• Setup:

  This status is used while the tournament is still being setup.

• Open:

  This status means tournament registration is open. Families can register for the tournament.

• Drops Only:

  This status means only registration drops are allowed. There are no new entries allowed but families can drop entries.

• Closed:

  This status means registration is currently closed for the tournament. There are no adds or drops allowed. Please contact the tournament director with any questions.

• Completed:

  This status means the tournament is completed.

Community Judge Information

Thank you for your willingness to judge at the 2025 Salt & Light speech and debate tournament! We rely on community support to help our tournament run smoothly.  When you are ready, please click here to register and pick the time/event that works best for you to judge.

Tournament Location

Time Commitment for Judges

Please arrive 1 hour prior to your selected speech and/or debate round in order to receive orientation. This is about a 3 hour time commitment and includes time for check-in, training, judging a round, completing your ballot, and enjoying some delicious refreshments. You are always welcome to judge more than one round!

You are Qualified!

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 (over 20 if a Stoa alum), WE NEED YOU!

If you are on the fence about whether or not to give community judging a try, watch this short video.

Tournament Day

During Judge Training, you will be given a good overview of the events and the judging process at the tournament. We have several types of debate and speeches and you will be trained in the event you are registered for. 

On the day of the tournament, please follow the campus signs to the judge check-in table. You will receive an e-mail giving details about check-in, judge orientation, etc. approximately a week prior to the tournament.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for taking the time to invest in the next generation. Please click here to register.

Why do you need community judges?

Simply put, judges are the most important participant in a tournament. Without you, we cannot hold a tournament and students aren't given feedback that helps them improve their skills.

Additionally, community judges, in particular, listen and judge from a different perspective than a parent, and so your feedback helps them learn and grow in their skills in different ways. Our goal is to develop communicators who can speak boldly and change the world for Christ, not debaters who overwhelm judges with information or do not have the ability to adapt their message to the listener.

Why do you need SO MANY judges?

At a tournament, we can have as many as 100 or more competitors competing in 3 styles of debate and 13 speech events across three days. This requires a large number of judges! For example, a typical tournament day will have 4-5 debate rounds and 2 speech rounds. For each round we need to staff 15-20 rooms with at least 1 and up to 3 judges. This means that tournaments generally have about 200 judge slots to fill per day for a tournament to run smoothly and on time.

What about the parents?

All of our parents are required to judge throughout the tournament whenever there are empty slots that we are unable to fill from the community. Our preference is to utilize community judges whenever possible to allow students the opportunity to present their cases (for debate) and speeches to new audiences.

Who is qualified to be a judge?

Generally, anyone who has completed high school and has been properly trained (don't worry - we provide this) can serve as a judge. Most judges fall into three categories of individuals:

Community volunteers
Parents and Coaches
Former high school or college debaters

What types of events will I be judging?

There are two basic types of events at our tournament - speech and debate.

In debate, students compete to present and explain to a judge their ideas or proposals. Judges are asked to weigh the information that is presented and decide which side has the stronger case. 

Speech events run the gamut from prepared speeches to impromptu speeches where competitors have two minutes to outline a five minute speech. Some speeches are humorous, others are inspirational and others informative. 

For a full list of events and descriptions, please see our Event Descriptions page.

Who are the students I will be judging?

The competitors are homeschool students ranging in age from 12-18 years old. Some of the students are just starting to learn debate or are just now giving their first speeches and others have been competing for years. Many are from the Atlanta area, but we also have students travel from across the nation to compete. So, you will see a wide range of skills, abilities, and styles.

Alumni Judge Information

As a prior debater you bring a unique perspective to our judge pool, and we thank you for your willingness to give back to the world of competitive speech and debate. We are delighted to have you join us in evaluating these students! To register for judging, please use the Judge Registration tab at the top of the page and follow the prompts.

If a competitor has invited you or you have a close relationship (friendship with student or family, or provided coaching) with a current debater, we ask that you indicate that by typing their name in the conflict box so as to keep the integrity of the judging pool pure. 

On the day of the tournament, please follow the campus signs to the judge check-in table.

Judge Qualifications: To be eligible to judge for the 2024-2025 season, it should be two years since you competed, and you must be at least 20 years old. A student may not compete and judge within the same competition season.

MANDATORY ELECTRONIC SCRIPT SUBMISSION

All scripts must be reviewed prior to the tournament within the given deadline. Before submitting your script, I encourage you to read Stoa's Philosophy of Speech Standards.

OPENS: Saturday, December 14th
DEADLINE for initial submissions: Sunday, December 29th, 11:59 PM EST. 

*Submitting a script after the deadline is considered a competitive advantage. Failure to submit your script by the deadline for initial submissions (Dec. 29th) WILL result in your being dropped from the event. Extenuating circumstances will be considered; please contact the Script Review Team.

