Public Forum paradigm

I now coach speech, but I have also coached Congress and have judged PF and LD for the past 15 years in Ohio, Louisiana, and the national circuit. I never competed, but you know what they say about those who can’t (or don't).

I like to hear a well organized case—I value clarity and consistency. I prefer depth of analysis of one or two contentions rather than superficial treatment of a long list. Supporting evidence is important, but not as important as logical argumentation. Be sure that evidence actually supports or refutes and is not just thrown in to provide a source. I tend to vote on the arguments that involve impact and scope.

Clash is essential—nothing more deadly than listening to dueling evidence with no actual interaction. Do as much damage as you can to your opponent’s case and defend you own—sounds really basic, but that’s what I like to hear.

Crossfire is a time to ask questions—please do not use it to advance or restate your case (unless, of course, it pertains to a question you’ve been asked). I like to see teamwork in grand cross—please do not monopolize and let your partner get a word in edgewise.

I enjoy a nice extemporaneous delivery that demonstrates some real (or feigned) enthusiasm for your argument. Please do not spread—it is not impressive, and if I can’t follow you, the quality of your argument suffers.

And finally I value civility, courtesy, and respect—please don’t disappoint.

Lincoln Douglas paradigm

Similar to my PF standards, I am pretty traditional. I like a case that is well organized, clear, and consistent. Supporting evidence and depth of analysis are important, but logical arguments are essential. I really enjoy a good framework debate, and I appreciate hearing voting issues--tell me why I should vote for you. Why are your impacts more important?

I like an extemporaneous and conversational delivery. I am okay with some speed, but no spreading, please--if I can't follow you, I can't vote for you.

Civility, courtesy, and respect--always important.

Congress paradigm

Congress rankings are based on content (structure, evidence, clarity, analysis, clash) and delivery (articulation, fluency, vocal and physical expression, confidence/poise). Most importantly who advanced the debate and contributed the most through the quality (not necessarily the quantity) of his/her/their speeches and questions?

Civility, courtesy, and respect apply here as well.

I have a B.F.A in Acting from University of Houston. I also studied Montessori education at Houston Montessori Center and am a teaching member of the American Montessori Society. I worked in Montessori education for 25 years. I also provide private coaching in acting and public speaking for students.

I have judged speech and forensics for almost 6 years. What is most important to me is that you have a positive, enriching educational experience through your participation in speech and debate.

In regards to debate, be respectful to one another. If your opponent is overly aggressive and rude, do not respond with attitude. This will cost both of you speaker points. I also think it is important to use all your time in cx if you do not it shows me you are not prepared. I am fine with spreading but remember to articulate.I consider myself to be a policy maker and tab. judge. Have fun and good luck.

Pronouns: She/her

I have NO TIME FOR HATE. Any comments that are offensive, racist, bigoted, transphobic, misogynistic, etc will result in an automatic drop. This includes: speaking down to opponents, using improper pronouns/misgendering, using offensive terminology, etc. Speech and debate is about respectfully allowing our arguments to shine through, not attacking one another; therefore, I will not tolerate it.

LD:

I am an old-fashioned LD judge. No spreading. If I cannot hear an argument, I do not judge that argument. It is not my job as the judge to figure out your arguments; it is YOUR job as the debater to tell me what they are.

I want to see framework debate. LD is NOT Policy! 99% of the time I'm not interested in solvency. I also usually drop counterplans, because that's subverting the intention of LD.

Also, personal pet-peeve: poorly cut cards. Cards should not be cut stringing disparate words together to change the intention of the writer of the card. If you can't pull a clean quote out of it, choose a new card.

I am a firm believer in the idea that an LD round ought to be understandable by anyone off the street.

Congress:

I reward active speakers who participate and advance debate. Rehashing in a late-cycle or giving speeches just to give a speech and not to advance debate will NOT be rewarded. I do notice who is just giving speeches and who is giving speeches, proposing motions, asking questions, etc.

Experience in CX, LD and PF with preference for LD.  Regarding LD, prefer a more traditional style of debate focusing on value and philosophy.  Policy arguments are usually a nonstarter and unlikely to sway.

