• 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.

Parents are a vital part of the tournament! During the registration process, each family is required to submit the name of at least one parent who will remain on the campus of Central Baptist Church and be available to judge for the time that their child is competing. If a parent cannot fulfill this requirement, please contact the tournament director prior to registering to request permission to designate another adult that will fulfill the judging requirement.

Please be trained and prepared to judge when needed. If you have not been to judge orientation this season, you will need to attend one during the first training session. If you are already trained in one event, you can be trained in a second event so that you can be used throughout the tournament, if needed. As the tournament progresses, it becomes more challenging to match judges with ballots.

Community judges will get ballots first. If you don't get a ballot for one round, don't assume you won't be needed for a following round. Ballot push dynamics change throughout the tournament and we appreciate your patience in getting judges in rooms and keep the tournament running on time!

Thank you for your willingness to judge at the 2024 Voices for Liberty Speech and Debate tournament! We rely on community support to help our tournament run smoothly.

You will use this web site (Stoa Hub) to pick the time that works best for you to judge.  

Tournament Location

Central Baptist Church

6050 Plain View Hwy. Dunn, NC 28334

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!

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.

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 and not actively competing in Stoa high school speech or debate, WE NEED YOU!

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

More instructions will be emailed out to registered judges about a week before the tournament.

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.

Why do you need SO MANY judges?
A friend once remarked that speech and debate is the only competitive activity where there are more judges than participants. In many ways that is true, but it is for a good reason. For example, take a tournament that consists of 7 debate rounds and 4 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 need between 150 and 200 judges to run smoothly.

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. Student ages range from 12-18.
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. Student ages range from 6 to 18.

I’m hesitant to judge because I’m afraid I’ll make the wrong decision. How do I make sure I’m making the right decision?

There are no right and wrong decisions! No tournament official, coach, judge or student should ever tell you that you made the wrong decision. YOU ARE THE JUDGE—the debaters/contestants are responsible for presenting their information and explaining it to you. Based on the evidence introduced in the round, YOU decide who had the stronger case! Several judges could watch the same round, and no two judges’ rankings or reasons for their decisions would likely be the same. Speech and debate is a “human activity;” we are all impacted by different things. One of the jobs of the debaters/contestants is to adapt to their audience. As the judge, you are the primary audience. It is the students job to ensure that they clearly introduce evidence into the round and ensure you understand its impact. You are the sole determiner of which speeches are effective, and which speeches are not effective. Your decision should not be questioned by tournament officials (and should never be questioned by coaches or other adults) unless you have failed to provide a clear explanation for your decision(s) on the ballot(s) for the round. You should keep in mind that there are rules and standards for each event. The training sessions cover those rules and standards. Following them—and making sure that student contestants follow them—will keep everyone on a level playing field, allowing you to make easier and more fair decisions.

Give me some idea of what I am I supposed to write as comments for each speaker.
Students can’t wait to read judges’ comments. What you say to them will have an impact on how they refine their piece for the next tournament. Be specific, be constructive, give pluses and minuses, and let them know how their speech made you feel. Remember, speaking in public is a lot harder than these kids make it look!

Here are a few examples of comments that were on recent ballots:
“Terrific characterization of “the girl” in your selection—wonderful facial expressions and voice. “The boy” was believable, but at times, I could not tell how he was reacting to the female character. Work on his expressiveness. This was a funny piece—cut to just the right length. It made me laugh and held my attention all the way through.”

As a judge, what should I bring to a tournament?
- Writing utensils, especially those that are easy and comfortable for you to use.
- If you are judging debate, it is helpful to have 2 different colors of ink.
- Paper or legal pads, especially for judges of debate events. (We often have several on hand for your use)
- A copy of your judge registration and instructions.

How should I dress for the tournament?
For judges, we recommend business casual attire. Our students will be dressed according our tournament dress code.

Should I talk to the contestants in the round?
It is absolutely fine to say hello to each of the participants when you enter the room. However, we ask that you are not overly friendly with one student you may happen to have judged before or know for another reason because this will cause other students to think that you will be a biased judge. In speech events, the round starts as soon as you are seated and ready to hear speeches. In the debate events, competitors will introduce themselves. They may also ask your background and experience judging and you are encouraged to share with them.

Following debate events, you are encouraged to share a few general comments with the students, but detailed comments should be saved for your ballot. Judges do not give comments to each participant after their speeches. In all cases, it is NOT permissible to talk to students after a round about how you voted/ranked their performances.

(Thank you to Miriam Lafferty of Vortex Excelsior for compiling this helpful 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 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, a judge must be a high school graduate. A student may not compete and judge within the same competition season.

The details for the Junior and JV speech events can be found at the following website.
CCofSE
Juniors events are only for students who are 5-8 years old on Oct 1, 2024. Junior speech is for students ages 9-11.

Junior
Junior Interpretation

JV (Can register for a max of 3 events)

Limited Preparation:
Apologetics
Bible Stories

Platform:
Persuasive
Biographical Informative

Interpretive:
JV Duo
JV Great Speeches

Script Submission
In-person script submission is required for all Jr/JV Interp and Platform Speeches. This is different from Varsity speech events which require electronic script submission prior to the tournament.

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

Powermatching will be based on Stoa guidelines and is dependent on the number of teams in a debate event.

Semifinals for all debate events will also be dependent on the number of teams that have registered.

Stoa desires to promote professionalism and modesty in behavior and dress. ​

Competition

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

​Professional business attire for Gentlemen

• Suit or slacks and blazer jacket

• Collared shirt and tie

• Professional dress shoes and socks

​Professional business attire for Ladies

• Skirt or pantsuit

• Slacks, skirt, or dress with a blazer

• No leggings or tights as pants

• Hemlines and slits no higher than middle of the knee

• Hose optional

• Professional dress shoes

​

Awards Ceremony

Students must attend the awards ceremony in full competition attire.

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Violations

If the competitor’s attire at any time during the tournament is deemed in violation of the dress code, the competitor will be asked to come into compliance with the dress code. A student will not be allowed to participate in competition or awards without compliance.