FINAL CORRECTIONS: Saturday, January 11th, 11:59 PM EST Your script must be corrected AND approved by this date.

Events 

Competitors who are entered in the following events must submit scripts for approval:

Interpretive Speeches: Dramatic, Duo, Humorous, Open
Platform Speeches: Expository, Original Oratory, Persuasive
Wild Card Speech: Slam Poetry

Before you begin:

Use the speech helps and resources to ensure your script is in compliance with regards to citations and publication requirements BEFORE submitting your script. 

Watch the tutorial! Just 6 minutes will save you (and us) loads of time! While the video is somewhat out of date when referencing the Wild Card event, the basic principles and instructions still hold true.

Instructions:

1. READ THE RULES for your speech event HERE.

2. READ THE SCRIPT PREP INSTRUCTIONS & OBTAIN FORMS HERE.

3. PREPARE your SCRIPT SUBMISSION FORM with your parent or coach. Include initials and signatures. BE SURE "Salt & Light" is listed as the tournament.

4. COMBINE each speech into ONE FILE in .pdf format. To combine files:

• Use a printer to scan into a single pdf file, or
• Use a PDF joiner, or
• Use the Notes app on an iPhone to scan documents. (Open Notes app; create a new Note; tap Done; tap the paper clip icon at the bottom of the screen; choose "Scan Documents." Or,
• Use the Google Drive app on your mobile phone. (Open Google Drive and tap the camera icon in the bottom right, above the + sign.)

5. NAME YOUR FILE using the following naming format: Last Name, First Name - event.pdf  For example:  Twain, Mark - Persuasive.pdf Students - This is a small detail that is incredibly helpful for your script reviewers. Please take just a few extra seconds to properly name your files!

6. SUBMIT SCRIPTS HERE.

Scripts requiring corrections:
When a script is returned as incomplete or unapproved, it will be returned with suggestions for correction. Once you have made the corrections, you must resubmit the script within 24 hours using the same script submission link above in Step 5. You will select "Corrected Script" from the appropriate drop-down box. Our script review team will make every effort to review your corrected script and respond to you in a similar timeframe.

Team Policy

Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially reform its policy on healthcare.

Lincoln Douglas

Resolved: Mandatory national service is justified.

Apologetics categories will be:

• Category 2 - Foundations of Christianity
• Category 3 - Scripture
• Category 5 - Christian Worldview Application
• Finals will be from one of the remaining three categories.

A current list of questions can be found here.

Mars Hill categories will be:

• Current Film & Television
• Current Music
• The Arts
• Finals will be from one of the remaining four categories. 

A current list of topics can be found here. 

Dress Code and Code of Conduct

Dress Code

During competition, students must dress in modest, professional business attire.

Gentlemen: Suit or slacks and a blazer jacket; collared shirt and tie; professional dress shoes and socks.

Ladies: Skirt or pant suit; or professional slacks, skirt, or dress with a blazer jacket; professional dress shoes. Dress/skirt hemlines and slits should be no higher than the middle of the knee. Hose not required.

Awards Ceremony: Students must attend the awards ceremony in full competition attire.

Violations: If the competitor's attire at any time during the tournament is deemed a violation of the dress code, the competitor will be asked to come into compliance before being allowed to participate.

Code of Conduct

Tournament participants will exhibit kind, polite, and respectful attitudes toward each other and behave in a manner that brings honor to God.

Conflicts that arise mid-tournament will be resolved at the sole discretion of tournament leadership. Tournament leadership has final authority in all tournament decisions.

Tournament participants will adhere to the Peacemaker’s Pledge derived from Matthew 5:23-25 and 18:15-17. This principle dictates that if an offense occurs, the offended should go directly to the offender to resolve the issue; no gossiping or discussing with another person. We seek to restore relationships. A third party may be necessary to resolve issues.

Hotels

A number of nice hotels are within a ten minute drive of the church. Search for hotels near Gas South Arena (Sugarloaf Pkwy and Satellite Blvd) and Sugarloaf Mills. You may also expand the search further north on I-85 towards Suwanee. I recommend that you avoid staying in a hotel (or rental property) on Pleasant Hill Rd. or Gwinnett Place Mall. 

Host Housing

We are organizing host housing and should have several places available to families. Please contact Robin Axelberd DynamisATL@gmail.com and put "Host Housing" in the subject line. 

For a list of events and their descriptions, please follow this link. You will need to scroll across the horizontal menu under the picture to see the different categories of events. 

We will utilize Stoa Joy of Tournaments for the tabulation software and will follow the Stoa Transparent Tabulation policies.

This page will be updated after registration closes with details around power matching.