Contest Resources

Judge's Certification of Eligibility and Code of Ethics

All judges must have completed Pathways Level 2 and the official judge training to be eligible. Please carefully study the latest Contest Rulebook issued in the contest year, the judging ballots, read the code of ethics in advance and keep a fair fashion to choose the contestants of the top 3 speakers in each contest. On the contest day, before the contest, the Chief Judge will call a judge conference/meeting to review all judging items and important issues. Whenever facing issues of any contestant's originality or eligibility, please file the protest to the Chief Judge and Contest Chair to call a judge meeting to make the final decision.    (Item 1170 Rev. 12/2024)

Speaker's Certification of Eligibility and Originality

Please carefully read through the qualification guidelines and correctly fill in the information required. The Speaker's Certification of Eligibility and Originality applies to ALL contests! All contestants should arrive at least 10 minutes before the contest to sign the Speaker's Certificate of Eligibility and Originality and then draw the speaking position. All contestants' eligibility should be checked by every level of contest organizer. Ineligible speakers or unoriginal speakers will be disqualified and, therefore, are not entitled to win an award. 
To verify an International Speech contestant's eligibility, please employ the Eligibility Assistant in Club Central.   (Item 1183  Rev. 03/2022)
https://www.toastmasters.org/Membership/Leadership/eligibility-assistant/ 

International Speech Contest 

Judge's Guide and Ballot  
Ballot for the Vote judges: Item 1172 Rev. 05/2024
Ballot for the Tiebreaking Judge: Item 1188 Rev. 06/2024

Table Topics Contest 

Judge's Guide and Ballot 
Ballot for the Voting Judes: Item 1180  Rev. 10/2020
Ballot for the Tiebreaking Judge: Item 1180A Rev. 10/2020

SERGEANT AT ARMS (for Table Topic Contest)

Please try to arrive earlier so that you can help set up the meeting room. You will first be responsible for managing the reception area before the contest begins. 

During the Table Topics Speech Contest, you will lead the contestants out of the room, except for Contestant No. 1. Make sure to collect their electronic devices, such as cell phones, tablets, smartwatches, etc., to ensure fairness. After each contestant finishes their speech, you will bring the next contestant back into the contest venue individually, following their order.

Evaluation Contest 

Judge's Guide and Ballot 
Ballot for the Voting Judes: Item 1179  Rev. 10/2020
Ballot for the Tiebreaking Jude: Item 1179A  Rev. 10/2020

Evaluation Contestant Notes Sheet 

During the evaluation contest, all contestants listen to the test speaker's speech and take notes on the official Evaluation Contestant Notes sheet provided by the contest organizer. After the test speech, the Contest SAA leads all contestants to the preparation room, where they must leave any digital devices behind to prevent any unfair advantages. Each contestant has 5 minutes to prepare their evaluation and then waits for their speaking order. When the 5-minute preparation period is over, the Contest SAA collects all the Evaluation Contestant Notes sheets from each contestant. Before each contestant takes the stage, the Contest SAA returns the notes to them individually. Each contestant may use more than one sheet of Evaluation Contestant Notes..    (Item 1177  Rev. 10/2020) 

TEST SPEAKER

You need to prepare a speech lasting 5 to 7 minutes that has not been heard by any contestant before the contest to ensure fairness. You will have the opportunity to receive feedback from all contestants during the Evaluation Contest. Please inform the Contest Chair of your speech title at least one week before the contest. If you have any special requirements for your speech, such as a PowerPoint file, music, lighting, or any other needs, please let the Contest Chair know in advance.

SERGEANT AT ARMS (for Evaluation Contest)

Please arrive early to assist with drawing the speaking order and distributing the Evaluation Contestant Notes sheets, if necessary. During the Evaluation Contest, once the test speaker finishes their speech, you will lead all contestants out of the contest room to a designated area for their preparation. Be sure to collect any electronic devices from the contestants, such as cell phones, tablets, and smartwatches, before they leave the contest room.

You will need to collect all Evaluation Contestant Note sheets from the contestants once the 5-minute preparation time is over. Afterward, bring each contestant back into the contest venue individually, in the order of their speaking schedule, as each previous contestant finishes their speech. Before each contestant goes on stage, return their evaluation notes to them individually.

After the contest, ensure that all electronic devices are returned to their respective owners.

CONTEST CHAIR and CONTEST MASTER  

The Contest Chair is responsible for organizing and overseeing the entire contest from start to finish. This person may choose a Contest Master to host the whole contest, or he may decide to take on this role himself. The Contest Master is in charge of running the contest, ensuring that everything proceeds smoothly throughout the process.

