A BAUDL round is never complete until there is a judge in the back.

With events like the January 30 Bay Area Urban Debate League (BAUDL) tournament at UC Berkeley right around the corner, we’d like to spotlight individuals who are integral to our competitions – our volunteer judges!

BAUDL is fortunate enough to have a rich pool of talented, intelligent, and devoted volunteer judges. Diverse in age, occupation, and experience, the typical BAUDL judge is difficult to reduce to a mere prototype. Nationally ranked college debaters, former high school champions, members of the community, curious passersby who suddenly become hooked to the vision of our organization — BAUDL judges vary in their backgrounds, but are united in the vision to bringing debate to all Bay Area classrooms.

One such judge is Amy Kessler, a familiar face on the BAUDL circuit for more than a year. Kessler, a dedicated and thoughtful judge, is an example of how our volunteers come from all walks of life and, most of all, of how essential volunteers are to making BAUDL’s mission a reality.

Question: What is your day job?
Amy Kessler: I’m the Traffic Coordinator for Current TV, which means I schedule all the commercials that run on the network. Outside of the 9-to-5, I teach organic gardening and composting workshops around the Bay Area.

Q: How did you hear about BAUDL?  How long have you been judging?
AK: I read about BAUDL’s inception in the newspaper last year and instantly contacted [BAUDL Executive Director, Blake Johnson] to judge. So I’ve been judging since the first real tournament.

Q: What is your experience with debate, if any?
AK: I debated all four years of high school in Wisconsin (even attending a summer debate camp) and eventually attended college on a debate scholarship. I started as a regular policy debater, but switched to L-D (Lincoln-Douglas, or one-on-one “value” debating) sophomore year and ended up winning several tournaments, including the Pi Kappa Delta Nationals. During my last years of college, I was a high-school debate coach and judge for local teams. I was off the circuit for several years as I moved around the country, but I’m very glad to be back!

Q: What has been your favorite BAUDL memory thus far?
AK: Showing up for the first tournament of the season and finding out how absolutely huge this year’s turnout was.

Q: What is your favorite part of being a BAUDL judge?
AK: Watching debaters improve throughout the season – and often improve visibly during a single round!

Interested in judging for our January 30 UC Berkeley tournament (and possibly beyond)? Get in touch at !