New Judge

No spreading

I am a new judge volunteering and have never judged in a speech/debate tournament. I am an open-minded individual and I believe I will be a fair and unbiased judge, who will keenly listen to the rationales, arguments, and ideas of the participants. Thorough, thoughtful, logical well-presented ideas backed by accurate facts and/or statistics will be most persuasive for me as I judge the competition. Personalizing factual information with vignettes or anecdotes maybe helpful to "humanize" the arguments, but they will be less meaningful unless they are supported by other corroborating evidence.

Speech

In high school and college I've done almost exclusively speech, so that is what I am most knowledgable on. In all speech event, including interps, I care deeply about having a clear thesis.

Extemp and Congress

This is what I did the most of in my career. I care deeply about the technique of how extemps are done, so I want to see all the parts of the intro, clear substructure, etc.

Planned Speeches

Since these speeches are rehearsed, I do care a lot more about delivery here. However, in terms of content, the best OOs give me some sort of tangible policy or soultion. The more I feel like you actually solve, the better. For infos, I want to hear something novel, and I want it to be forward looking and have impact. I don't think a speech about something everything knows about is really informing.

Interps

These speeches are the ones I am least informed about. I still really value the argument that you're making, please give me a performance with a purpose!

Debate

In general, I am definitely a tabula rasa/game theory judge. I am willing to buy whatever argument you give, I just need you to prove it. Also, I am not taking your case in the email chain. If you need me to read the case for you to make your point, you're not debating at that point

In terms of specific events, my big takes are that Public Forum is supposed toPublic.That is to say, it needs to be accessible. So I don't really want to hear you spread. That goes for every debate event, but I think it's the most heinous for PF. For LD, I care a lot about framework. If you tell me that the team with most X should win... I will vote for the team with the most X.

I mainly did Congress and DX during high school.

PF:

I am fairly traditional for pf. I won't automatically vote you down if you run more progressive tactics like theory or CP, but don't expect me to be able to follow along unless you're really willing to explain it.

I value weighing and explanation a lot. If you card is solid but you don't explain mechanisms or how it works, I'm not going to be convinced.

Tell me how to weigh the round.

KEY NOTE TO CONGRESSIONAL DEBATERS (can apply to any event really)

I'm seeing too many points where the tagline is pretty much "russia bad" or "china bad." That is not an argument. If you just say doing x will help China or Russia without clearly extending your impact beyond that, I'm not going to take the point seriously and your ranks will suffer. I understand that current rhetoric has made China out to be an adversary and you are reflecting that as reps and senators, but I expect more developed arguments here.

Sherry Cui

I am a parent judge and this will be the second tournament I will be judging.

Please speak clearly and not quickly and please fully explain your arguments until the end of the round. Please weigh and make direct comparisons to make my decision more clear-cut. Please refrain from technical jargon without explaining it first. I will vote for the team that persuades me the most and makes good responses to the opponent’s arguments. Go slow.

Thank you for understanding and don’t forget to have fun!

New Judge

Thanks for competing and good luck to you! Please no spreading because I don't want to miss anything you say. I appreciate a clear analysis of why you should win in the final rebuttals.

Hello,

Thanks for the opportunity of letting me be the judge for this special event.

I look forward to hearing your ideas regarding various debate topics.

As a judge, my favorite part is to see how you can be innovative, authentic and add an element of surprise all while using the guidelines of your competition format. The important aspects from my viewpoint are originality, confidence and innovation.

Good luck!

I am a new judge.

Speak clearly and loudly.

Good luck,

Looking forward to a great experience!

I am a first time judge. Looking forward to the tournament.

Good luck!

Hi, I have judged at national-level tournaments in PF and LD.

All events: be inclusive and KIND :)

I like good slow arguments and prefer speakers give clear instructions and organizations.

I will listen to all argumentations but please be reasonable...

I have taken the Cultural Competency course and other certifications for NSDA.

ASK BEFORE ROUND FOR ANY QUESTIONS.

I am a new judge

Express your statements clearly

Hello,

My name is Archana Rao. I have judged about 3 tournaments and at least about 8 rounds of PF debate so far. I am a lay judge.

