Please make sure you watch one or both of these sample debates to familiarize yourself with the format and judging. It is very helpful in understanding how POIs work and how to conduct the debate.

HSPDP Sample Debate

2016 ESU MSPDP Championship Debate

MYDT Judges Training:

Review presentation here

View MYDT Virtual Workshop here

Tips for Judges

Things to Remember When Judging:

* Leave Your Opinions At The Door! The only facts known in the debate are what the teams bring forth. It is not the job of a 13 year old to change a judge’s lifelong belief.

* Don’t Fill In For Speakers. Judges should not “fill in” what they believe a speaker was going to say, should have said, or probably meant. What speakers say is what the speakers said, and that’s all there is.

* Proposition Teams May Reasonably “Shrink” A Topic. But defining a topic is restricted to defining words in the topic within reasonable limits, such as a “child” being defined as between the ages of 8 and 16, rather than a “child” being defined as a juvenile cactus clinging to the nether regions of the Arabian peninsula.

* Take Thorough Notes On Your Flowsheet. This will help you decide the debate and set a good example for the students.

Assigning Speaker Points

You will have to assign points to all students in the debate. These points are a measure of individual performance in the debate. We suggest you use the following scale:

30: Almost no one should get a 30. A perfect score should happen every few years with a really brilliant speech.

28-29: Brilliant.

26-27: Strong, well above average.

25: Above average

23-24: Modest success as a debater

Points below 23 should be reserved for people who are both unsuccessful as debaters and are also obnoxious and mean-spirited.

Points should never drop below a 20, even if a debater was particularly bad. Lower points frequently exclude a debate team from elimination rounds, so if you give points below 20, you are saying that a debater has no chance of rehabilitation in any other debates.