East Iowa District Qualifier

for the 2018 National Tournament

Judges

Judge Requirements—a very small number of judges will be available for hire at $175.  Schools are strongly encouraged to cover their judging obligations, as this will make for a much stronger tournament.  As per the recommendations of the district committee, we are requiring this year that schools provide at minimum one judge for every event in which that school has entries.  

Quotas

1 judge per 2 Lincoln-Douglas entries (or fraction thereof)

1 judge per 2 Policy teams (or fraction thereof)

1 judge per 2 Public Forum teams (or fraction thereof)

1 judge per 6 Speech entries (or fraction thereof)

Eastern Iowa District Debate Strike Policy: To be used ONLY in Policy and LD

• No school will be allowed to strike a judge prior to the start of the tournament.
• All coaches will be present during the strike process for transparency.
• During pre-tournament preparation, the name of each judge will be written on a card, along with his/her school affiliation.   
• At the beginning of each round, student cards will be shuffled and laid out randomly, beginning with the affirmative in the first debate and the negative, affirmative in the second debate, negative in the second debate, etc., until all cards have been laid out.  For all rounds beyond round 1:
  • The debate cards will laid down on opposite sides to ensure side equality.
  • If side equality is not possible, cards will be shuffled and laid down at random.
• Next, judge cards will be shuffled.  Beginning with the first round at the top, judge cards will be laid out in groups of three, one at a time.  As each judge card is laid out, each of the following will be confirmed:
  • That the judge is not affiliated with the school of either student in the round.
  • That the judge has not judged either student on the assigned side.
• Once three judges have been laid out to fit the round, a coin will be flipped to determine who strikes first.  If the coin comes up “heads,” the affirmative school will strike first, if the coin comes up “tails,” the negative school will strike first. 
• Both sides will have the opportunity to strike one judge.
• Struck judges will be shuffled back into the pile for subsequent rounds.
• After the first strike has been completed, the coin will be moved to the opposite side of the next debate for that side to have the first strike.  This means that if the affirmative struck first in the first debate, the negative shall strike first in the second debate.
• Upon reaching rounds with panels (8 teams or fewer), the same process shall be repeated utilizing 5 cards instead of three with each side striking one judge. 
• If, at any time, the judges left at the bottom of the process will not fit in the remaining debates, all judge cards will be removed from all debates, shuffled and the process will be repeated with new judge strikes.