HS Speech Adjudicator Guidelines

• Familiarize yourself with specific rules and evaluation criteria of categories you will evaluate.
• Make sure you’re not adjudicating any contestants you know personally; report problems to officials.
• Position yourself so your view and hearing for evaluation are unobstructed; evaluate all contestants on their own merit.

• Content/trigger warnings – before you time or evaluate, a contestant may warn the room about content in their presentation that could traumatize/retraumatize people, who may wish to leave before the presentation begins. [New]
• Double-entry – Please allow contestants to leave/arrive between presentations; contestants are advised to sign in at their second room; adjudicators should remain in the room until all signed-in double-entered contestants present. To keep the round moving, you may go out of order and allow present contestants to perform before others arrive.
• Accessibility requests – Incorporate accommodations/modifications as noted on the ballot, without drawing undue attention. Do not critique face masks (used for public health). Prompting is not allowed except when noted/requested.
• Time limits – In all categories except Radio News Reporting, a 15-second grace period will be allowed, after which one point will be deducted from that evaluation.  Although there are no minimum time limits, adjudicators may lower scores for unduly short presentations in the speech organization/support or literary content criteria.
• Disqualification – If you believe a contestant is violating rules, please listen to the entire presentation and evaluate the best you can, then report the matter to contest officials, who will investigate and render a decision. Never announce disqualification, except Demonstration Speech, RULE 4, where illicit items may endanger safety.
• Source Citation – Speeches should be well researched with sources cited orally (no printed list of works cited required).
• Implicit Bias Unconscious bias or stereotypes, when unchecked, may influence our ability to evaluate impartially. Before evaluating, reflect on preconceived notions you may hold. This includes quality material; use descriptors in the criterion (insight into human values, motivations, relationships, problems, and understandings, and not characterized by sentimentality, violence for its own sake, unmotivated endings, or stereotyped characterizations), not what you consider “literary merit.”
• Video (virtual contests) – Video quality may be impacted by lighting, internet, access to equipment, etc. Your ratings and comments should focus on the presentation itself and questions in evaluation criteria. Please watch videos continuously without pausing, rewinding/rewatching, so you evaluate as if you were watching a live presentation

Whenever you select a rating less than 5, describe how contestants did not meet your expectations. When deducting more than one point, describe several items for improvement, or explain magnitude of a single issue. If something applies under multiple evaluation items (e.g., soft volume impacted both audibility as well as emotional intensity called for), explain how your concern specifically relates to each area (to avoid “double jeopardy”).

Calculate total points, record at the bottom of the evaluation sheet; print name and sign. Strive to find areas for improvement for the subdistrict or district level, so contestants are incentivized to grow. Note scores required to advance: 13 at subdistrict; 17 at district. See this table for awards at State:

Written Comments: Make specific written comments apply to criteria for evaluation – leave no area blank. Any rating less than five should have justification for reduction in score, citing specific examples of what a student did or said. Be honest, positive, supportive and helpful with suggestions for improvement.

Oral Evaluation: At the end of each round, you may give a brief, generalized (not individual) oral evaluation.

Return Forms:

• At the conclusion of each section, record points from signed contestant evaluation sheets on the ballot provided, making sure points on the ballot are the same as those on the evaluation sheet.
• Sign the ballot (form with all contestants listed) and return it, along with contestant evaluation sheets (unless otherwise instructed by the contest host) to the contest headquarters.