Judge Requirements

Judging Requirements By Event Group

Note: A school must bring at least one judge per event as a condition of registering. Schools that do not provide these judges may not be allowed to have contestants in those divisions. At a minimum, they will forfeit their judge bond ($200), in addition to the judging fees that would apply. Schools must pay a $160 fee for each uncovered judge as per requirements below.

• Policy Debate: For every 2 teams or fraction thereof – at least one judge must be provided by the school
• Lincoln-Douglas Debate: For every 3 entries or fraction thereof – at least one judge must be provided by the school
• Public Forum Debate: For every 3 teams or fraction thereof – at least one judge must be provided by the school
• Speech: For every 5 entries or fraction thereof – at least one judge must be provided by the school
• Congress: 1 per school – at least one judge must be provided by the school, who may also serve as a Policy, PF, or LD judge
• World Schools: For every 2 teams or fraction thereof - at least one judge must be provided by the school

In addition:

• You may not register high school students who are entered in the High School National Tournament to judge.
• If a school brings 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 upperclassmen without 250 Honor Society points will be permitted to judge. A rising junior does not meet this criteria.

For more information, please consult the Middle School Unified Manual. An updated version reflecting this year’s changes will be available soon.

Lincoln-Douglas and Policy judges will be asked to fill out a judge paradigm before May 12.