Judge Requirements

General Reminders:

• Each school must provide an in-person judge(s) that covers a minimum of 6 rounds, regardless of the number of rounds owed per school. (If your only entry is in Policy, the judge must cover a minimum of 8 rounds).
• Schools that do not bring a judge to cover the 6 round minimum will be assessed a minimum penalty of $700.
• Each judge can cover up to 8 rounds.
• All judges must be available to judge Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, AND Thursday.
• Judges must be at least 2 full years out of high school, e.g. students entering college after high school must have completed their sophomore year. 
• All judges are eligible to judge supplemental and consolation events regardless of main event assignment. 
• To be sure our judge selection is representative of the diversity of our students, please have judges fill out the diversity questionnaire by clicking their name in the registration system.
• Policy, LD, PF, BQ, and WSD judges will be using online ballots and should be reminded to bring a device with which to submit ballots. These judges must have Tabroom accounts before they can be entered.
• WSD judges are considered district judges, not school judges, and do not count toward the 6 minimum rounds owed per school.

POLICY

• Each team = 8 rounds owed
• NO Policy rounds can be bought out. An in-person judge must be brought for each Policy team you qualified. Each judge must be entered for 8 rounds. Failure to bring a judge will result in forfeiture of your entry.
• When you enter a judge in the registration system, please click their name to select other events this judge would be comfortable adjudicating.  
• Each Policy judge must fill out the paradigm form by May 1, or a $200 late fee will be assessed. The form can be accessed by clicking the judge's name in the registration system.

PUBLIC FORUM (held at the Crowne Plaza hotel Mon/Tues and Sheraton Wed/Thurs/Fri)

• One team = 5 rounds owed
• Two teams = 8 rounds owed
• Three teams = 13 rounds owed
• NO PF rounds can be bought out. An in-person judge(s) must be brought to cover your entire PF obligation. Each judge must be entered for 8 rounds. Failure to bring a judge will result in forfeiture of your entry.
• When you enter a judge in the registration system, please click their name to select other events this judge would be comfortable adjudicating.  

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS

• Each debater = 5 rounds owed
• LD judge rounds can be bought out for $30 each (if you have more than one entry). 
• When you enter a judge in the registration system, please click their name to select other events this judge would be comfortable adjudicating.   
• Each LD judge must fill out the paradigm form by May 1, or a $200 late fee will be assessed. The form can be accessed by clicking the judge's name in the registration system.

SPEECH

• Each Speech entry = 4 rounds owed
• Each Duo team = 4 rounds owed 
• Speech judge rounds can be bought out for $30 each. 
• When you enter a judge in the registration system, please click their name to select other events this judge would be comfortable adjudicating.  

CONGRESS

• Each Congressional Debate entry = 4 rounds owed
• This equals 2 sessions of Congress
• Congress judge rounds can be bought out for $30 each. 
• Coaches with only Congress entries may be required to judge Congress.
• When you enter a judge in the registration system, please click their name to select other events this judge would be comfortable adjudicating.

 WORLD SCHOOLS

• Each district team = 1 full-time, in-person judge owed 
• Judge rounds cannot be bought out.
• The WSD division will be run like an invitational tournament in which judges must be available throughout the entirety of competition. They will find out their judging assignments before each round of competition.

 BIG QUESTIONS (held at the Crowne Plaza hotel Mon/Tues and Sheraton Wed/Thurs/Fri)

• Each team = 1 full-time, in-person judge owed
• Judge rounds cannot be bought out.
• The BQ division will be run like an invitational tournament in which judges must be available throughout the entirety of competition. They will find out their judging assignments before each round of competition.

SUPPS/CONS

• Each supplemental speech entry = 2 rounds owed
• Each Extemporaneous Debate entry = 2 rounds owed
• Each consolation entry = 1 round owed
• A student entered in 2 supp events counts as 2 entries, and thus, owes 4 rounds.
• Supps/cons judge rounds can be bought out for $30 each.   

Judging Procedure

This applies to judges in the Policy, LD, PF, Speech, and Supps/Cons judge pools. Judges will receive their judging assignments in their school's registration packets on Sunday, June 16. These assignments will tell them they are part of a "pool" of judges. They must report to the judge pooling room at the assigned time, where they will be given the specific location they will be judging. All judges assigned to a given pool may not be used, but no judges may leave the pooling room until dismissed. Failing to show up to the pooling room on time or leaving early will result in the loss of the school's judge bond. Every missed round after that incurs a $100 fee in addition to the loss of your bond.