Judge Requirements

1. In each debate event, 1 judge is owed per 2 entries or fraction thereof. Each debate event has a separate judging pool.

2. In speech events, 1 judge is owed per 5 entries or fraction thereof.

3. In Congress events, 1 judge is owed per 5 entries or fraction thereof.

4. If a school enters high school students to judge, they must have been juniors or seniors with at least 250 Honor Society points in the last academic year. No underclassmen or upper classmen without 250 Honor Society points will be permitted to judge. A rising junior does not meet this criterion.

5. If a school owes a judge, they must provide a judge for each day of competition that that event runs. For example, a school-provided debate judge must be provided for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday rounds. If needed, contact the national office to split an obligation between different judges. A different judge may be provided for each day, but one day of judging cannot be split between multiple judges.

6. Judging paradigms for Policy and Lincoln-Douglas Debate judges must be entered on the registration site by May 15.

7. Judges must complete the NFHS/NSDA Cultural Competence course prior to judging.

8. Judges must have Tabroom.com accounts.

9. Judges must have conflicts listed in Tabroom.com by May 15.

10. All judges are committed through the end of the tournament and are expected to judge any round assigned within their event group.

11. A limited number of tournament-provided judges are available for hire at $200 each. If your school hires a tournament-provided judge, the tournament is responsible for hiring, paying, and communicating with that judge. Your school will not be put in contact with them or arrange payment to them.

12. Each school must post a judge bond of $200. Judge bonds will be forfeit if judges miss or are late to round assignments. The first round missed will result in forfeiture of the judge bond, and each subsequent round missed will incur a $100 fine.