Thank you for your interest in volunteering! We want you to know that, as a judge, you are an extremely important part of our program. Your assistance makes Coolidge tournaments possible and ensures that our format of debate remains a genuinely educational experience for participating students. Below is some information that you might find helpful. In addition to the material below, we encourage you to watch our five-minute video by Dr. Ben Voth, Coolidge Debate Fellow, introducing how to judge.
We provide a brief, additional training session in the morning prior to round 1 of each tournament.
What is Debate?
Debate is a competitive, structured discussion that allows for opposing arguments to be put forward. A debate focuses on a specific proposition called the resolution. Resolutions begin with the term “Resolved” and follow with a policy change, statement, or idea that is to be debated by the two parties participating in the debate. Some examples of resolutions are, “Resolved: The United States Federal Government should adopt a balanced budget amendment” and “Resolved: The United States should adopt a carbon tax.”
The “affirmative” debater (or team) is arguing in favor of the resolution. The “negative” debater (or team) is arguing against the resolution. Each is trying to win the debate.
Debates have a particular order in which the debaters take turns speaking. Each speaking turn is allotted a set amount of time, for instance 5 minutes for an opening statement and 3 minutes for a closing statement. Details about the speaking times that can be found in the 1v1 “Singles” debate description or 2v2 “Doubles” debate description.
How the Tournament Works
All Coolidge tournaments begin with 4-6 preliminary rounds with one judge assigned to each debate. At some tournaments, after these preliminary rounds, the top debaters based on win-loss record and speaker points advance to a single-elimination elimination bracket. From this point forward, the tournament proceeds elimination-style with panels of odd numbers of judges. Judge panels do not confer; each judge still reaches a decision independently.
Each debater knows that over the preliminary rounds of debate, he or she will be assigned which side to support. Debaters generally do not choose the side they are on, and judges should never assume that a debater is making arguments with which he or she personally agrees or disagrees Debaters learn about 15 minutes before each round who their opponent will be and which side they will be arguing for the upcoming round.
Your Role as a Judge
As a debate judge, your main role and responsibility is to listen to each side make its case and then perform three tasks: 1) render a decision about which students(s) more skillfully debated, 2) award individual speaker points, and 3) return your ballot promptly (or allow it to be collected by a staff member or volunteer).
Determining the Winner
In debate, each round is a head-to-head competition. When determining the winner in debate, consider the following factors:
- Which speaker did the best job of putting forth good arguments for his or her position?
- Which speaker did the best job of answering his or her opponent’s arguments?
- Did either speaker fail to address an important argument by his or her opponent?
- Which speaker provided better evidence and research to support his or her contentions?
- Did the speakers speak at a reasonable and understandable pace?
- Which speaker was more logical?
- Did the speaker stay on topic?
At the Coolidge Foundation, we believe in the power of citizen judges to be able to follow a debate and render a reasonable decision. Taking notes while listening is appropriate and encouraged. You shouldn’t try to write everything down, but you should be able to make a few notes on each side’s key arguments and identify whether the other side did an adequate job to address them.
The most important considerations when judging a speech or debate are to adopt a neutral stance about the resolution, and to do your best to be fair, encouraging, and supportive to your debaters. They are here to learn from you, no matter what your experience level is!
Assigning Speaker Points
In addition to choosing the winner of each debate, you will also score each debater on a 30-point scale. These are referred to as “speaker points.” Speaker points assess the quality of the presentation offered by each debater. This is entirely separate from the determination of who won the debate. Usually the side that wins the debate also receives higher speaker points. On rare occasions, you might award more speaker points to the loser of the debate if you believe that he or she generally spoke better but failed to address an important argument or committed some fatal flaw of logic. Please consider the following factors when awarding speaker points:
- Does the speaker present in a fluent and compelling manner?
- Does the speaker use all available speech time and cross examination time?
- Does the speaker properly reference opposing arguments and cite allusions to evidence?
- Does the speaker address the opponent in an appropriate style (i.e., not demeaning)?
- Does the speaker stay on topic?
Remember, as a citizen judge, you get the final word in determining who won and how well they did.
We Need You
Thank you again for your interest. Without volunteers like you, we could not hold tournaments. If you still have questions about judging, please email Jonathan Peele, Director of Speech and Debate. As a token of our appreciation, all volunteer judges are invited to each meal provided during our tournaments. Business casual or better attire is encouraged for judges, as the debaters will be in business attire.
Coolidge Cup Judges, Day 1 of the 2018 Coolidge Cup