THANK YOU for your interest in judging at our Speech and 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 SCROLL DOWN to the 'Register Now' button at the bottom of this page.

While we would love for you to judge more than one round, please DO NOT sign up for consecutive rounds as you'll need time to complete your ballots and report to ballot push for new ballots.

DATE: Saturday, March 29, 2025
LOCATION: CAPITAL BAPTIST CHURCH
3504 Gallows Rd
Annandale, VA

SPEECH & DEBATE TRAINING 

Judge Orientation Videos (click links below):

Speech Judge Orientation
Lincoln Douglas (LD) Debate Judge Orientation

**You only need training for speech events and/or Lincoln Douglas debate (Team Policy is not offered at this tournament so skip over those parts).

Please arrive 45 minutes before your selected speech or debate round to receive judge orientation.

If you have already watched the judge orientation videos, you don't need to attend judge orientation at the tournament. In this case, you only need to arrive 20-30 minutes prior to the round start. Our trainers will be available for questions you might have.

TIME COMMITMENT FOR JUDGES

2-3 hours which includes 45 minutes for training and a maximum of 1.5 hours of listening to speeches based on 8 students each giving a 5-7 minute speech with a 2 minute break in between speakers to jot down remarks. The remaining 30 minutes to an hour is allotted to completing all the ballots. LD Debate rounds only last 45 minutes so they are much shorter for judging than speech events.

For scheduling purposes please allow 30 minutes to 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, while others need longer.

Also if you arrive early, stop by Judge Hospitality 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. Please email our judge coordinator, Margery (margerybonafede@gmail.com), if you change the round you signed up to judge. We don't get email alerts when you change your schedule. 

Thank you for reading this far.  We look forward to seeing you on March 29th!