Impact Children and Earn Extra Cash: Judge High School Forensics

High school forensic tournaments, also called speech and debate competitions, are exciting for adolescent competitors and fulfilling for adult coaches and judges. Whether you are a teacher, parent, or former forensics competitor, you can get involved in local, regional and national tournaments and impact children while earning extra cash.

What Does a Forensics Judge Do?

A forensics judge attends pre-scheduled tournaments, often held at local high schools or on college campuses, and provides valuable feedback to the student competitors they evaluate. Some students participate solely as competitors, while others participate as a part of a speech classes, and may be graded for their performance. No matter the reason for the student's participation, they are owed the most specific and constructive feedback a forensics judge can give.

How is Judging Accomplished?

Many different events comprise speech and debate tournaments, and they are all judged a bit differently. Check back soon for specific event judging guides. All events do share some similarities, however, in how judging is facilitated.

For each round of a tournament evaluated, the judge receives paperwork to fill out regarding the round as a whole and each participant individually. Different governing bodies dictate the rules of different tournaments, and so paperwork may vary. Similarities between most governing bodies do exist, however.

General information the judge must record on all event paperwork includes the competitors' names, their speech or debate topics, the order in which they presented (for speech events), the side they supported (for debate events), and your overall evaluation of their final rank within the round. Some governing bodies provide paperwork that asks for actual scores on a variety of aspects of the student's presentation.

In some tournaments, judges are also asked to provide oral feedback at the end of the event to each competitor, so that they can use that feedback immediately in their next round of competition.

What is Constructive Feedback?

For speech events in forensics tournaments, pacing, vocal styles, inflections, pronunciations, and emphasis are almost as important as content. For debate events in forensics tournaments, content is often considered paramount to specific vocal presentation. Regardless of whether the event is speech or debate in nature, it is entirely appropriate for judges to provide specific feedback on the competitor's vocal style. In speech events, movements and hand gestures utilized during speeches may also be evaluated.

Preparation is an important aspect to provide feedback on for both speech and debate events. No matter the event, evidence of adequate presentation should be readily apparent to the evaluating judges. Extemporaneous speeches, which have limited opportunities for preparation, should still exhibit adequate time spent gathering information and preparing content.

The logic behind a speech presentation or a speech as a part of a debate round should also be evaluated. Logic can be evaluated for order of thoughts presented, rationality of arguments and believability of stance. For events requiring prior research, evaluation should be made of whether the speech adequately answers the question or topic posed.

Evaluation should also be made of overall compensation and presentation. How believable was the competitor? What were good aspects of their presentation? What areas could use improvement?

How Are Debate Judges Compensated?

Parent and teacher debate judges can be compensated in a variety of ways.

1. Some debate judges volunteer for events and work for no pay. This is most often the case for parent judges.

2. Teachers working as debate judges are most often compensated by their own school or school district. This compensation is often in the form of an extra monthly stipend. For teachers whose areas are speech or communication, compensation beyond normal salary is often not offered, as tournaments are considered a part of normal activities.

Community judges, who are often former competitors themselves, can also receive a variety of forms of compensation.

1. Community judges can volunteer to judge for no pay, although this is not the norm for non-teacher, non-parent judges.

2. Community judges can be compensated in the form of a stipend, where one amount is paid out regardless of the number of hours or rounds judged.

3. Community judges can also be compensated in the form of an exact amount per round or per hour.

Compensation can be offered in the form of cash, a check from a student organization, or a check from the school or school district itself.

How Can Judges Find Tournaments to Judge?

Parents and teachers are often the first to learn of an upcoming event, after their student competitors themselves. It is sometimes harder for community judges to find events in which to participate. There are various resources, however, that can be consulted.

1. Check local school district websites. Check to see if the speech and debate or forensics team has their own website, and use it to find out tournament dates as well as contact information for organizers you can contact to sign up as a judge.

2. If you are a former competitor, check back with your own school district (if you are still in the same area) to find out about getting involved.

3. Contact school districts directly for information on upcoming events.

4. Check out the websites of forensics governing bodies for event calendars and information. A few to consult are the National Forensics League (http://www.nflonline.org), the National Catholic Forensics League (http://www.ncfl.org), or a variety of state-based leagues.

5. If you are in Arizona, California, Florida, Kentucky, Nevada or Texas, consult the Joy of Tournaments web page (http://www.joyoftournaments.com) and view details on specific upcoming events. Many event listings include the ability to sign up to judge through the website.

I Was Chosen to Judge - Now What?

Show up early on the day of the event; if you cannot be early, at least be on time. Bring notepads and writing utensils with you, as you will likely take many notes throughout the events you judge. Wear comfortable clothing, as tournaments are often long. Do not give up professionalism for comfort, however, and dress in a manner appropriate to influencing students. Treat all organizers, parents, fellow judges and students with the utmost respect at all times. If you do now know how something is done, simply ask.

More than anything else, have fun! The fun you enjoy will be evident to the competitors you evaluate, and success will be shared by all.