Overview
Judging preparation should be part of early event planning. Event size, award count, agenda, and volunteer recruitment all impact the process. Clear coordination between the event partner, judge advisor, and judges is key to smooth and fair judging.
Judging should conclude on the final day of competition. Remote judging (if used) should occur as close as possible to the event date to ensure evaluations match the teams’ most current strategies, documentation, and performance.
Tasks by Role
Event Partner
Before Event
- Recruit a qualified judge advisor and sufficient judges well in advance.
- Confirm required awards are listed on RECFevents.org and procure trophies/certificates.
- Provide a secure, private judges’ room accessible only to judging staff.
- Supply judging materials (clipboards, pens, rubrics, note sheets, team lists, match schedules).
- Understand the roles of judges and the judge advisor.
Event Day
- Ensure judges have needed materials and room access.
- Communicate schedule changes to judge advisor.
- Do not participate in judged award deliberations or recommend teams for these awards.
- Oversee award entry in Competition Control/C².
Judge Advisor
Before Event
- Complete current Judge Advisor/Judge Training & Certification.
- Review award list with event partner; confirm judge recruitment and attendance.
- Address potential conflicts of interest among judges.
- Prepare judging schedule, notebook collection process, and assign team coverage.
- Ensure judging staff have official materials (RECF official rubrics, team lists, match schedules).
Event Day
- Review judging process with judges; verify notebook submissions.
- Assign judge groups and manage conflicts of interest.
- Balance judge groups for varied perspectives.
- Monitor interview schedule and progress.
- Lead award deliberations and record results.
- Communicate award winners to the event partner and enter into C².
- Print award scripts.
- Maintain confidentiality and ensure judging materials are collected and destroyed after the event.
- Return competition notebooks to teams, if applicable.
Judge
Before Event
- Disclose any conflicts of interest to the judge advisor.
- Be familiar with official judging materials and award descriptions.
- Complete Judge Training & Certification (required for Regional Championships; encouraged for local events).
- Review game video and description to understand competition missions.
Event Day
- Evaluate notebooks, interview teams, and/or observe matches as assigned.
- Work in pairs when interacting with students.
- Deliberate with other judges under judge advisor guidance.
- Hand in all notes and rubrics to the judge advisor.
- Maintain confidentiality and provide only positive encouragement to teams during interviews.
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, competition notebook evaluations and/or initial team interviews will be done before the event. See the Guide to Judging Section 10: Remote Judging for more details.
|
Typical In-Person Event Timeline All In-Person Judging | |||
| TIME | EVENT ACTIVITY | TEAMS | JUDGES/JUDGE ADVISOR |
| Early Morning | Check-in | Teams check in upon arrival, submit competition notebooks, and go through inspection. | Judge orientation. Judges organized into groups and assigned to interview teams and may begin interviews. Competition notebooks can also start being evaluated at this time. |
| Inspection | |||
| Morning |
Opening Ceremonies and Event Meeting
|
Teams attend and ask questions. | |
| Matches | Teams are completing matches. | Teams will be interviewed during breaks between their matches. | |
| Lunch Break | Lunch Break | If an event is running behind, teams may run matches through this time. | Working lunch discussion. Each pair of judges can begin to select their top picks for awards. Competition notebooks can also be reviewed at this time. |
| Early Afternoon | Matches | Teams continue matches. | Finish judging, interviews & begin final deliberations. Judge advisor should collect the final rankings reports, as well as any field notes to judges. If additional interviews are needed, they should be done before alliance matches conclude. |
| Afternoon | Alliance selection | Teams participate in alliance selections | Final deliberations. Teams should not be interviewed during this time; decisions should be made with the data at hand. Once all awards are decided, judge advisor takes them to the event partner to be added to C². Any competition notebooks should be returned to teams. |
| End of Day | Eliminations and final matches | Teams play in finals and receive awards. Some events may intersperse awards between finals matches; others may have an awards ceremony afterwards. | |
| Awards and closing ceremonies | Judge advisor collects and destroys notes and rubrics, & clears the judging room of any identifying info. Judges may be asked to read award scripts, present awards, or just be visible for teams. Event partner should plan this beforehand. | ||