First and most importantly, the Churchill Speech and Debate team would like to thank you for volunteering your time to judge at the Churchill Classic Forensics Tournament. This annual tournament has been in existence for more than 30 years and draws competitors from around the state and the country. Hosting this tournament is our primary fund raiser for the year and your participation is crucial to making sure the event is a success. So, while you are certainly helping our active speech and debate program, which competes throughout the state and country, we also believe that you will enjoy and be amazed by the selections that the students perform.
We would like you to feel as comfortable and confident as possible when you judge, so we have created this on-line tutorial to give some helpful hints and present some brief samples of the events you might see.
WHERE TO GO
If you are assigned a round you will be sent an email and a text with a link to the round on Tabroom.com at 8:00 AM. Use that link or go to Tabroom.com and click on your profile (your email address in the top right on Tabroom) and select your round. Press start round to confirm that you have received your ballot.
THE ROUND
Speaking order is pre-arranged. Click on the blue video icon next to competitors names to open videos of student performances. Try and keep to the arranged order.
THE PERFORMANCES
Each event is described in the Printable Instruction Sheet. Additionally, we have provided two-minute video clips of each event to give you a taste of what each event will look like. The performances will be longer than 2 minutes each, but the videos should give you an idea of what will be happening in the room.
TIME LIMITS
The time limit for each event is included in the Printable Instruction Sheet. Ideally, because these videos are recorded, the duration of student videos should fall within the time limit. If students go over time, they may not be ranked first unless there was a mitigating reason. Any additional penalty is at the judge's discretion.
THE BALLOT
Below the list of competitors is a box for feedback. Select the relevant competitor name and type your comments there.
The individual ballot is an opportunity to critique each performance. This includes both telling the competitor what you really liked about their performance, as well as telling them what didn't work in your eyes. Students always hope to see a Reason For Decision on their ballot. There is very little more frustrating for a competitor than to read only positive comments on a ballot and then to receive a rank of 6. This is a subjective activity and your opinion in that round is important. Please share with the students how you think they could have improved their performances in your eyes. The students' ultimate goal is to appeal to any judge in any round, so your opinion matters!
FINISHING UP
After you have written the individual ballots and ranked the round on both the individual and the master ballots, return them to the judge table where you picked them up. The students there will be happy to check them to make sure everything is completed correctly and are more than willing to answer any questions you might have. Once your ballots are turned in, your job is done! You have helped the Speech and Debate students at Churchill with their fundraiser, you have broadened the perspectives of forensics competitors from around the state and you have, hopefully, been impressed by the talent on display at this tournament. Your willingness to volunteer to adjudicate these rounds is so important to the success of our tournament and we couldn't appreciate it more!
QUESTIONS
If you have questions regarding anything about your upcoming experience as a judge, please don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected] or at 210-356-0099 (e-mail is the preferred method).
If you have questions regarding debate judging, you may contact Preston Stolte at[email protected] .