Judges

If you enjoy the exhilaration of youth excellence and are enthused by creativity and challenge, you may be interested in becoming a Tournament judge.

To find out more about what is involved, please contact the Tournament Director in your state or territory.

The Role of the Judge

TOM judges have a twofold role. Firstly, they provide immediate, positive and constructive verbal feedback to teams. Secondly, they assess the performance of the team based on a detailed set of scoring criteria. This information is strictly confidential and is used by the TOM Committee to select teams to move on to the next stage of the Tournament. Judges are an integral part of the Tournament of Minds program and could not function without the help of the hundreds of judges who volunteer each year. We value the dedication and commitment of our experienced judges and are always delighted to welcome new judges. We thank you for your time and wonderful support of Tournament of Minds.

Judging Panels

All teams present to a panel of judges. This panel usually consists of three judges. There will be an experienced judge on the panel and one of the judges is usually a teacher, another may be a relevant professional e.g. a practising engineer. Having judges from outside education is a wonderful strength of TOM.

Selecting a Region

It is of course up to you which Region you judge in and on what day you judge - for those regions with Regional Tournaments over two days.

Selecting a Challenge

Each team that participates in TOM presents two different Challenge solutions. One is their Long Term Challenge solution. This is the result of 6 weeks of preparation. Each team can choose to work on a Long Term Challenge in one of the following categories: Applied Technology (Moving Making in 2009), Language Literature, Maths Engineering or Social Science. This presentation is conducted in front of the judging panel and an audience. Each presentation takes ten minutes.

Each team also presents a solution to the Spontaneous Challenge. As the name suggests, this is an unseen challenge that is given to the team at the time of their presentation. Only the team and the judging panel are able to watch this presentation. A Spontaneous Challenge presentation generally takes about five minutes.

You may choose to judge the Spontaneous Challenge or one of the four categories of Long Term Challenges. You also have a choice with regard to judging Primary or Secondary school teams.

Time Commitment

The time commitment varies from region to region. As a guide, in metropolitan regions a judge typically sits on a panel for one session of approximately 3.5 hours on one of the days. In other regions the sessions are generally from 2-3 hours.

Judges should arrive about 30 minutes prior to the appointed time. Some panels will feel the need to discuss their scoring for a short time after their session has finished. Some TOM judges generously offer to judge for more than one session.

Training for Judges

In July, each judge will receive a copy of the Judges Instruction Manual, the four Long Term Challenges and a sample of a previous Spontaneous Challenge. It is expected that judges would familiarise themselves with the rules, and the Challenge they are judging (if it is a Long Term Challenge). If judging the Spontaneous Challenge, it will only be shown to judges just prior to their judging session.