Rulebooks
This section is probably the most important resource you will need if you are preparing to be a BEST judge. Reading the rulebooks for Speech and Debate events prior to the scheduled judge training is crucial to an easy and successful onboarding.
You can find the latest version of our event manual by following this link: BEST Foundation Official Speech Event Manual 2020-2021
BEST has a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism. We have a Plagiarism rulebook that helps coaches, students and judges understand BEST’s plagiarism rules. Read it here
You can find the latest version of our debate rulebook here.
Ballots
In this list you can find samples of the ballots judges have to fill in during any given round, if the tournament is being held online, you can use these as a reference to guide you when you type your comments into Speechwire or Tabbycat.
For virtual tournaments, we are currently using Speechwire for providing feedback and rankings for Speech Event, and Tabbycat for Debate. Training is provided to judges on how to access and use those platforms.
Sample Performances
You can find examples of different pieces performed in the past at BEST Tournaments on our YouTube channel.
Sample Feedback
We have also collected some sample feedback from previous judges, to give you an idea of how to provide constructive feedback. This folder contains sample feedback by event type. Debate feedback is given verbally and we are working on collecting and transcribing some samples and will upload them as soon as possible.
More resources
Check out our 'Judge Shorts' playlist on Youtube for more ways to learn about feedback, rules, and rounds.