts? Or are you engaging with the information and the topic you've chosen and presenting it in an effective way?

- Charisma is KEY, you wrote this speech, be proud of it!

- How well thought out is your argument or topic?

- Are you speaking fluidly and confidently or are you using filler words and swaying nervously?

- Make sure that you're applying the facts that you give to the grand scheme of things, what are the implications?

Like I said earlier, I was always more of an interp person. However, I do know all of the rules and the ins and outs of debate! I may not be as adept as I am with speech but I know my way around. Essentially just treat me as a lay judge who knows a lot about the subject.

Debate

• Well thought out arguments will go a long way, the more you put into a speech the more you will get out of it, and trust me when I say that we as judges notice how much effort you put into it
• How well do you structure your speech? How well does it flow?
• How do you respond to questions and how do you interact in the round?
• Don't just tell me what you are going to do but also HOW you are going to accomplish it and WHY
• Add me to the email chain plz - kjamarino@gmail.com
• As far as flowing goes, I'm not a stickler for it during cross so don't worry about it
• I can follow spreading but if you'd like to have mercy on my soul and not that would be awesome
• I'm not a huge theory argument person, so if I feel you're twisting the resolution in a way that it most likely wasn't intended as may not work if its too far out there

All of these are just my personal opinions regarding judging, please do not change your speech or performance based on trying to get my 1. So long as you have fun, enjoy what you're doing, and you are proud of the work you've presented, that is all I ask.

Email: kjamarino@gmail.com

Overall (Speech):Speech is a game of engagement with the audience, and your efforts should be towards engaging the audience with the message of your piece. My ranks are always based primarily on this. Of course, there are many tools to engage an audience, and your choice to use them and your effectiveness with them will vary.

Oral Interpretation: In interpretation events (HI, DI, DA, DUO, POI, PR, PO), I am looking for a performance that creates a significant personal or social meaning from the literature chosen. I am also looking for a performance that shows emotional and tonal complexity and a range that is both suitable for the piece and is demonstrative of the skills of the interper.

There should also be intentionality in the decisions made in the interpretation of the piece. For example, all the blocking employed in the piece should have a purpose and should not seem haphazardly included in the performance. This also goes for what is included in the cutting of the piece, for the words spoken, the emotions, sound effects, etc. conveyed should all contribute to the message you are trying to convey in your interpretation.

Public Address: In Public Address or Platform events (IX/FX, USX/DX, OO, INFO), I am looking for speeches that add novelty and insight to the topic of the speech. Making the topic relevant and understandable to a general audience is necessary for success in these speeches.

Speeches in these categories are more effective and engaging when they employ a variety of pacing and tone that convey to the audience the significance and emotional stakes of the points you make. On top of clear speaking and style, one needs to create the engagement for the audience with their voice through these tools. In general a conversation

Speeches should be well organized and easy to follow for the audience. They should have clear but original signposting to help the audience keep track of where they are in the speech.

Lincoln-Douglas:

I'm a speech coach, and this is not my preferred event. That being said, I am rather traditional when it comes to judging LD with heavy emphasis on the battle of values and achievement of the value criterion through your use of your evidence.

I have some debate experience through high school, but consider me more of a lay/UIL circuit judge.

Speed is okay if you are understandable, but I should not have to read along to understand you, if I can't flow it, it didn't happen. Elements of progressive debate such as theory and K are fine but have to be well justified within the context of the debate, otherwise, I'm not sure it'll make it to my flow.

Speaks are awarded on quality of debate based on speaking and presentation with 28 being the average debate performance, lower being, well, lower, and being among the best I've seen will be awarded a 29-29.5. If you are somewhere in between you will be awarded somewhere in between.

Ruth (they/them)

Add me to the email chain: pattersonruthh@gmail.com

I do policy --- Trinity University '26

Overview:

- I think debate is a game and we’re here to have fun and maybe learn a little

- tech > truth but you need to explain why your arguments matter otherwise I’ll have a hard time voting for them

- dropped arguments are presumed to be true but do yourself a favor and explain what the original warrant was anyway and why it's important

- you'll get good speaks if you have comprehensive, clear overviews at the top of every flow

- your 2AR/2NR should try to write my ballot for me

- obviously, i won’t tolerate behavior that's racist, queerphobic, discriminatory, etc

- please don't assume that i know anything about the current high school topic

- feel free to email me if you have lingering questions after a round – I get overstimulated easily and as a result it's sometimes hard to verbalize the finer points of an RFD

Args:

LD---

Tricks- Strike -- I'm not a good judge for this. You'll probably be disappointed by my ballot if you read it. Policy paradigm applies otherwise.

Policy---

T-

- i really enjoy properly executed T debates, but i've found that frequently debaters lose sight of the bigger picture --- you don't need to reinvent the wheel, but the 2ar/2nr needs to clearly explicate the difference between competing interpretations and what the resulting reasons to prefer are. if i can't articulate by the end of the debate what the differences between your interpretations are, something has gone wrong.

- predictability! TVAs and caselists are very useful here

Theory/Procedurals-

- slow down!!!

