Community judge

A community judge is a judge recruited from the community. These judges could have any sort of background, from simply being an average Joe to being the Mayor of San Diego. Therefore, students must be prepared for any sort of judging philosophy or experience level.

Community judges are sometimes referred to as "lay judges", especially in other leagues.

Use of community judges
Extensive use of community judges is one of the distinctive elements of NCFCA/Stoa debate. According to the NCFCA Philosophy of Judging: Judges who are familiar with the goals of this league and the theory and practice of forensics may provide detailed critiques for competitors and thorough reasons for their decisions. At the same time, lay judges encourage competitors to become so adept at their particular skill that they can literally teach others and explain their position even to those with no prior knowledge of competitive speech or debate. Lay judges may also provide competitors opportunities to use the techniques necessary to explain and defend their worldview to audience members with different or opposing beliefs.

Simplicity
If the judge is completely new to the world of speech and debate and hasn't judged before, they will likely ask you to "Keep it simple". In this situation, whoever best explains their side will often win. It is important with these judges to explain each term thoroughly and have sound logic. If the speakers on a team are too technical or confusing, they will often lose points with new judges. It's also often important to speak slowly and clearly, so that inexperienced judges will have time to flow.

Clarity
Many judges will want speakers to be clear in their reasoning. It is important, then, to thoroughly explain the logic and impact each point. Repeat important tags. When evidence is read, it's a good idea to give a short summary of what the evidence was saying in order to make the point clear for the judge.

Stock issues
Community judges who have judged more than once may look more at stock issues. In a debate round, nearly every argument can be tied back to one of the four standard stock issues (Topicality, Inherency, Significance, and Solvency). To make it easy for these judges, try to tie back each argument to one of these four categories.

Speaking
Community judges are more likely than any other kind of judge to be speaker judges - that is, judges who vote primarily based on the speaking abilities of each team (rather than the arguments they present.) In practice, however, many community judge's perceptions of speaking ability are heavily weighted by how understandable and persuasive they find each team's arguments; even if a judge appears to be judging speaking ability alone, a less-eloquent team may be able to win them over by explaining their arguments carefully and clearly.

Judges whose first language is not English
These are rare, but some ESL adults do occasionally judge at tournaments. It's vital with these judges to use basic words whenever possible and explain everything very clearly. Making sure you pronounce each word carefully and speak slowly is also very wise.