Contest Judging Scorecard
A contest judging scorecard for photo, caption and other judged contests: set criteria and weights, collect scores from several judges, and rank the entries.
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How it works
- Set up the contest: pick a template or write your own criteria, give them weights that add up to 100%, and list the judges and entries.
- Send the contest link to your judges. Each judge picks their name, scores every entry and exports a score file.
- Import every judge's score file under Results to see the ranking, the ties and how much the judges agree.
- Download the results as a CSV, or print blank judging sheets for judges who score on paper.
Questions and answers
What are good photo contest judging criteria?
Most photo contests judge creativity, technical quality (focus, exposure and composition), how well the photo fits the theme, and overall impact. Give each criterion a weight that matches what your contest cares about. The photo template starts at 30%, 30%, 25% and 15%, and you can change every name and weight.
How do you combine scores from several judges?
Each judge scores every entry on every criterion. A judge's score for an entry is the weighted sum of their criterion scores, from 0 to 100. The entry's score is the average of the judges who scored it, so a missing score never counts as zero. Judges export a score file, and you import all the files into one contest.
What does normalising scores do?
Some judges score strictly and others generously. Normalising turns each judge's scores into z-scores, which measure how far each score is from that judge's own average, so every judge has the same pull on the ranking. A judge with fewer than 2 scored entries, or the same score for everything, keeps their raw scores.
How are ties broken?
When two entries have the same score, the one with the higher average score on the first criterion ranks higher. If they are still equal, the table marks a tie for you to decide by hand. Put your most important criterion first.
Where are the scores stored?
Scores and notes stay in your browser, and nothing is uploaded. Share them by exporting a score file.