I like speechdrop.net but email chains are good too. (also sry in advance this is longer than I thought it was gonna be)
gwsmi26@icstudents.org

I'm Gwen Smith, a student @ICW '26. Im a Varsity debater, I mostly do LD but I've done PF tournament, a Policy tournament, Congress, and some speech events (HI, Spont, Extemp). I'm familiar with how most stuff works. Feel free to just call me Gwen, Judge, dude, bro, anything is chill with me.

Any pronouns are good, if you have preferences please feel free to tell me. I believe that debate should be accessible to everyone so if you have a specific thing that helps you in round or something that you think I should know, I promise I will listen to you and I understand that everyone is different. Other accommodations, just email me before the round or come up and find me, Ill usually be wearing some loud shirt or big headphones and you can just flag me down.

I'll eval most stuff as long as there is good warranting for it. (and it's not incredibly bigoted [racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc]. i.e. if you run something really stupid (shoes theory, anarchy, etc.) ill only evaluate it if it actually has something semi-valid to back it up. Everything in Jayden Noblitt's paradigm is against my evaluation ethics /j.

TL;DR: Be nice in round, be persuasive, everything is chill with me, Ill vote on pretty much anything if you convince me enough. (Novices can just ctrl f "novice")

Tech>>>>>Truth, if you have good warranting for the moon being made of cheese, its true for the round. Also no new arguments in the 2AR I will not vote on them

Framework/phil- I love seeing framework clash, please try and interact with your opponents if applicable. I'll include opinions on this during RFD and my notes. Phil is literally so fun, do what you want.

Policy Style (LARP)-These are alright, I'm personally more of a K and phil debater so I don't really read these, just have good warranting and have good tags. im very neutral about these. Im not a huge fan of extinction impacts and would like to see something more unique, that being said, im not gonna penalize you for it. I would rather you dont read this in front of me, but if you do, make it interesting (SPACE COL!!!!)

Speed- I can handle most speeds. If your spreading is clear and I'm on the Email chain I should be ok. I might shout clear if it's really bad. SLOW DOWN ON CLAIMS AND TAGS PLEASE!!!

Trix-These are fine ig, I dont particularly enjoy these, but if the debate boils down to the trick, Ill vote on it. If the trick is stupid I might actually not vote on it because I personally hate responding to them. I will not vote on any more than 2 Aprioris, three friv shells or anything realated to Joe Biden /j. (Refer to Isaac McCarty)

CX- I love CX please please please do more than ask for repeats of cards and really try and play the debate game with your opp. Especially as a novice I would love to see it. I believe CX is binding, if I hear it I assume its true for the round.

Ks- I am a K debater, so yes its great, just make sure it actually links and your K is unique. I will eval pess, make your links believable and if theyre not unique, make them better. If your K is too dense and like full of jargon Im really not going to want to evaluate it. please explain your lit so I can understand your argument.

Theory- totally fine, just make it not incredibly friv unless you plan to make the round funny. Defaults are as follows

Competing Interps>Reasonability || No RVIS>RVIS || Education>Fairness (I think debate should be more educational, if you want me to vote for fairness, make me think so, debate is inherently unfair for POC, queer, and female presenting debaters). || 1AR theory is fine

Speaks- Yes everyone's favorite part. I'll give speaks based on a couple factors. 1) If you come up with creative arguments and have clash on different fronts. 2) If you use your time in good ways and give good speeches. That shows that you are thinking about what you're doing instead of just doing it because someone else told you to.

30- You were great. You made good arguments, and made some really bold choices in round.

29- you were good, speeches were clear and convincing, I can tell you know what you're doing.

28- This is pretty average for me. You were a good debater and I liked your overall style but there were some key things in round that were hard to follow.

27- Where Ill start from, you were pleasant, but you maybe were unorganized or unclear in some way. You dropped some important stuff and you werent particularly convincing.

26- I wasn't very convinced by your arguments and you didn't use your time well, something in round was off

25 or lower- you did something in round that was really bad and were overall not a very sportsmanlike competitor.

Disclosure- I fully believe that people should know who won the round but I'll mostly be going off of what the tournament wants me to do. I probably won't disclose speaks because I personally enjoy the thrill of knowing who won awards.

FOR NOVICES IN PARTICULAR

Debate is meant to be fun, especially when you're just starting out. It's ok to not know what you're doing. Try and extend, make some rebuttals, weigh, and do what you can in round. When you're a novice trying to do conventional debate is much better than if you were given some crazy varsity-level stuff that you don't understand. If you want to talk after the round, I will be happy to explain anything you might not have understood. The round is gonna be messy, I know that, even if you dont think so, ive judged novices, coached novices and been a novice.

Flows- I think flowing is super important. I will do some of both, flowing off the doc and what you say. I don't really flow author names but still please say them, otherwise ill think you are reading uncarded information. PLEASE FOR MY SANITY SIGNPOST!!!! PLEASE GIVE A ROADMAP BEFORE YOUR SPEECHES SO I KNOW WHERE STUFF GOES!!!!!!!

Other

Please ask if everyone is ready before you start speaking, it helps us all. Also, I will time every speech and prep time. I will know if you are stealing prep. If I don't, it's just a personal error.

+0.2 speaks if you tastefully roast Jerry Li, Quincy Tate, Adam Salem, Jayden Noblitt or Landon Stull. +0.1 speaks if you tastefully roast any debater/coach from ICW. Fun ties/Bowties also get +0.1 speaks or if you bring me food/candy/gum/soda. Im a goofy person, be funny, I don't want the round to be uncomfortable for you. If you show me your spotify and I like your music taste, instant +1 speaks. (If you can prove monism is true and you are Joe Rankin, Auto 30 speaks) (If your case is in Comic Sans, we need to have a chat about your life choices)

I love some funny pop-culture references, overall if you are a pleasant debater and a pleasant person I'll think pretty well of you. Pet pics will also get +0.1 speaks!!!

If you have questions about the round, I'll usually be happy to answer them, I completely understand what it's like not fully knowing what you lost a round on. Most of it will happen during disclosure and in my notes. Kind postrounding is totally cool. If something I did harmed you in round and you feel uncomfortable talking to me about it, please tell tab so I can do better in the future, there have been plenty of times where I was too scared to talk to someone in charge about my worries. If you need to talk after any round even if Im not your judge, Im here to help.