CHIEF JUDGE and The JUDGE TEAM  

The Chief Judge is the leader of the judging team, which consists of seven or more judges. He invites an additional judge to serve as the Tiebreaking Judge. The Chief Judge is responsible for finalizing the top three winners based on the reports provided by the Timer Team and the Ballot Counter Team. It’s important to note that he does not participate in the voting process. 

After the contest, all judges, except for the Chief Judge, will use the official Contest Judge Ballots to vote for their top three contestants. Once they have completed their ballots, all judges will present them to the Chief Judge and the Ballot Counter Team for tallying. The Chief Judge will collaborate with the ballot counters to calculate each contestant's total points.

SERGEANT AT ARMS 

Please try to arrive early so the SAA team can help set up the contest venue. The SAA team will first help prepare the reception area before the contest. They may also help the Contest Chair or Master with the speaking order drawing 5–10 minutes before the contest starts and display the speaking order and the contestants' info such as their names and speech titles on the board or the screen. During the Evaluation Contest, the SAA team will lead all the contestants out of the contest room to the designated preparation area or room except the first contestant. After five minutes you must collect their evaluation notes and then you will bring each contestant individually back into the contest room according to their speaking order. As for the Table Topics Contest, the SAA team will lead all the contestants except the first contestant to the designated preparation area/room to stand by, and then lead contestants back to the contest room one by one according to their speaking order.

Before the SAA Team leads the contestants to the designated area or room, please remind all the contestants to leave their digital devices in the contest room.  

ASSIGNMENT TAKERS 

Speech Contest: Timer's Record Sheet and Instructions    (Item 1175  Rev. 10/2024)

Please bring a pen or a pencil. Your team of 2-3 will use a stopwatch or timer to keep track of the time and use the colored flag, board, or lights to signal the time to each contestant during their speech. After each contestant's speech, you write their time on the Timer’s Record Sheet. Your teammates will help monitor whether the record is accurate. This sheet will be given to the Timers on the contest date before the contest starts. Please review it before the contest and learn the correct way of keeping records. Present the record to the Chief Judge immediately after each Contest is finished.   

*** PLEASE KEEP THE TIME RECORDS SECRET!! – Do NOT reveal the time record to anyone except for the Chief Judge. If any contestant is disqualified, the Chief Judge / Contest Chair will announce the number of disqualified contestants (but not their names) during the award ceremony.

Ballot Counter's Tally Sheet   (Item 1176  Rev. 03/2021)

Please remember to bring a pen or pencil to perform your duties effectively. At the end of each contest, the Chief Judge or the ballot counter team will collect the ballots from all judges. The Ballot Counters will assist the Chief Judge in gathering the ballots from the Voting Judges. Familiarizing yourself with the seating arrangement of each voting judge before the contest can help expedite the ballot collection process.

The Ballot Counter Team must leave the room with the Chief Judge to tally each contestant’s points using the Counter’s Tally Sheet, which will be provided to the ballot counters on the contest date before it begins. Please review the sheet and learn the correct method for recording scores/points before the contest date. The Ballot Counter Team needs to double-check the ballot records on the tally sheet to ensure the total points for each contestant are accurate. 

If there is a tie or multiple ties, please consult the Chief Judge to break the tie by referring to the Tiebreaking Judge's Ballot. Additionally, be sure to coordinate with the Chief Judge to exclude any disqualified contestants due to reasons such as ineligibility, lack of originality, referencing another contestant's content, or exceeding the time limit. 

Once the team has completed this task, promptly present the results, tally sheets, and all ballots to the Chief Judge for the final determination of the winners.  

*** PLEASE KEEP THE RESULTS CONFIDENTIAL – Do NOT reveal the contest results or any judge's top 3 winners to anyone except the Chief Judge. The Contest Chair will announce the winners during the award ceremony.

PLEASE KEEP THE SCORES SECRET – Each Speech Contest will have a First Place, a Second Place and a Third Place Winners. If there are less than 2 contestants, each of the contestant will be placed. 

Order Drawing Sheet  

Call the participants to draw the speaking order at least 15 minutes before the contest starts. After the drawing, the contest work crew can display the speaking order on the screen or board. 

When conducting an online contest, a random order generator can be employed to decide the speaking order for the contest. Simply enter all the contestants' names and then press the random order key to generate the speaking order. In an online contest, it's suggested to allow the system to generate the order three times and use the last generated order for the contest to ensure fairness.  

https://www.ultimatesolver.com/en/random-order 

OTHER RESOURCES

Conduct a quality speech contest.