Most of your work as a juror takes place in what is called the “Judging” phase of the overall judging process. The phases are:
- Nominating
- Judging
- (Tiebreaking)
- Approving
- Complete
Nominating
When you first receive your invitation to judge, the award you are assigned will almost certainly be in the “Nominating” phase. You can have a look at the nominees at this time. You can even watch the nominees. However, the list of nominees may change during the Nominating phase and the jury list may not be complete.
Judging
Judging is when you do the bulk of your work. You receive an email indicating that the award is now in the Judging phase and you make your selections based on what you see.
The Judging phase ends once all jurors have finalized their votes or the judging deadline passes.
Tiebreaking
The Tiebreaking phase occurs only when the Judging phase ends without a decision. At this point, a tie-breaker judge will come in and pick among the top finalists. If you are the tie-breaker judge, your job here is to select from the top picks and make a final winner selection.
Approving
Once SparqFest has calculated a winner, the festival directors must review that winner and make sure the judging process met their expectations. Festival directors may approve the jury decision, override it, or send it back to the jurors for further deliberation.
Complete
Once the winner has been approved by festival staff, everyone waits for the awards ceremony! Please do not discuss anything about your deliberations. Especially, do not leak the winner!