Information for Community Judges
THANK YOU for your interest in judging at our Debate Tournament!!! We rely on community support to help our tournament run smoothly!!!
This website will allow you to pick the time that works best for you to judge. Please click on the Judge Registration tab at the top of the page. It will walk you through the short registration process.
Please arrive 45 minutes prior to your selected debate round in order to receive an orientation.
TIME COMMITMENT FOR JUDGES
Lincoln Douglas Debate: 2 – 2.5 hrs, which includes 45 min for training and 45 minutes for the actual debate with the remaining 30 min to an hour allotted to completing the ballot.
Team Policy Debate: 2.5 – 3 hrs, which includes 45 min for training and 1.25 hrs for the actual debate with the remaining 30 minutes to an hour allotted for completing the ballot.
For scheduling purposes please allow an hour to complete the ballots. The students value your comments on the ballots and will learn from them. Some judges can give great feedback in a short amount of time, others need longer.
During Judge Training, you will be given a good overview of the events and the judging process at the tournament. There will be two types of judge training - Lincoln Douglas (LD) debate, and Team Policy (TP) debate. This will be provided on a combined basis (i.e. a single training class will cover both debate types).
Once you have completed training for Lincoln Douglas (LD) debate, you may judge additional Lincoln Douglas debate rounds without the need of repeating the training. However, you will need to be sure to have sat through the Team Policy portion of the training for judging a Team Policy (TP) debate round. The converse is also true.
Also if you arrive early, stop by the Judge Deliberation Room where you will find a variety of good things to eat and drink. These goodies will also be available while you are completing your ballot.
You will receive an e-mail giving details about check-in, judge orientation, etc. approximately a week prior to the tournament.
If you would like to learn more about judging and the debate events prior to the tournament, some resources are included below.
DEBATE TRAINING SLIDES
A combined Team Policy Debate and Lincoln Douglas Debate Judge Orientation PowerPoint based on the updated 2023 Judge Orientation slides will be used due to space and personnel limitations at the tournament. Please feel free to read and become familiar with the debate training slides content by clicking on the green links below.
Combined Lincoln Douglas and Team Policy Debate Orientation Slides
If you would like more detailed information about the debate events offered, please look at the Lincoln Douglas Debate Page and Team Policy Debate Page
YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO JUDGE! The goal of our competitors is to be able to communicate their ideas clearly and respectfully to anyone. If you are a good listener who is over 18 and not actively competing in high school speech or debate, WE NEED YOU!
If you are on the fence about whether or not to give community judging a try, watch this short video.
TOURNAMENT LOCATION
The tournament will be held at the Metrolina Christian School at 732 Indian Trail Fairview Rd, Indian Trail, NC 28079.
Look for the neon green poster board signs for directions.
More instructions will be emailed out to registered judges about a week before the tournament.