- very useful and fun when utilized properly, potentially also incredibly annoying, so do everything in your power to make the flow clean and easily understood, particularly if there are multiple and if you are competing in an event that isn't policy

- disclosure is good, as are new affs

- my burden of proof for condo bad is relatively high. if the neg reads a cp and a k and the aff claims time skew or ground loss or whatever i am not very persuaded and will be sad if you go for condo. i will do my best to evaluate fairly of course but keep this in mind

- misdisclosure is tricky --- you have to really sell that standard debate

DA-

- not a lot to say! I tend to be a little suspicious of the link on politics DAs, but that won’t affect my ballot unless aff brings it up

- rebuttals should have comprehensive impact calc and evidence comparison

CP-

- i love a silly counterplan, but please clearly explain the internal solvency mechanisms because i get confused

- i will judge kick if you ask me to but the aff can also sell me on why i shouldn't

K-

- i spend a lot of my time thinking about various critical positions and these are my favorite debates to judge!

- i've found that a lot of debaters understand their evidence and the overall theory but fail to correctly package those arguments in favor of a high-speed wordball – that makes me sad and makes my flow much worse – be conscientious of individual pieces of offense and how you might leverage those and you will be in a much better spot

- highly-contextualized link debating is the beauty of the K and your sacred duty

- impact debate is vital --- good evidence comparison and calc are vital here too

- i think k affs should be in the direction of the resolution but do what you do best and i will evaluate it

FWK-

- framework is often two ships passing in the night, so get into what competing interpretations mean for your model of debate and clearly explicate the impact

- having a clear ROB is critical --- tell me exactly why i'm voting the way i am

- i'm very sympathetic to the impact-turn style of framework debating

I am a coach and teach my kids the traditional formats of speech and debate for all events.

Congress: I am looking for an AGD and proper sign posting in the introduction. I want to see evidence for each point and clash unless you are the first speaker. I don't want to see you bring up a laptop. You should use a paper tablet. Make sure you leave time for a short conclusion. Make sure your pacing and verbiage are in a conversational manner. Answering questions are just as important, make sure you know the topic thoroughly. Activity in the chamber is also important, especially when I'm trying to break ties in my mind. Make sure your questions are well thought out before asking.

Lincoln-Douglas: As stated above, I teach the traditional format for LD Debate. I expect value, value criterion, contentions, warrants, and impacts. If you were taught policy jargon, make sure and convert it to LD Debate format. I do not want spreading. Make good sound arguments. The person who upholds their framework will win the round.

Speaking Events: I am much better at judging Extemp, Original Oratory, and Informative speaking events over the interp events. However, I have judged all interp events at local, state, and national levels.

The aspects of competitive debate that I value the most are: a) public speaking, b) critical thinking, and c) educational value, both for you as debaters and your audience (which includes me and your opponents). I expect that as speakers you will speak with poise and precision, that you will connect with your audience, and particularly that you speak to persuade. Second, I expect to see solid critical thinking on both sides of the debate. I expect debaters to walk their audience through the airtight logic of their cases, to expose the fallacies of their opponent’s cases, and to effectively defend their stands against attacks by the opposition. Third, I expect to see debaters both learning from their research on the debate topic and educating others in the room on all aspects of the subject being debated. To that end, I expect to see that debaters are able to articulate an understanding of the evidence cards they use and effectively explain how that evidence either supports their case or refutes their opponent’s case.

Some things that I dislike as a judge include: a) Spread - It defeats the purpose of good persuasion. If I can’t hear it or if it is not shared with me electronically, I don’t flow it. b) Excessive jargon - My standard is that if a layperson (non-debater) is observing the round, they will understand you clearly. I’m okay with you using professional/academic jargon or insider debate terms if you initially explain their meaning to your audience. However, if you flood your speeches with excessive jargon and insider debate terms, I will assume that is an effort to obfuscate and confuse, to claim privilege, and to avoid an honest debate. c) Formulaic or “gaming” approaches, which I would define as efforts to win a round without actually debating the subject at hand, and d) Making it personal - Debate is a contest of ideas and issues, not personalities. Efforts to intimidate, bully, vilify or demean anyone in the room have no place in this arena. Even if you are convinced that you are the most superior person in the room, I expect you to show courtesy and civility to your opponents, your judge, and anyone else attending the round.

In short: a) communicate clearly; b) think critically; c) educate your audience; d) play fair; e) show good sportsmanship, respect, and courtesy to your opponents and to your judge.

IE: My priorities are presence, dynamism, clarity, eye contact (with any/all of the audience, not just me), and creativity. Watch your hands and avoid filler words.

Debate: My email address is pete.trevino@nisd.net . You can add me to your email chain at your discretion.

I'm not a fan of spreading. I will look at your case, but if you can't be understood without it, I will count it against you. We're not at a cattle auction.

Try to make claims that are verifiable, and have your evidence ready.

Speaker points are awarded according to rank; see my IE notes above.

I competed in LD, Policy and Public forum my 4 years of high school and competed at both the state level and national level. I have been judging since fall of 2016, at the state and national level. I have also judged finals at NSDA nationals in policy debate last summer.

For email chain: AngelaWinn1997@gmail.com,I will only look at it, if something comes into question or if I want to look at something more clearly.

Policy Debate: If debaters have any questions, please ask! I have judged at nationals 4 times

Clash is extremally important on all sides of the debate. If something was drop in the round I will not vote on it unless it is pointed out in the round. As for things I vote on, it depends on the round and how the debater frame the round. I will vote on pretty much anything as long as the debaters explain clearly what they are arguing and how it links. If you run a K, need to be able to explain it in your own words, as well as links and impacts are important.

I do flow the whole round, so please give off-time road maps, and sign post during your speech for I know where you are on the flow.

For spreading, I am fine with it, as long as you slow down on taglines.