Hi! My name is Dana (she/her). I'm a parent judge, so please keep the debate rounds traditional as best as you can. Any progressive arguments (k, theory, etc) should be run cautiously, and know that I may not always understand them. If you choose to run something like this, please be sure to fully explain why I should vote for you on it. No spreading, keep it simple. If I can't understand it, it won't be on the flow. If you want anything from cross to be on the flow, be sure to say it in a speech. Signpost please!!! Make sure I know exactly what you're trying to say and where on the flow it will go. Most importantly, have fun!

Joshua Dzindzio competed on a national level in both high school and collegiate Speech and Debate. He was the National Runner-Up in Dramatic Performance at the 2015 CFL tournament and placed in the top 16 at the 2015 NSDA Tournament in the same event. He was also recognized in both 2013 and 2015 with the Louisiana State Renaissance Award, which is awarded to the student who displays excellence in both Speech and Performance events at the State Championship. He went on to found a collegiate speech team at SLCC. With only two members, SLCC was recognized at the Novice National Speech Tournament held at ULL with a sweepstakes award. Joshua took home the Novice National Duo Championship.

Info about me: I was a high school competitor and have done LD for about 2 years. I know the rules and I will not tolerate any harassment or abuse during a round. This is mainly for personal attacks, and if this happens, it will be an automatic loss and taken to the tab room. Keep the debate civilized.

For speed, I do not mind if you are talking fast, be careful do to the tournaments being online. I do not allow spreading in my rounds. If you are speaking to fast for me, I will signal you to slow down

I do flow my rounds, so if I am looking down, I am still paying attention. I also listen to cross and that may be included with my judgment, however please don't only use the cross for clarification, makes the debate lose speed and clash.

For arguments, I am looking for a logical debate from both sides, I do not want a debate over definitions, or only framework, debate the cases as a whole. Evidence is encouraged for attacking and blocking, however do not rely on it entirely, too much information is just as bad as too little. If you are going to use hypothetical, please don't give the most extreme because that is unrealistic and brings down the debate.

Please include me on the email chain at jstewartdebate@gmail.com. Feel free to ask questions always.

I competed for Barbe High School, McNeese State University and Western Kentucky University. I competed in IEs in both high school and college. I debated L-D and policy in high school on the local, Louisiana circuit. I also competed nationally in college in IE’s, Parli, NFA L-D policy and some CEDA/NDT. I have judged in Louisiana and around the region for the last 15 years.

TLDR: I was a policymaking type debater. Weighing net-benefits is what I am most familiar with. I try to be as “tab” as possible and will evaluate any argument. It needs to be well warranted, well impacted and well weighed against the rest of arguments in the round. You might need to do slightly more work fleshing out newer forms of argumentation with me, but I will vote on them if I feel like you are winning them.

I am self-professed “lazy” judge. I want to feel like I am doing the least intervening possible at the end of the round. I would love for you to tell me which arguments are important enough for me to vote on, what their comparative impacts are and why you are winning those arguments. I appreciate you telling me how I should sign my ballot.

I am still somewhat old school around paperless debating- it just wasn’t a thing yet when I was competing or judging the first go around. I use e-mailed/flashed evidence mostly for reading internal warrants. I will use this to follow along the speech, however I’m not a fan of reading speech docs/blocks in a vacuum. Signposting and clear organizational structure are important for me and I tend to award higher speaker points for them.

POLICY-

K/Kritikal Aff- I have a pretty good familiarity with critical theory/thought. I am probably less familiar with the intricacies of Kritik debate theory. You would probably be helping yourself out with me to spend a bit more time on setting up your framework and giving really clear impact stories. Explicit arguments about “how we win” or “the role of the ballot” would help me better understand how/why to vote for you on these types of positions. This is especially true if there are situations like perms put on the alternative. I want to know why the alternative alone solves best on its face, in addition to any theoretical objections to the perm. I also appreciate clear pre-fiat/post-fiat analysis. If the impact is post-fiat (“turns case”) and the alternative is pre-fiat (“discourse/radical space/etc”) I want you to tell me how to navigate the multiple levels of your advocacy.

T/Procedurals- I tend to have a slightly lower threshold on procedurals. I do not need an iron clad in-round abuse story necessarily. I will evaluate these more often than many.

