Guide to Judging: Event Preparation and Execution

Overview

The process of preparing for judging needs to be taken into consideration in the initial stages of event planning. The success of Judging at an event takes coordination between the Event Partner, the Judge Advisor, and Judge volunteers. The size of the event, the number of awards given out, the event agenda, and volunteer recruitment all impact the judging process.

Prior to Event – Tasks by Role

Event Partner

• Recruit a qualified Judge Advisor that would not have any conflicts of interest with teams at the event
• Collaborate with the Judge Advisor to recruit and select Judges well in advance to ensure there are enough Judges to meet the needs of the event
• Ensure that there is a secure and quiet room with adequate space for the judging staff to deliberate. Only the judging staff and specifically authorized volunteers for the event should have access to this room
• Know and understand the roles of the Judges and the Judge Advisor
• Ensure that the Judging staff has appropriate judging materials, including clipboards, pens, highlighters, sticky-notes, copies of current Judging documents such as rubrics and note taking sheets, and other needed items – These documents cannot be modified or replaced with unofficial versions

Judge Advisor

• Must have passed Judge Certification Course
• Have no conflicts of interest with any teams attending the event
• Review with the Event Partner the awards to be offered at the event
• Work with Event Partner to ensure adequate Judges are recruited and confirm their attendance and skill sets
• Manage any potential conflicts of interest that individual Judges may have with teams at the event
• Prepare a judging schedule based on the number of teams registered and the agenda for the event
• Formulate a clear process for how Engineering Notebooks will be collected and judged
• Confirm with the Event Partner that the Judging staff will have all appropriate and current judging materials and documents, including team lists and match sheets from the event’s Tournament Manager Operator – These documents cannot be modified or replaced with unofficial versions

Judge

• Review the game video and game description to understand the fundamentals of the game that teams will be playing
• Communicate any potential conflicts of interest that they may have with teams at the event with the Judge Advisor
• Complete the Judge Certification Course
• Be familiar with the current judging materials including official judging documentation, rubrics, and award descriptions – These documents cannot be modified or replaced with unofficial versions

Event Day – Tasks by Role

Event Partner

• Ensure Judging staff have all needed materials and access to the secure Judging Room 
• Communicate any schedule changes to the Judge Advisor
• Event Partners may not recommend or assign judged awards to any team. They may recommend or assign awards given to individuals, such as the Volunteer of the Year Award.
• The Event Partner should do a final check to ensure no team is being given more than one judged award – if a team was assigned multiple judged awards, the Event Partner should consult with the Judge Advisor to rectify the situation.

Judge Advisor

• Review the judging process with Judges prior to the start of the event and answer any questions they may have
• Review list of submitted Engineering Notebooks
• Ensure Judges sign in on the Judge Volunteer Check-In Sheet
• Group Judges and assign each group a subset of teams to interview, managing potential conflicts of interest. This may be done prior to the event. Judges should not be placed in a position to interview or deliberate for teams with which they have such a conflict
• Assign Judges with pre-existing relationships to each other, or with similar backgrounds to different Judge groups so that teams are interacting with Judges who have different perspectives and backgrounds
• Manage time and ensure judging groups are keeping pace to interview all teams on schedule
• Lead deliberations for judged awards
• Collect field notes to Judges from event staff prior to final deliberations
• Record the results of all judged awards and communicate the list of award winners to the Event Partner and Tournament Manager operator
• Have the Tournament Manager operator print the award scripts to be used at the award ceremony
• Maintain confidentiality of any Judging deliberations and discussions. Teams should not receive any feedback from the Judge Advisor, nor should Event Partners be given specific information discussed by Judges except for reporting Code of Conduct violations
• Collect all judging materials to ensure confidentiality. After the event, these materials should be destroyed
• Ensure the process for returning all Engineering Notebooks to teams, if applicable

Judge

• Conduct one or more tasks depending on the needs at the event, including:
  • Evaluate Engineering Notebooks using the Engineering Notebook Rubric
  • Interview teams in the pit areas and evaluate using the Team Interview Rubric
  • Observe teams in competition
  • Present awards to teams during Award Ceremony
  • Communicate any potential conflicts of interest with attending teams to the Judge Advisor
• Deliberate with Judges under direction of the Judge Advisor to assign award winners following the guidelines in the official Judging documentation
• Hand in all judging notes and rubrics to the Judge Advisor
• Maintain confidentiality of any judging deliberations and discussions. Teams should not receive any feedback from Judges aside from positive encouragement and thanks at the end of their interview

Typical In-Person Event Timeline

The chart below is an example of how the in-person judging process might operate in parallel with the rest of the competition schedule in a typical one-day event.

If Remote Judging is done, Engineering Notebook evaluations and/or initial team interviews will be done before the event. See the Remote Judging article for more details.

Continue to the next section, Guide to Judging: Awards