Judging Rounds
Run multi-round judging on AwardKit. Screen a large field down to a shortlist, then have a final jury score the finalists, each round with its own dates, panel, criteria, and assignment.
Most programs judge in a single pass: every entry is scored once and the leaderboard decides the winners. Larger programs run in rounds: a broad screening round narrows the field to a shortlist, then a smaller final jury scores only those finalists. AwardKit supports as many rounds as you need, and each round is configured independently.
When to use rounds
A single round is the right default for most programs. Add rounds when:
- You have a large field (100+ entries) that a small jury can't score in full, so you screen first and only the finalists get a detailed read
- You want different criteria at each stage (a quick screen on fit, then a deep score on craft)
- You want a smaller, more senior panel to decide the finalists than the one that screened them
A typical two-round program looks like Screening → Final → Winners, exactly as shown above.
Round 1 is your primary judging window
Every program starts with one round. Its dates are the program's judging window: when round 1 opens, judging is live; when it closes, that round stops accepting scores. There are no separate program-level judging dates, so the round is the single source of truth for when judges can work.
A single-round program never shows any rounds UI. You only see the funnel once you add a second round.
Adding a round
In the Scoring section header on the Judging page, click Add judging round (single-round programs) or Add round from the Judging rounds card (once you have two or more).
The dialog walks you through the new round:
- Name: AwardKit suggests sensible defaults. Creating your second round offers to rename round 1 to "Screening" and names the new round "Final"; later rounds default to "Round N". Rename them to anything that fits your program.
- Start date: When the new round opens. The previous round automatically closes when the new round starts, so you only set one handoff date. Leave it empty to schedule dates later.
- Scoring criteria: Choose Start from [previous round]'s criteria to copy the rubric forward, or Start fresh to build a new one for this round.
- Judge panel: Pick which judges sit on the round. A final jury is often a subset of the screening panel.
Entries don't move to a new round automatically. After judging closes on the previous round, you advance the shortlist from the Results page. Only the entries you advance are judged in the next round.
Each round is independent
Once you have multiple rounds, the Judging rounds card shows the funnel. Click a round to configure it. Everything below is set per round, so round 1 and round 2 can be completely different:
- Dates: each round has its own open and close
- Judge panel: who sits on the round (use Edit judge panel on later rounds)
- Criteria: each round has its own rubric, copied forward or built fresh
- Assignment mode: All judges, Per judge, or Rooms, chosen per round (see Judge assignment)
- Audience voting: each round decides whether the public votes alongside the judges
From the round's menu (the ... button) you can Rename and dates, Edit judge panel, or Delete round (later rounds only, and only before they have votes).
Advancing entries between rounds
When a round closes, open the Results page and select the round you're advancing from. Pick the entries that move on, and they become the next round's pool.
Advancement is per category: an entry submitted to several categories can advance in one and be cut in another. See Results for the full advancement workflow.
Once the next round has votes, its entry pool locks so a late change can't pull the rug out from under scores already cast. To change which entries advanced, reset that round's votes first.
What judges see
Judges with access to more than one round get a round switcher on their dashboard. The active round is selected by default; closed rounds they served on stay visible as read-only history.
What's next?
Judge Assignment
Control how judges are assigned to entries on AwardKit. Review all, assign per judge with auto-distribution, or organize into parallel judging rooms.
Judging Interface
What judges and audience voters see when evaluating entries on AwardKit. Score criteria sliders, top picks ranking, and audience voting.