At Nova Speech and Debate, parents and other family members are essential to our team's success. The first obligation of every debater’s family is to provide judging to cover that debater’s competitions. We simply cannot go to competition without judges, and the numbers speak for themselves:
· Public Forum Debate requires 1 judge for every 2 teams (4 debaters) so the judge obligation is once for every 4 tournaments.
· Student Congress, Original Oratory, and Individual Events require 1 judge for every 5 speakers so the judge obligation is once for every 5 tournaments.
· Lincoln Douglas Debate requires 1 judge for every 2 debaters so the judge obligation is once for every 2 tournaments.
For some parents, judging is a challenge, but this is a learning league and judges learn right along with the competitors. There is always someone at a tournament to assist in the process.
There are many resources to help you prepare for judging all Speech and Debate events, but also know that your best resource may be the Nova Speech and Debate team. You can always request to come and monitor an event meeting to see our own kids in action. During these sessions students will help you understand what they personally look for in a judge's ballot and help you learn how to score each event. If you are interested in doing this reach out to our coaches.
Click Here to view manuals and sample ballots on the National Speech & Debate Association website.
Click Here to view videos posted on the National Speech & Debate Association website. These videos show samples of the actual events and how to judge them.
Debate parents AND all Debate II-V students, need to complete the online district judge training! The link to access it can be found here: The "Broward JET" (Judge Enrichment Tutorial) is now open at www.manateedistrict.org Once the tutorial is over, you will be able to print out the certificate which will need to be brought with you to each tournament. For students, this will be a grade in the 2nd quarter. For parents, this is needed for your students to be able to attend tournaments and for you to judge at tournaments after December 9th. While we understand that many of you have judged before, we are all getting on board with the district's initiative.