Judge Instructions

JUDGE’S INSTRUCTIONS – WAMAC SPEECH TOURNAMENT

1. Following the judge’s meeting you will report to your assigned room. Please be sure you have your constitution and official ballot for each category you are judging.

2.At no time are the three judges to confer with each other. If you feel there has been a constitutional violation, send the chairperson for a member of the evaluation committee. A judge cannot give a division IV rating. The evaluation committee will do this.

3. Any time you think there should be a disqualification – send for the evaluation committee immediately. Do not discuss it with anyone. Continue to judge the students until the committee arrives.

4. Be sure that you have the correct official ballot for category you are judging. There may have been changes, so please change your ballot in the same order as each judge in your center. Try to check the school code on the comment sheet, too.

5. Due to possible conflicts, some students may appear out of order. If the next speaker is not at the room when you are ready for them, instruct the room chair person to call the next performer. If you wait, it may throw the schedule way off.

6. Each room will have a timer/ chairperson who will announce the contestants. They will also be informing you of any changes. They should go to the office if the evaluation committee is needed to rule on a disqualification. Please be sure that the timer knows how to run the stopwatch, that they have the right time cards and that they display the time cards constantly to the performers.

7. You will NOT be giving oral comments – but will have written ones. These comment sheets are very important to the coaches and students. Please be as helpful as possible in giving some ideas for specific improvement. Negative comments also need constructive suggestions. Keep in mind that this is the first contest for many of the students and, above all, please remember to justify your rating.

8. Be sure you have listened to all speakers in the category before you rank them. However, keeping track of your order of preferences throughout the day is essential.

9. When you are ranking the speakers – remember that “1” is the best. After choosing the top 10 speakers, be sure the rest are given an “11” ranking. Please do not confer with other judges when rating or ranking.

10. Please be sure to turn in your comment sheet and official ballot when all speakers are done in that event. Double check your comment sheets to be certain that the ratings and rankings match the official ballot.

Thank you for your help in judging this contest. You are a very important part of this contest. Let us know if there is anything we can do to make your day more comfortable.

Leave your name and address in the office before leaving, so we are sure to get your check to the right address.

Have a good day of judging!

P.S, Rule sheets are taken from the IHSSA constitution.

Rating of the students with a I, II, etc. is also very, very important for team scoring along with the rankings.