Judges


 * Judging High School Policy Debate (see "Additional Documents" below for Middle School format)**

__**Introduction**__ Policy debate is a competitive exchange of ideas that center around a single topic. This year, every debater around the country will discuss the resolution:

//**"**//// **Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic engagement toward Cuba, Mexico or Venezuela. ** ////**"**//

Each team in a debate round consists of two students. There is an affirmative team that will defend the resolution and present a specific plan in an attempt to prove the resolution true. There is also a negative team that will attempt to disprove the resolution by negating the specific affirmative plan.

There are several approaches that judges use to determine the outcome of a debate round. Most debaters will reference this as a //**judge's philosophy**// or //**paradigm**//. As a judge, you can develop any paradigm you like to determine the outcome of the round. Each judge will receive a ballot (see example on right) to fill out after the round is over. The ballot requires three basic pieces of information: the name of the team that won the debate round, a decision about the relative quality of the speakers, and a short explanation of how you came to your decision.

__**Speeches and Times in the Round**__

1AC (First Affirmative Constructive)--//**8 minutes**// Cross Examination--2N examines the 1A--//**3 minutes**// 1NC (First Negative Constructive)--//**8 minutes**// Cross Examination--1A examines the 1N--//**3 minutes**// 2AC (Second Affirmative Constructive)--//**8 minutes**// Cross Examination--1N examines the 2A--//**3 minutes**// 2NC (Second Negative Constructive)--//**8 minutes**// Cross Examination--2AC examines the 2NC--//**3 minutes**// 1NR (First Negative Rebuttal)--//**5 minutes**// 1AR (First Affirmative Rebuttal)--//**5 minutes**// 2NR (Second Negative Rebuttal)--//**5 minutes**// 2AR (Second Affirmative Rebuttal)--//**5 minutes**//

Prep Time: Each team will receive a total of //**8** **minutes**// of preparation time to use throughout the debate round.

__**Making a Winning Decision**__

As the judge, you are the decision-maker in the debate round. You can decide the round however you see fit. The goal of every debater is to convince you that his or her team is right. The students should adapt to you as a judge and not require you to adapt to them.

Each ballot asks one question regarding who won the debate: "The better debating was done by..." It specifically does not say: "Which team made more arguments?" "The better debating was done by..." is intentionally vague.

The goal of the judge is to:


 * Determine, based on arguments in the round and not personal opinions, //**which team better proved its position**//.
 * Determine which team //**better used and explained its evidence**// to support its ideas in the debate round.
 * Determine which team better //**analyzed the weaknesses in the opposing team's arguments**//.

The decision that you make about the round is the right decision. Debaters are and should be taught how to adapt to a wide variety of judges.

__**Awarding Speaker Points and Ranks**__

Each debater will speak twice in every round he or she debates. Part of the role of the judge is to determine both which debater was best among the four debaters in the round and determine on a scale between 23 (being a speech that needs a lot of work) and 30 (being a perfect speech) how many points each debater should receive. After the preliminary rounds, debaters receive speaker awards based on the total number of speaker points they've received. Speaker points can also serve as a tie breaker for teams with identical win-loss records. Most importantly, speaker points and ranks serve to encourage clear and effective communication.


 * Speaker points and ranks should represent the quality of each debater’s speech.
 * Debaters should receive speaker points //**between 23 and 30**//. Multiple debaters can receive the same number of speaker points. For example, two debaters in a single round can both receive 27 speaker points.
 * Each debater should be //**ranked from 1 (top speaker) to 4 (most needs improvement)**//. Multiple debaters can NOT receive the same rank in a single round.
 * //**30 speaker points should be rare**//. Speaker points help differentiate between teams with the same number of wins. Thirty speaker points should be reserved for an almost perfect speech.
 * //**“Low point wins”**// (where the team with the lowest total speaker points wins the round) //**should be rare**//. A low point win should be confirmed by placing a check mark in the low point win line on the ballot.

__**Comments and Reason for Decision**__

Each ballot has space at the bottom for comments and your reason for decision. The comments should provide constructive criticism to all of the debaters. The example ballot provides a great approach to outline each speech. The reason for decision can be as elaborate as you would like it to be. The information outlined here will be taken by the students back to the classroom as a learning tool.

__**Requests for All Judges**__


 * Please //**turn off all cell phones and electronic devices**// before the start of the round.
 * Please //**do not interrupt speakers**// once the round has begun except to inform them that their speech or prep time has expired.
 * Feel free to //**give a constructive oral critique of the round**// after you have made your decision and completed your ballot.
 * Please inform a tournament director if you receive a ballot for a school where you have prior coaching, mentoring, or debating experience.


 * Additional Documents **