Welcome Community Judges, Parent Judges, and Alumni Judges!
We are grateful for your help in making our tournament run smoothly.
Community Judges
Judge Registration: Complete a short registration and select a time that works best for you to judge.
Total Tournament Time Commitment - Approximately 4 hours. Please arrive one hour prior to the round you signed up to judge. This will allow you to:
- Attend orientation
- Receive your ballot
- Arrive at the room assignment on time
Additionally, please allow one hour following the round to complete your ballots. Students look forward to reading your helpful feedback!
Community Judge Check-in: For a detailed and annotated map of campus, see Facility tab. After check-in, you will be offered a Judge Orientation session before your round assignment, followed by assistance to your competition room. After the round you will be able to return to the judge's lounge to fill out your ballot and enjoy refreshments. Due to time constraints, it is typically not feasible to judge two rounds consecutively. Judging every other round is easily done and appreciated!
Judge Orientation: Orientation sessions for speech events and for debate events will be conducted during each tournament day (Tournament Schedule). Attending Judge Orientation is encouraged annually for all judges. During orientation you will be provided with an overview of the events you will be judging and all training and materials you will need to prepare you for the round. If you would like judging and event information ahead of time, or to learn more about the Stoa league and competitions, see links at the bottom of this page. Our facilitators will be available for any questions you may have.
If you are not attending an orientation session, please assist us by checking in at the Ballot Push table 45 minutes before the next competition round. The volunteers there will be glad to see you!
Complimentary snacks and refreshments will be provided throughout the day for judges in our judges lounge.
Additional Information -
Competitor Invitation: If you have been invited by a competitor to judge, please indicate their name in the conflict box in order to avoid a conflict of interest in the judging assignments.
Parking: Special parking areas are reserved for community judges. Please click on the Facility Information tab to find out where!
Physical Accommodations: Please notify the volunteer during judge orientation if you have physical limitations that prevent you from managing stairs or walking longer distances; we will make every effort to provide a room that is convenient.
Parent and Alumni Judges:
Parents of competitors are expected to provide a judge for 2 rounds per registered event, and be available to judge throughout each day of the tournament.
Alumni judges will not be permitted to judge the rounds of students with whom they have been previous competitors within the past two years.
Judge Orientation attendance is an annual requirement. If you have not attended an orientation session this year, it is highly recommended that you do so at this tournament. There have been several changes to ballots recently, and we want you to have the most up-to-date information as you judge!
Thank you for sharing your time to help our students, we look forward to seeing you soon.
Know someone who would like to volunteer? Help us recruit community judges! Community judges provide a rich environment for our students by bringing diverse and unbiased assessment to the competition rounds. We will provide the training and materials necessary for 1st-time judges to be comfortable and capable of giving good feedback to the students on their ballots. We welcome new faces and would love to help introduce them to Stoa speech and debate.
Useful links: