Judge Instructions

Judge Instructions

Thank you so much for taking the time to judge for our tournament. We appreciate you so much! Remember that all of the competitors that you will see today are new to debate. Please treat them with kindness and compassion.

A good judge will:

• Listen attentively to the speeches of both students without yielding to distractions. (make sure your phones are silenced)
• Take notes on the major points of each side and how the opposing team responds to them
• Make a judgment solely on what is said in the round by each student and not based on your own bias or knowledge. This is the hardest part.

You will be judging these rounds using the website www.tabroom.com . You will need to sign up on the website so that you will be added to the rounds you will judge. This needs to be done immediately when you decide to take part. You can access it using a laptop, chromebook or smartphone. Remember a few things as you fill out your ballot.

SPEAKER POINTS: Speaker points are extremely important. Take care with how you hand out these points. They serve two purposes. They allow us to crown a tournament speaking champion and they serve as a tiebreaker for students who have identical win/loss records.

Two clarifications:

• Support can come in either the form of cited evidence, specific examples or ample explanation from the debaters.
• Refutation is in regards to how well the speaker responds to what their opponent says.

MAKE SURE TO COMPLETE YOUR BALLOT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. YOU CAN GO BACK AND ADD IN SPECIFIC COMMENTS TO BOTH SIDES AFTER THE ROUND IS COMPLETE. We cannot start the next round until all ballots have been turned in on the website.