Out in the audience, there'll be a set of judges, scattered among the audience, each with a points form that they use to rate you against what a winning effort should be and how you stack up against the others. There is a different form for each contest, since each contest involves different skills. This requirement is intended to prevent professional speakersfrom joining Toastmasters out of the blue solely to compete toward the World Championship of Public Speaking. District and International officers are barred so the judges won't be swayed by their titles. It varies from District to District.
Some Districts have two contests in the fall, one in the winter, and two in the spring.
Others have two in the fall, two in the winter, and one in the spring. All that matters as far as Toastmasters International is concerned is that all Districts must have held their Evaluation, Humorous, and International Speech contests by the time the Regional conferences roll around in June. At the club level, sometimes all you get is a handshake and some applause. By the time you've gotten up to Division and District levels, you're getting some fairly impressive trophies. My District has different rules for the various speech contests.