LD-

I tend to vote on framework first. That is just how I was taught. But with more progressive styles I will evaluate framework in light of case advantages/disadvantages. As with the Kritik info above, you may need to do a little more hand holding with me around the alternative and/or role of the ballot. I tend to prefer crystallization at the end of the round with clear impact analysis and tend to give higher speaks to those that show good round vision and can ‘boil down’ the round effectively.

PF-

I’m comfortable with the newer trend of giving an explicit framework at the top of case. If you don’t give me one then I’ll default to something like policymaking/comparative advantages. I tend to appreciate probability over magnitude in PF because of the lack of depth of evidence. Things that are intuitive and make sense on their face seem like a more natural fit to this style of debate. I will evaluate anything that is argued in front of me, though. It needs to be well warranted, well extended (including extending the warrants), well impacted and well leveraged against the other argumentation in the round for it to be most persuasive. I like final focus speeches that crystallize the round for me and give me good impact analysis. Feel free to take the ballot out my hands by telling me what arguments are most important, how they function in the round and why you are winning on them.

IE’s-

I tend to think about most IEs in terms of argumentation. This is more obvious for events like Extemp, Impromptu and Original Oratory. But even interp events use a text to craft a narrative with a unique point of view for each competitor. I usually evaluate IE’s on the clarity of your thesis (argument) and then how well you do at expressing/supporting it (advocacy). The more you can distill down an idea into its clearest form and then use multiple rhetorical tools to express it, the better chance you will have of getting higher ranks and higher speaks from me. FYI I’m a big fan of variety as a rhetorical tool (fast and slow rate, loud and soft volume, high and low intonation, etc). These tend to keep me more engaged in the speech/performance and tend to make me trust you more as a speaker/performer.

Thank you for taking the time to read this A little about me: I debated LD for 4 years in high school and competed in IPDA in college. I also coached speech and debate for 3 years while I was in undergrad. While each form of debate has its nuances, clash, impacting out your arguments, and overing weighing in round will win my ballot.

I want to give you two important notes about me:

Speed: I don't think getting out as much information as possible is the best strategy in all debate. I think that a few quality points that are impacted out are much better tools. However, if you choose to spread, please send me cards (if possible). I would also appreciate you slowing down on tags, authors, and impacts.

Framework: I think frameworks are a hugely important part of LD. It is part of what makes LD its own category of debate. Please don't just list a value and a criterion. Explain them. Impact them out in your contentions. Weigh them. Show me you understand them. If it is clear that you don't understand your own framework, that will factor into your speaking points.

Voting: I'm also a sucker for voting issues! If you don't tell me why I should vote a certain way, you're leaving the ball 100% in my court to decide how I should decide the round.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask away!

Hi there! I'm glad you're reading this. A little about me: I debated LD for 4 years in high school and competed in IPDA for 4 years of college. Every form of debate is a little different, but overall each round is going to come down to clash and impact weighing. That's how you will win my ballot.

A few things:

Speed: Please don't feel the need to impress me with speed. You will impress me more by being a good orator, having clarity, and signposting. Going faster than snail pace is fine, though. Remember, I'm not an idiot but I am *very* out of practice with spreading. Please send me cards before the round (dena.winegeart@gmail.com), but if you insist on spreading, slow down for tags and analysis. If I lose you, I will stop flowing. I won't disrupt you by saying clear-- you know when you're being unclear.

Theory/Abuse: Fairness and education come first. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of theory debates, so try to avoid them if you can in front of me. If not, then overexplain it but still respond to other substantive arguments in the round. Please don't run T just for the sake of running T. I don't think it's reasonable and I think you had better have a good reason to run it. Show me why your ground is limited because of what your opponent did.

Framework: I love framework debates in LD! I think that's what makes LD so different compared to other styles. If you're going to run a certain framework, make sure you understand it and can explain it well. Truly, that is how you will get the highest speaks from me.

If you run anything that is sexist, racist, homophobic, etc. in front of me, you will get the lowest speaks possible and I will be sure to inform tournament staff/coaches promptly. I don't tolerate it and neither should you.

Everything else is fair game! If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask.