Conditional Questions

Show or hide entry-form questions based on the category an entrant picks or how they answered an earlier question, so every entrant sees only the questions relevant to their submission.

A long, one-size-fits-all entry form makes entrants scroll past questions that don't apply to them. Conditional questions let you show a question only when it's relevant: when the entry is in a particular category, or when an earlier answer matches. The form adapts as the entrant fills it in, so a "Best Marketing Campaign" entrant and a "Rising Star Agency" entrant can answer different questions on the same form.

Where to set it

Conditional rules live on each question. Open Entrant pages, switch to the Entry page view, click a question to open its editor, and find the Visibility section. Every question offers three options:

Always show: the default. The question appears on every entry.
Only for some categories: the question appears only for entries in the categories you pick.
Based on an answer: the question appears only when an earlier question was answered a certain way.

The Visibility section only appears once your program has categories or more than one question, since there has to be something to branch on.

Show a question only for some categories

Choose Only for some categories and check the categories the question applies to. The helper text reads: Shown only when the entry is in one of these categories.

Because an entry can be submitted to more than one category, the rule matches when any of the entrant's selected categories is one you checked. For example, a "Campaign budget" question scoped to "Best Marketing Campaign" shows for anyone who entered that category, even if they also entered others.

Show a question based on an earlier answer

Choose Based on an answer to branch on another question. The helper text reads: Shown only when another question's answer matches. You set three things:

The question it depends on (pick from your other questions).
The operator: is, is not, or is answered.
The answer(s) to match. If the controlling question has fixed options (Dropdown, Single Choice, Multiple Choice), you check them from a list. Otherwise you type the expected answer (comma-separate for multiple).

For example: add a Single Choice question "Is this a team or solo entry?", then add a "Team members" question set to show when that answer is "Team". Solo entrants never see it. Use is answered to reveal a follow-up only after the entrant has filled in the question it depends on.

Previewing and the conditional badge

Questions with a rule show a small Conditional badge in the builder so you can see at a glance which ones branch. Only you see the badge; entrants just see a form that adapts.

When a question is category-scoped, the builder adds a Preview as switcher. Pick a category to see the form exactly as an entrant in that category would, with questions they wouldn't see dimmed out. This is the fastest way to sanity-check that each category asks for the right things.

Conditional questions are part of the standard form builder, available on every plan while you build. Like the rest of your program, you only pay when you go live. See Billing.

What entrants experience

The form is dynamic. As an entrant picks categories and answers questions, conditional questions appear and disappear in place. They never see a question that doesn't apply, and a hidden question is never counted as missing, so a required question that's hidden won't block their submission.

For data integrity, AwardKit re-checks every rule on the server when the entry is submitted: any answer to a question the entrant should not have seen is discarded, so a stale or tampered form can't slip in data for a question that was never shown.

Some question settings lock once entries have been submitted, so finalize your conditional logic before you open submissions. You can still add new questions later, but changing the options a rule depends on is restricted once real entries exist.

Tips

Keep the base form short and use conditional questions for the specialized asks. A shorter perceived form lifts completion rates.
Branch on Dropdown, Single Choice, or Multiple Choice questions where you can. Picking from a list of options is less error-prone than matching typed text.
Use Preview as for every category before you launch, so no category is missing a question or showing an irrelevant one.
Prefer category scoping over answer branching when a question is simply category-specific. It's clearer and doesn't depend on answer order.