Judging and Fees

JUDGING 

Each school will be responsible for furnishing competent judges in each event in which they participate. In an attempt to discourage hired judging, schools not furnishing a judge will be charged a fee. Judging requirements pertain to preliminary rounds. All judges are expected to judge in elimination rounds.  All entered judges are expected to be available unless the tab room has been informed otherwise.   If you are in the judging pool and fail to show up for your judging commitment, there will be a penalty assessed by tournament administrators. Also, a judge’s availability must match their commitment (e.g. If a judge is in for 3 rounds and has conflicts for all but 2 rounds, we will charge for a hire for the round that judge is unavailable.)

No inexperienced judges are allowed to cover obligations.  Judges are encouraged to provide an RFD.

Placing judges in elimination rounds becomes more difficult each year because judges leave once their school’s competitors are eliminated from the tournament without fulfilling their commitment to adjudicate one round beyond their school’s last outround. Directors are responsible for making sure that their school’s judges are available to fulfill their ENTIRE judging commitment. We always try to release individuals as quickly as possible, but the tournament requires the highest quality judging pool possible even after any particular school is finished competing.  Also, under no circumstances may a judge give his/her ballot to another judge without notifying the tabroom.  Schools who have judges that do not meet their judging obligations may not be invited to return and/or will have their membership suspended, and they will be assessed a $50 per round fee.  Judges must be entered (or a hire requested) by January 14, 2022. 

Judging Requirements:

Pelham Debate   
3 rounds per team.  An individual judging Pelham cannot judge anything else during the preliminary rounds. Please have all judges post their judge philosophy on tabroom.com.

Lincoln-Douglas   
3 rounds per entry.  An individual judging Lincoln-Douglas cannot judge anything else during the preliminary rounds. Please have all judges post their judge philosophy on tabroom.com.

Speech Events       
Minimum 1 full-time judge for every 8 entries or fraction thereof. Please mark any students in their first year out of high school on tabroom. 

Congressional Debate   
One qualified judge per 5 entries or fraction thereof must be provided exclusively for Congressional Debate. Schools with more than 5 entries must indicate at least one judge who can serve as a parliamentarian.  Please let us know (via email at emorybfhs@gmail.com) if your judge can serve as parliamentarian.

Public Forum       
3 rounds per team.  An individual judging PF cannot judge anything else during the preliminary rounds. Please have all judges post their paradigm on tabroom.com.  All paradigms must align with the Barkley Forum’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, and expectations for competitive integrity.


FEES

Our fees have been reduced this year to account for slightly lower operating costs for this year’s tournament. While we do not have some of the traditional expenditures, there are costs associated with an online tournament that aren’t necessary in an in-person tournament, most notably the platform for hosting the tournament and the higher room and judge hire costs associated with single flighting LD and Public Forum.  We believe these expenditures will help to maintain the highest quality of competition that is a hallmark of the Barkley Forum for High Schools. 

If your school would like to request a fee waiver, please write Kara Grant at emorybfhs@gmail.com.

There are two methods of payment this year:

1. Credit card payment

There is a 3.75% fee for using a credit card to cover our processing fees.  Please 1) email Kara Grant at emorybfhs@gmail.com to ask her to add the processing fee to your invoice then 2) go to this link to pay by card: http://barkleyforum.emory.edu/community_outreach/bfhs_tournament.html

2. Mail a check made payable to Emory University to: 

Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation and Dialogue
Emory University
Mailstop 1022-001-1AC
Atlanta, GA 30322

Event Fees:

        Pelham Debate: $100 per team 

        Lincoln-Douglas: $70 per singleton

        Speech Events: $60 per entry slot 

        Congressional Debate: $60 per entry slot

        Public Forum: $80 per team

Judging Fees for Hiring Judges:

        Pelham Debate: $200 per uncovered team

        Lincoln-Douglas: $300 per uncovered participant

        Speech Events: $150 per uncovered judge (per eight entry slots or fraction thereof)

        Congressional Debate: $200 per each uncovered Congress judge (per five entries  or fraction thereof)

        Public Forum: $200 per uncovered team

January 14, 2022 is the deadline to enter judges and the deadline to request hired judges.  

Penalty Fees:

Any schools making drops after January 21, 2022 will be responsible for their entry fees for dropped entries.   

The penalty for a judge failing to report to a round is $50 per round missed.