Judge Requirements

NEW IN 2020 (updated 4/13/20): 

The 2020 National Tournament judge obligation has changed. The goal is to simplify the judging requirements, minimize the total number of days a single judge must commit to being online, and ensure we have enough judges to give students a high quality competition experience.

Instead of entry numbers being used to determine a number of rounds owed, entry numbers will be used to determine a number of days owed. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (and Saturday for Extemp Debate only) of the tournament are each considered one day. For example, a judge who is covering 1 day of LD judging will be assigned a day prior to the tournament that they must be available. That judge must check in to the online judge pooling room for LD prior to each round on that day. 

In early June, you will be able to see what judges were assigned to what day(s). When that happens, we are going to open up registration so that you are able to swap your judges qualified in that event around so that all the days assigned are covered. You will also have the ability to add a judge not previously in the system to cover the days you owe. We will not be allowing a judge to fill only part of a day's obligation. Note: this does not apply to WSD or BQ judges, who are obligated Mon-Thurs.

Judge Eligibility:

• One individual judge is eligible to cover a maximum 3 days of judging

• 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. Bringing a judge that does not meet this requirement will result in the loss of your school's judge bond and a $500 fine.

• All judges are eligible to judge supplemental 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.

• All National Tournament judges will be using online ballots and should be reminded to bring a device with which to submit ballots. All judges must have Tabroom accounts before they can be entered. Share this document on how to set up your team and judge using online ballots.

Minimum Judge Requirement: 

Similar to the previous requirement that a school covers a minimum of six rounds with an in-person judge, each school is required to cover a minimum of two judge days in any event to be eligible to attend the National Tournament. 

Policy 

• Each team = 2 days owed

• NO Policy rounds can be bought out. An in-person judge must be brought for each Policy team you qualified. 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 15. The form can be accessed by clicking the judge's name in the registration system.

Public Forum 

• One team = 2 days owed

• Two teams = 3 days owed

• Three teams = 4 days owed

• Four teams = 5 days owed

• NO PF rounds can be bought out. An in-person judge(s) must be brought to cover your entire PF obligation. 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 

• One team = 2 days owed

• Two teams = 3 days owed

• Three teams = 4 days owed

• Four teams = 5 days owed

• NO LD rounds can be bought out. An in-person judge(s) must be brought to cover your entire LD obligation. 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 LD judge must fill out the paradigm form by May 15. The form can be accessed by clicking the judge's name in the registration system.

Speech 

• Each speech entry = 1 day owed

• Speech judge days can be bought out for $120 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 Congress entry = 1 day owed

• This equals two sessions of Congress

• Congress judge days can be bought out for $120 each

• New: Congress, IEs, and Supplemental event judges are in one pool. When you enter a judge in the registration system, click their name to select which events in this pool they are comfortable judging. Make sure you click that they prefer Congress if that is the case.

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 

• 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.

Supplemental Events 

• 1-2 entries = 1 day

• 3-4 entries = 2 day

• 5-6 entries = 3 days

• 7-8 entries = 4 days (and so on) 

• A student entered in 3 supp events counts as 3 entries, and thus, owes 2 days of judging

• Supplemental judge days may be bought out for $120 each