Greater Philadelphia Regional
High School Ethics Bowl 2012
SCORINGRULES
1. Judges shall evaluatethe responses of teams solelyin terms ofthe followingcriteria: ClarityandIntelligibility -Was the presentation clear and systematic?Regardless of
whetheror notyouagreewith the conclusion, did theteamgive a coherent argument
in a clearand succinct manner?
AvoidanceofEthicalIrrelevance: Did theteam avoid ethicallyirrelevant issues?Or was the team preoccupied with issues that arenotethicallyrelevant or areof minor ethical relevanceto thecase?
Identification and Discussion of Central Ethical Dimensions: Did the team’s presentation clearlyidentifyand thoroughlydiscuss the centralethical dimensions of the case?
DeliberativeThoughtfulness:Did the team’s presentation indicate both awareness and thoughtful consideration ofdifferent viewpoints, includingespeciallythosethat
would loomlargeinthereasoning ofindividuals who disagreewith theteam’s position?
2. Thejudges will scoreeach team as follows:
0-40 fora team’s answer to the Moderator’s question(40 best); In evaluating a team’s answer the judges will give the teama scoreof0-10 relative toeachofthe four evaluationcriteria indicatedaboveandtotal the sum.
0-10 for theopposing team’s commentary(10 best);
0-10 for the response totheopposing team’scommentary, and for theresponse to the judges questions, by the teamthat answeredthe Moderator’s question(10 best).
Bothinevaluating a team’s commentary, and theother team’s responseto the commentary, the judges will take into account thefour evaluationcriteria indicatedabove, but give the teams anoverallscore,ratherthana separatepoint scorerelative toeachofthe criteria.
3. Thetop fourteams in the competition will be determined in the followingway
MorningCompetition:
Teams will be rankedbased ona) thenumberofwins,followed byb) the numberofties, followed by c) point differential. Thus, allteams with three winswillrankaheadofallteams with twowins.All teams with twowins will rankaheadofallteams with onewin. Withinrankings, a teamwith more ties ranks abovea teamwith fewer ties. Finally, forteams with thesamenumberofwins andties, a teamwith a higherpoint differential wouldrankabovea teamwith a lowerpointdifferential.
For example:
TEAM / WINS / TIES / POINTS / RANKSchool R / 3 wins / 0 ties / 12 pointdifferential / 1st
SchoolM / 3 wins / 0 ties / 10 pointdifferential / 2nd
School B / 2 wins / 1 tie / 15 pointdifferential / 3rd
School S / 2 wins / 0 ties / -8 pointdifferential / 4th
School H / 1 win / 2 ties / -6 pointdifferential / 5th
Note, for examplethat School Bhasagreaterpointdifferential than School M, and School H has a lower negativepointdifferential than School S. Nonetheless, M ranks ahead ofBbecause it has morewins, and, likewise,Sranks aheadofH.
Point differentials:Pointdifferentialsarethe margin of victoryor loss. A point differentialforeach match is determined bytaking the team’s total points and subtractingtheotherteam’s total. Note that point differentials willbenegativein the caseof aloss. At theend ofthe morningcompetition the point differential for
ateam is simplythe sumofthe point differentials forthat team in each of its three morningmatches.
The4 teams with thehighest rankingbased on themorningcompetition will enter the eveningcompetition.
Ties at the end ofthe morningcompetition
a. If2 teams havethe sameranking,and if theyplayed againsteach otherduring the three rounds of play,whoeverwon that competition willgain thehigher ranking.
b. Themethod ina) abovewillalso applyto a 3 (ormore) waytiein ranking,
justin case allteams playedeach other and transitivityholds (e.g. A beat B, B
beatC, but Cdid notbeat A).
c. Incasenumbers a) and b) do not determineawinner, then raw points willbe usedto determineawinner.
d. Finally, ifa-c abovefail,an impartial random process will determinethe final outcomebetween the teams.In case2 teams arestill tied, a coin toss will be used.If morethan 2 teams still remain, the high card drawnfrom a standard deck of playingcards will decide. This process will be repeated untilthe outcomeis decided.
4. Thewinner of theEthics Bowl, amongthe topfourteams, willbedetermined as follows:
EveningCompetition
Thetop 4teams willfaceeach other duringthe afternoonin 2 elimination matches.
Judges willuse thesamenumerical scoring guidelines as theydid duringthe morningcompetition.
Thewinner ofthe Greater Philadelphia Regional High School Ethics Bowl willbethe team that wins 2 matches in theafternooncompetition.
Ties duringsemifinal matches
Incaseof atie in a semifinal match:
1)if thetwo teams havefacedeach other in themorningmatches, the winner of that match wins thetie-break,
or else 2)the team with the most wins inthe morningwins thetie-break, or else 3)the team with the mostties in themorningwins thetie-break,
or else 4)the team with the highest point differentialin themorningwins thetie- break,
or else 5) theteam with the highest total pointsinthe morningwins thetie-break, or else 6) a coin toss decides thewinner of thetie-break.
In thecaseof atiein thefinal round, thetwo finalists willbedeclared co-winners ofthe Greater Philadelphia Regional High School Ethics Bowl.
Adapted from the RULES FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE APPE INTERCOLLEGIATE ETHICS BOWL (2013) found at