Tarheel Forensics League Student Congress Judge Instructions

Instructions to Congress Judges Thank you for helping today! The following are some general procedures for judging Student Congress that should be helpful to veterans and newcomers alike. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with these procedures. If you have questions, please see ____________________ in the tab room anytime. HAVE FUN! 1. There are two judges in each session. Each judge should rotate giving scores to competitors with the first judge filling out the first ballot, the second one filling out the second ballot, then the first judge getting the third ballot and so on. The exception for this would be if a student from your own school speaks on your turn to judge. You should pass the ballot to your partner. 2. When scoring a speaker, you should offer constructive comments about the speech. If there is cross-examination involved, the quality of the responses by the speaker should factor into the overall speech score. Give each speaker you score between one and six points, with one being the poorest of speeches and six being a “perfect” speech. Try to avoid giving excessively low scores. 3. Important: You should still listen to speakers you are not scoring at the time since you will be able to nominate them for awards at the end of the session. 4. At the end of the session, each judge should also fill out one ballot apiece (without consultation) for the presiding officer. Score him/her 1-6 the same way you would a speaker. The P.O. score should be bases on how effectively the P.O. ran the chamber. Although most of the categories on the ballot will not apply to the P.O., it is still important that you offer constructive criticism and a score of 1-6. 5. At the end of the session, each judge should nominate their top eight speakers on the preferential ballot provided. Do not consult with each other. a) You must place the presiding officer somewhere in the top eight, regardless of his/her effectiveness. b) You may nominate speakers you never scored in the round if they spoke. c) You may nominate speakers from your own school as long as you honestly feel that they were in the top eight speakers in the chamber. d) Quality is more important than quantity. Please nominate the best speakers even if they didn’t give the most speeches. e) Evaluate the total congressperson. When nominating, it is acceptable to take into consideration things the congressperson did (besides giving speeches) to make a better chamber (asking cross-x questions, making appropriate motions, etc.). However, all nominees must have spoken at least once. 6. Stay in the background as much as possible. Although congress participants may appeal the decision of the student presiding officer to the judge, these cases are rare. Allow the chamber to remain in student control except for serious infractions.