Judge Requirements

Judge Burden: 

Speech: One judge per 4 entries or fraction thereof. No hired judges are available. Schools must supply all judges as a condition of entry.

Debate: There are separate judge pools for each event to maximize our ability to provide students with specialized evaluation and feedback. Please write in the judge notes if a judge is willing and qualified to judge in multiple divisions.

Public Forum: 1 judge per 3 entries or fraction thereof

Lincoln-Douglas: 1 judge per 3 entries or fraction thereof

Policy: 1 judge per 2 entries or fraction thereof

World Schools: 1 judge per 2 entries or fraction thereof

Congress: 1 judge per 5 entries or fraction thereof

No hired judges are available. Schools must supply all judges as a condition of entry.

Judge Eligibility:

Speech judges must complete all of their round assignments between 8:00 a.m. CT and 5:00 p.m. CT on November 14. Judges must check in my clicking "Start Round" on one of their ballots by 11:00 a.m. CT to notify us that the assignments have been seen and will be completed. Judges may be assigned additional rounds in speech throughout the day. Debate judges must be available to judge all four rounds on Saturday, November 14. Judges must have a linked Tabroom.com account. Judges may be juniors or seniors in high school with at least 250 Honor Society points. High school student judges must be flagged as such during registration. When entering judges, please think about the quality of judges you would like giving feedback to your young competitors. Ensure that your judges are committed to providing equitable, educational, and appropriate feedback. 

Judge Technology Requirements:

Judges must have a linked Tabroom.com account to access their online ballots. To access their round assignments, judges will log in to Tabroom.com, click "Start round" next to their first ballot, and watch the entry's recordings in order from start to finish. They can access each entry's recording by clicking on the video icon next to each entry's name. Judges are required to have access to sufficient internet access to be able to play each student's video recording. 

Required Culturally Competent Judging Training: 

Judges play an important role in supporting students’ educational and competitive endeavors. To help us ensure that speech and debate tournaments are a more equitable environment for students, all judges are required to complete the free Cultural Competence Training Course, created in partnership with the National Federation of State High School Associations, and review the supplemental handout. Judges are also encouraged to take the full, free Adjudicating Speech and Debate course.

Additionally, judges will be asked to read this language, found on top of each ballot, prior to submitting their decision. 

“We are all influenced by implicit bias, or the stereotypes that unconsciously affect our decisions. When judging, our implicit biases negatively impact traditionally marginalized and disenfranchised students. Before writing comments or making a decision, please take a moment to reflect on any biases that may impact your decision making.

Please remember that the video quality of a student’s performance or speech may be impacted by lighting, internet, access to equipment, and other family members’ presence in the home. To ensure a more equitable experience for our participants, please be sure your decision-making process and comments are related only to the content and quality of the presentation or speech itself.”

Required Feedback on Ballots:

All judges are required to give written feedback to each student on the online ballot before decisions are submitted. Failing to write adequate feedback on each ballot will result in an error on Tabroom.com and the inability to submit the decision. The NSDA Springboard Series was created to give young students a low-pressure, educational competition experience to give them foundation and springboard them into additional competitive opportunities. Judge feedback is essential to student growth!