I prefer the candidates speak clearly and slowly

I am looking for good data to support the pro and con stances

Good understanding of the stance by both participants and team effort is a big plus

When a team makes an effort to completely understand and then refute the opposition, bonus marks

Have a clear structure to the argument and following through very advantageous

Please give a roadmap before your speeches, and signpost during your speeches so I know where to mark and to flow your speeches.

Overall, structure your speeches in a way where I can easily understand whats going so I can judge your rounds easily.

And most importantly, have fun.

Best of luck,

Archana Rao

This is my first time judging, so I may not be able to follow along if you spread.

Debates will necessarily involve passion and argumentation, but don't let this devolve into rudeness or personal attacks.

Experience: This is my first time debating so I don't understand LD as well as I'd like to understand it. 

Speech: Speed, articulation, and volume of a person's speech is very important to me as I am a bit hard of hearing in my right ear. A debater's speech style will heavily affect my decision.

Criterion and Framework: I just learned what these are, so I won't judge very hard on them. One thing is that I WILL NOT regard a debater's criterion valid if it isn't explained whatsoever.

Judging style: I won't be too harsh but I'll be looking out for justice as a default in your arguments (other than your framework if justice isn't already the framework). I'll be keeping very brief notes of the debate's main points.

Overall Debate Itself: I'm looking out for a good rebuttal but they cannot at all be too aggressive nor rude to the opponent. Evidence/Examples are somewhat important to me, but properly researched and backed up arguments are the things that I look out for the most out of everything. You'r debate must be well structured and more importantly, well explained. If you're planning to use a very complex philosophical argument please make sure to explain extensively. 

Extra: Based on what I've seen in a few videos, I really do appreciate a good questioning period (counter-examination I think its called), so try putting effort into asking well thought out questions.

please put me on the email chain: kateshadman@gmail.com

^^please send docs, don't dump an entire speech into the body of the email

Colleyville Heritage HS (TX) '20: 4 years PF (tfa and nat circuit)

University of Oklahoma '24: 4(ish) years policy

pronouns: she/her/hers

tl;dr (pf)

do whatever you want, i vote on the flow. your barrier to speed is your opponent (if they can’t handle it don’t do it). please warrant and weigh your arg and terminalize your impacts — if you do this you will most likely win. 2nd rebuttal should frontline, if they don’t defense is sticky in 1st summary. if it’s in final it needs to be in summary. have good evidence ethics.

come in pre flowed and send the email chain at the start time

for roadmaps: just tell me which piece of paper to have on top

tl;dr (cx)

my only cx experience is in college, so I'm not as with it as the other college policy debaters

I don't care what you read, I'll listen to pretty much anything. write my ballot for me, I love judge instruction (especially on the K, implicate it to the round plss). I'm biased for a good policy round but don't get me wrong, I love a good K (most familiar with set col, security, and cap). pls label each piece of paper in the 1NC. regardless of the argument, make sure to extend the link (really hard to vote on anything in the 2AR/NR if it's missing) and implicate your args.

come in pre flowed and send the email chain at the start time

for roadmaps: just tell me which piece of paper to have on top

welcome to my paradigm:

*before your speech, pls just tell me what piece of paper to start on and I'll follow you from there (cx: just give me the order of the sheets of paper)

Warrant, Weigh, Win- it's that simple.

- it needs to be on the flow, I need clean extensions and weighing if you want me to vote on it

(please weigh. please, please, please weigh)

- for it to be an extension, I need claim, warrant, and impact

- tell me why/how you're winning and why your argument matters (write my ballot for me)

- terminalize impacts

- please come in pre-flowed and prepared to debate (i want to start the round asap)

- speech doc/email chain should be sent at the start time of the round (or earlier, just not later)

- signpost, I want to write down all of your wonderful arguments (in the right places)

- speed: i don't care how fast you go, know your opponent (if they can't handle the speed -- don't go fast, if they don't have experience flowing off speech docs, this isn't the round for them to learn), if you're going to go sicko mode, give me a doc, otherwise, I flow on paper if I'm not writing stuff down, slow down

pf specific:

- quality > quantity

- tech > truth

- default util

- I don't like calling for ev. you should be doing the ev analysis yourselves, ie. compare the ev between speeches then say it in the speech (I won't vote on it if it's not on the flow)

rebuttal:

- 1st rebuttal shouldn't be doing case extensions (unless it's an ov, fw, or weighing you want flowed on your case), i already got the args from case, it's just repetitive

- 2nd rebuttal: pls frontline offense

summary:

- if 2nd rebuttal frontlines, defense is not sticky

- if 2nd rebuttal doesn't frontline, defense is sticky

- please weigh (pls, pls, pls)

final focus:

- final focus should mirror the summary (if it's not in the summary it shouldn't be in final) (weighing should also be the same)

- PLEASE DON'T GO FOR EVERYTHING, collapse and narrow down the debate

crossfire:

- start whenever y'all are ready, don't wait on me

progressive args (pf)

I would rather not but, do whatever you want, but, it's extremely hard to do the work you need to do within the pf time constraints and the bar doesn't lower just because it's pf. if you are going to do something funky, one of the biggest mistakes I see is not implicating the K (or whatever) to the round, make sure you do work on page comparison otherwise, it's really hard to see how the argument is relevant to the round. tell me how to evaluate the arg in the context of the round.

"progressive args don't belong in pf" isn't a response (unless you have a beautifully curated block on this arg), you need some legitimate ink on the flow

again, I would rather not judge progressive rounds in pf, if you want to, you run the risk of losing the ballot a lot easier than if you debated traditionally

evidence:

don't do anything stupid and don't take forever to pull up evidence, evidence should be cut properly and cited with a working link, if your opponents are doing something bad/sketch with ev make it a voting issue--I am very likely to vote on it (if it's legit)

personal thing about ev- evidence shouldn't be paraphrased when it's introduced into the round, you should be reading from cards, obviously this gets lost in the back half of the round (which is fine)-- if you are going to paraphrase make sure you have the cut cards available and that you are representing them correctly

My judging philosophy is to get out of the way in the round as much as possible to let the competitors argue what I should be voting for.

If you say it, and prove it, and apply it, I'll buy it.

Paradigm for Alexander Wick

I am Computer Science student at Texas Christian University, and currently compete in both speech and debate events for TCU. I competed for Tyler Lee HS and have extensive high school policy/congressional debate experience. I currently serve collegiate competitors as a representative on Pi Kappa Delta’s National Council. I am also the Head Speech and Debate Instructor for the Fort Worth Country Day School. I’ll list the most important aspects of my judging paradigm here, but feel free to ask clarifying questions or if there is anything else you’d like to know before your round.

Policy Debate

Arguments

I will judge and consider every argument presented in the debate, provided that the argument is presented seriously and fairly and is extended throughout the round. I will not ‘shadow-extend’ arguments for you.

For negative policy teams, if you choose to run your arguments conditionally, you will need to explain to me why it is necessary to do so. Additionally, while I will vote on Ks, make sure you know how to run them well.

I will consider any theory argument, including RVIs, but you should clearly explain why you are running them and why it is needed in that particular round. Make sure you're running those arguments with proper theory shells. Don’t just run theory to waste your opponents time.

Evidence

I prefer quality over quantity. On all sides, ensure that you are understanding your evidence and not just reading- debaters should be able to intelligently discuss their arguments during questioning.

Congress

Please ensure that you are respectful to your fellow competitors inside and outside the round. For POs, make sure that you are both following parliamentary procedure and the rules of the tournament. For example, if the tournament is operating under TFA rules, ensure that you are following the TFA's guidelines on Congressional Debate.

I know that timing Congress speeches is tricky- but under no circumstance should you exceed 3:10. That 10 seconds is a grace period- aim your speech to 3:00 and end quickly if you pass that mark.

For all Events

Do not misinterpret or make up evidence. I do verify evidence and sources used, especially if there is cause to do so.

These are communication events. Make sure you are communicating to your judges- don't just read to us. That being said, I rarely ask to be included on email chains. I should not have to read your evidence to understand your arguments.

Best if luck to you and your team during the tournament!