Rules and Information for Judges:

- A copy of the judging criteria sheet will be provided on the day

- Judges can either use the criteria sheet to judge both teams or split to judge
a team each
- Each speaker is given 5 minutes to speak.
- If the speaker goes over slightly, it is fine and can be ignored
- However, points may be deducted if the speaker goes more
than 30 seconds beyond the end time

- Points should be deducted for:

- Heckling (constant barrage of POIs)
- Inappropriate comments
- Ad Hominem
- Distracted or informal behavior
- Going over time (if over 6 minutes 30 seconds)

Judging Criteria Sheet

Very Developing Good Great Fantastic Incredible

Limited or
none

Analysis and Logic

Knowledge

Explanation and
Detail

Rebuttals

Rhetoric

Speaking Skills

Self-
control/Respect

Teamwork

Structure

Note taking

Speaker 1 Feedback (2 positives, one target) Reply?

Speaker 2 Feedback (2 positives, one target) Reply?

Speaker 3 Feedback (2 positives, one target)

Team score does not need to be

shared with team, used only to
deduce winner.

Team Score: _____/100

(Please see over the page to moderate judging scores)

_________________________________________________________________

Whole Team Score from 100

0-67: Teams who score in this range are totally unprepared, speak for under 1-2 minutes, or perhaps
fail to engage in the debate at any point.

67- 70: Teams at this score have made some attempt to participate in the debate but perhaps have a
very wide range of areas to work on and faced great difficulty in getting involved. They might just be
starting to pick up their first debating skills.

71- 75: Teams scoring here have some good skills but might fall down in a few areas to the point that
it really hampers the debate. They are developing some positive skills.

75- 80: Average- engaged with the issue, confident and clearly spoken, well researched and
prepared- might have some weaknesses, mostly well reasoned though in the heat of the moment the
logic might sometimes fall down. An enjoyable debate, these teams are developing some good
arguments.

80- 83: Teams at this score are starting to become competitive, offering logical, well reasoned
arguments, sometimes unexpected and creative ideas. Most of the ticks will be in the great or
fantastic range on the grid. These teams are already well developed debaters engaging expertly with
issues and ideas.

83- 90: Fantastic job, extremely prepared, multitude of logical and developed rebuttals, highly
proficient speakers, outstanding effort, very close analysis of the issue, excellent
evaluation/construction of various mechanisms. In most tournaments this is the highest score that any
team will achieve.

90-100: very few teams will manage to score here, ever. Even Mark Anthony himself might have
struggled to break through 83.

Guidelines for Feedback

Adjudicators should try to give brief feedback to both teams as to why they have made the decision
they have. They should explain who has won but should not share the scores.

Thank you to adjudicators for keeping feedback positive, constructive, speedy and just- we really
appreciate your contributions.