Adjudicator Guidelines

Debate Adjudicator Procedures, Guidelines, & Ethics for the

Alexandra Hoecherl Challenge Tournament

A.    Any judge who finds him/herself in a conflict of interest including, but not limited to, judging a student from a school with which the judge is affiliated, shall notify the tournament director immediately. 

B.     A judge shall neither shorten rounds nor render a decision on the ballot until the completion of the round. The judge shall listen to the entire round in a fair and impartial manner before making a decision. 

C.     The judge should decide the round based upon the arguments presented in the round and not upon his/her personal beliefs or biases. 

D.    A judge is expected to adapt expectations and award speaker points appropriate to the level of debate being judged. No minimum point total is required, but constructive discretion should be maintained. 

E.     A judge shall fill out the ballot completely. A written justification for the decision shall be provided. Comments on ballots are to be instructive and constructive. 

F.     A judge should fully communicate his/her decision on the ballot and immediately turn that ballot in, therefore allow the tournament to proceed as close to the scheduled time as possible. Then if they so choose to provide educationally enriching comments to the debaters, they may do so. 

G.    This Tournament and the WDCA do not recognize “Games Playing” as a legitimate and educational paradigm by which a debate round may or should be judged. A judge may not, therefore, employ a “games player” paradigm to render his/her decision. 

H.    No high school student may be used to judge any round at this or the State Tournament of Champions. 

I.       If while judging a round, the judge leaves to go and confer with his/her team, the team conferred with takes a loss. Any judge who leaves a round for any reason other than an emergency shall be fined $25 per round. 

J.      The Heochrel Challenge will embrace the paper-free debate initiative. General expectations will be followed. IE – opponents will have the right to view evidence used within the round, in a method that does not inhibit their ability to perform in their regular custom. 

K.    Novice limited topics and the Counterplan(s) - no kritik rule are in effect for all WDCA sanctioned events throughout the entire season including the State tournament and this tournament.