Dennis Bradford – Candidate for Regional Advocate 2026 – Northeast

Note: This is a candidate page for a Judge Foundry Election. Information on this page is provided by the candidate, and does not represent the opinions or positions of the Elections Committee or of Judge Foundry. For more information about this election, see the schedule and index for the Elections at the 2026 Annual Meeting.

Nomination Statement

As most of you already know, I have been the Northeast Regional Advocate this past year. What did I do in that role?

• Sent monthly emails with Judge Foundry-related news and lists of upcoming events in the region. (If you’re not getting these, please let me know!)
• Responded to the inquiries of several dozen people in the region looking to become judges, either matching them up with local judge mentors/exam proctors, advocating for remote testing accommodations with Joe, our Levels Lead, or (for those local to me) mentoring them directly.
• Maintenance! Last spring I was responsible for reviewing the maintenance checklists of all the L1s and L2s in the region.
• Moderated the Judge Foundry Northeast Discord server.

And here’s the stuff I’ve done the past year outside of my role as Regional Advocate:

• I’ve written a lot of test questions. Like… a lot. Some for the L1 exam, some for update quizzes, some for an L1 update quiz which never saw the light of day (still trying to make that happen, btw), and a good number for a project making “Comprehension Quizzes” designed to accompany the L1 Essentials video series produced by JudgeCast: you’ll hear more about that in the next couple weeks.
• Hosted a series of local weekly judge classes between November and April.
• Served on the Judge Foundry Election Committee, and as the Chair the past month or so.
• Certified 6 new judges.

Q1: Judge Program Direction

Question: Many members are uncertain about our future due to Wizards of the Coast’s plans to reinstate a Wizards-run judge program. How will you support your region through this uncertainty and potential transition? 

My answer to this question is the same as it was last year: by keeping communication lines open as much as possible. I expect (hope) that when we get a Wizards program again, we’ll see a return of many folks who are judging but aren’t currently involved in a judge program.

Q2: Local Judges and Judging

Question: As a Regional Advocate, how will you support local judges and encourage local judging in your region?

Likewise, I plan to just keep doing all the things listed in my nomination statement.

Q3: Programs and Projects

Question: What tools/projects do you plan to use to support and grow your region? 

I continue to be ambivalent about having a regional Discord server separate from the main Judge Foundry discord; I think we’d get 90% of the functionality of the current setup with a Northeast channel in the main server, the main upside being that more people would find it. That being said, I do think the regional Discord has had a small uptick in use this past year, which is nice to see.

I made a couple of aborted attempts to hold a judge conference this past year. As much as I’d still like to see conferences happen in the region, promising more than what I can deliver hasn’t helped anyone. This next year, I’m going to leave conference organizing to those who have that skillset/experience. If you want to take lead on organizing one, let me know and I’ll be happy to assist.