AMTA CRC Issues Judges' Directive

During the first two weeks of regional tournaments, it came to the attention of the AMTA Board of Directors that there was confusion about what may or may not constitute a judging conflict at an AMTA-sanctioned tournament. In light of this, the Competition Response Committee (CRC) was directed to craft a mid-season directive for AMTA Representatives to follow until such time as the entire Board of Directors can consider a motion for a rule change on this topic. In that regard, the CRC has crafted the following directive, which has been communicated to AMTA Representatives and AMTA Hosts for the remaining tournaments:

No judge should be assigned to judge the same team more than once during a given tournament. (This restriction does not apply to judging the same team at different tournaments or to judging a particular student as a member of both a bye team and a member of a competitive team.) No judge should be assigned to judge a team with which they are currently affiliated (including as a coach or through a family relationship) and judges should be asked at or before judge check-in whether they have any such affiliations. If possible, AMTA representatives should honor requests by judges not to judge a particular round, even by judges who do not have a conflict under the standards listed above. No team shall have a claim for relief based on deviations from this guidance.

The CRC notes that this directive has been passed with unanimous support from the committee. If anyone has questions about the CRC decision, please contact Frank Guliuzza, CRC Chair. If you have questions about the application of this directive to future AMTA tournaments, please jointly contact Johnathan Woodward, Tabulation Director, and William Warihay, Tournament Administration Committee Chair.

Back to Articles