League Policies
Parents must be prepared to serve as the head judge for speech rounds throughout the tournament.
If you have been selected to serve as the Head Judge, congratulations and thank you for serving in this way for this round! We expect that all of our parents will serve as a head judge at some point during each tournament.
- Please do not delegate the responsibilities below to anyone else.
- If you have questions or concerns about serving in this role, please contact Tournament Administration.
Prepare for the Speech Event
- Find the rules for the event you are judging and have them available for review if needed during the round.
- Please find the link to the Competition Rules page and take time to review the rules and guidelines for the event you will be judging.
Be attentive to the speakers and the rules
- Keep a note of any potential rule infractions. This is for your use only and should not be shared with the other judges.
- Contact the Compliance Team after the round to ask any questions you may have about the rules and to report any potential rule issues.
- Complete your ballot and ranking. You do not need to impose a penalty yourself, but you may weigh what you observed into your rankings or add it to your feedback as appropriate.
Manage the Room
- Competitors are scheduled in 15-minute intervals. Please make sure that competitors conclude their speeches by the end of their speaking window so that the next competitor can start on time.
- If a student arrives with less time remaining than is allowed for the speech (less than 10 for a platform or interp, for example) please remind them to be mindful of the time and conclude speaking at the end of their allotted time.
- Unless instructed to do so by staff, do not allow a student to begin early, speak past their allotted time slot, or speak in a different time slot.
- Graciously remind other judges not to confer about speakers or rankings and to make notes between speeches without delaying the next speaker.
- For In-Person Tournaments, ensure that the competition room door remains open between speakers.
Confirm and Announce the Speech Times
- Competitors should stop the timepiece at the conclusion of the speech and show the time to the judges.
- Announce the time exactly as recorded on the timepiece to the rest of the judge panel and to the speaker for confirmation.
Preparation Time for Apologetics and Impromptu
- The speaker will set the timepiece to count down from 4 minutes for Apologetics or for 2 minutes for Impromptu and show it to the judges. You may remind the student to start their time piece when the topic is drawn.
- Please also remind them to look for their name on their topic card at in-person tournaments.
- When preparation time is over, students should then begin speaking promptly.
Timer Issues
- If a student experiences an error with the timepiece that results in being unable to show you their time or a correct time for the speech, please mark “timer issue” and instruct the other judges to do the same. (For any timing errors during Apologetics or Impromptu prep time, please bring the issue to Compliance after the round.)
- Examples of an “incorrect time” would be:
- The student failed to start the timepiece at the beginning of their speech. Judges will mark “timer issue.”
- The student notices mid-speech that they did not start the timer. Please instruct them to continue and mark the ballot “timer issue.”
- The student informs you that they accidentally added time that now exceeds the time limit. Judges will mark “timer issue.”
- The student accidentally cleared the timepiece. Judges will mark “timer issue.”
- Examples that do NOT require a timer issue mark:
- The student realizes they failed to start the timepiece within the first sentence. In this case, you may allow them to begin again without marking the timer issue.
- The student fumbles and delays pressing “stop.” In this case, please record the exact time displayed (even if it exceeds the limit), but do not mark “timer issue.”
- The competitor correctly times the speech and is over the time limit. In this case, announce and enter the time displayed. Any time 15 seconds over the limit will automatically receive a 2-rank penalty.
- Please bring any questions about this to Compliance after the round.
Additional Instructions for Online Tournaments
- At the beginning of the round, please set the room status to reflect whether the room has all judges present or is still waiting for judges to arrive.
- Competitors should turn on their cameras and microphones only when it is their turn to speak, should introduce themselves, and should begin promptly.
- Please help to ensure that all judges have their microphones turned off while competitors are speaking and encourage them to leave their cameras on except in the event of technical difficulties.
- Change the room status to “Need Help” if you encounter any issues during the round that require input from tournament administration.
- Remind competitors, if necessary, to turn off their cameras and microphones at the conclusion of their speeches.
- Set the room status to “Finished” when the last speaker has finished.
- The Head Judge may give permission for speakers to turn off their cameras if they are experiencing technical difficulties.