Mutual Preference Judging

For 2024-2025, FGCCFL will pilot mutual preference judging in CX, LD, and PF. This system allows each debater/team, through their coaches, to rate the judges in the pool and will then seek to place a judge equally preferred by both participants in a round.

This is the preference scale:

A – Good (at least 50% of judges)

B – Acceptable (at most 50% of judges)

C – Marginal (at most 20% of judges)

S – Strike (at most 10% of judges)

Note that the system is designed to favor mutuality over absolute ratings, so, for example, it may assign a judge rated C by both teams over a judge rated A by one team and B by the other if those are the only two options available for the round. The system will also attempt to assign hard-to-place judges first and will give a slight preference to diversity-enhancing judges. In later rounds, substantial priority will given to debates in the undefeated and one-loss brackets.

Preferences will open at noon on Tuesday of tournament week and will close at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Coaches may edit their team’s preference sheets in Tabroom, and they may give other Tabroom accounts the ability to edit preferences. Each entry has a separate preference sheet. A school’s own judges are excluded from its entries’ preferences.

The most straightforward way to figure preferences is to start at the bottom with strikes, then work your way up. If you elect not to enter preferences, you are effectively giving every judge a rating of A.