Community Judges 2024

We are grateful for your willingness to participate in the Beacon at the Bay Speech Tournament as a Community Judge!

Your service is greatly appreciated and your registration below will help the tournament run smoothly and help make your experience a good one. If you have any questions prior to the tournament, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Reminder on Community Judge Qualifications

  • Judges must be at least 18 years or older, graduated from high school, and no longer competing in any junior or high school speech and debate tournaments or leagues.
  • Judges may be friends or co-workers of a competitor's parents, extended family members, former competitors who have graduated from high school, neighbors, or anyone from the community who is willing to serve.

Registration Information

  • Please click on the "JUDGE REGISTRATION" tab at the top of the page and follow the prompts.
  • PLEASE KNOW THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO JUDGE CONSECUTIVE ROUNDS. With that in mind, and if you are available to judge more than one round on a given day, please make sure they are not consecutive rounds. You will need the time between rounds to fill out your ballots.
  • Please indicate on the Judge Registration if a competitor has invited you by typing the competitor’s name in the “Conflict” box. This will help Tournament staff maintain integrity and fairness in the judging as much as possible.

Directions and Parking

  • The speech tournament will be held at Sovereign Grace Bible Church, 101 S Pacific Coast Hwy Redondo Beach, CA 90277 Link to Google Maps

Arrival, Check-In and Orientation

  • Judge Orientation and Training Sessions take place 45 minutes before your scheduled round so please arrive at the Tournament location at least 45 minutes before you are scheduled to judge.
  • Proceed to Community Judge Check-In (location will be provided at time of arrival)
  • Once you have checked-in, you will then be directed to the Judges Orientation room for your Judge Orientation and Training Session.
  • The round should take approximately 90 minutes to complete.
  • After the round, please allow 30-45 minutes to fill out your ballot(s) in the Ballot Return Area and enjoy refreshments prepared for you. Your feedback to our young speakers is invaluable.
  • From start to finish, including Judges Orientation, it takes approximately 3 hours to complete this process.
  • Due to time constraints, it may not be feasible to judge 2 speech rounds consecutively. Judging every other round, however, is easily done.

Terminology Notes

  • "(xe)" = students is competing in more than one event for this pattern
  • "Pattern A" = speeches in the following events -- Apologetics, Expository, Extemporaneous, Original Interp, and Original Oratory
  • "Pattern B" = speeches in the following events -- Duo, Humorous Interp, Impromptu, Interp in a Box, Mars Hill, and Persuasive
  • "TP" = Team Policy Debate
  • "LD" = Lincoln Douglas Debate

Preview and Getting a Head Start

  • Judges Orientation and Training is required for all of our Community Judges because we believe it is the best way for you to learn about our speech competition and how to be a good judge for this competition. Any questions you might have will be answered at the Orientation.
  • We do, however, understand that you may want to learn on your own as well. You may do so by going to the Stoa USA website.
  • You can also view the judge orientation slides ahead of time for:
  1. Individual Speech Events (IE) ~ Click here
  2. Team Policy Debate (TP) ~ Click here
  3. Lincoln Douglas Debate (LD) ~ Click here

Thank you again, for your support and willingness to judge! Your involvement is so important!

"In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:4-5)