NITOC 2023 Parent Judges
Thank you for all the rounds you have judged and all the excellent feedback you have provided so far this year. The students competing at NITOC are depending on your keen eye, sharp minds, soft hearts and lively pens yet again. We cannot have a tournament without your significant investment in judging.
Parent judges are needed in every round of the tournament to maintain its integrity and ensure the tournament runs on schedule. The judging requirement is based on the child's number of speech and debate events. If the judging requirement cannot be met by a competitor's parent(s), the competitor can arrange for a substitute judge(s) to fulfill the requirement.
All speech competitors are required to provide a judge for a minimum of two rounds for every speech event they are registered for. For example, if you register for three speech events, then you are required to provide judges for a minimum of six rounds.
All Debate Competitors are required to provide a judge for three rounds.
Clubs are encouraged to work together to fulfill the judging requirements for their members.
We ask all parents to experience a NITOC Judge Orientation and that you show up 1 hour before every round to grab a ballot!
Our Judge Lounge will offer light snacks. Please order your meals HERE.
Chaperones
All competitors must be chaperoned. Chaperones must also meet the judging requirements for the chaperoned student.
Parent Judging Guidelines
JUDGES MAY
- Judge students from their own state or region.
- Judge the same student in multiple speech events.
- Judge the same speech event as long as you don’t judge any student more than once within the same event.
JUDGES MAY NOT
- Judge students from their club, their own children or relatives.
- Judge students they have coached.
- Judge the same student more than once within the same speech event.
- Judge a debate student/team more than once within in each form of debate.
OUTROUND JUDGES
Speech Semifinals & Finals | Parli QF onward | TP & LD Outround 5 onward
- Parents may not judge events in which their child is still competing.
- Alumni may not judge events in which their sibling is still competing.
- Coaches, parents and alumni may not judge events in which a student they coach is still competing.
PARLI
- Coaches, parents and alumni may assist teams during prep time and judge other teams the same round until quarterfinals.
- Coaches, parents and alumni may NOT judge quarterfinals, semifinal or finals if they assist any team during prep time.
STOATRAX
StoaTrax is Stoa’s ballot tracking software used by Ballot Push, Ballot Return and Tab. Wear your judge name tag at all times to make Ballot Push and Ballot Return faster.
StoaTrax in Debate
Using a “blind ballot push”, a ballot is turned over in front of the potential judge and confirmed for no conflicts. StoaTrax is used only to alert if the judge has already judged a team or individual so that a new ballot may be found. It records teams and individuals you have judged. It does not record your decision or speaker points.
StoaTrax in Speech
Shows ballot push staff which rooms do NOT have a club conflict, speeding the process. You must still verify that you do not have a personal conflict by reviewing the ballot roster. It records competitors and events you have judged and notifies ballot push staff if you have already judged a particular competitor within the same speech event. It does not record your rankings.