The ultimate guide to managing external judges: From recruitment to thank-you notes

Judges and reviewers are undoubtedly an indispensable part of many awards programs and contests. Good judges can boost a program’s credibility, provide specialised knowledge and expertise, and build integrity into the decision-making process. 

Given all the positives judges bring to an award program, it’s incredibly important to keep judges happy, and manage their participation effectively. Here are some tips to manage external judges, starting from the selection process and going through the post-event appreciation.  

1. Find and select the right judges

Recruitment marks the first step of managing external judges in your contests and awards programs. It involves finding and vetting qualified potential reviewers to ensure you choose the best judges. 

It’s important to create an ideal judge profile to define the qualities you need in a judge. The profile should outline the expected judging experience, diversity, technical expertise, availability, reputation and soft skills.

With an idea of what you want in a judge, you can begin your search. Places to source expert judges include your industry, related academic institutions, your organisation’s network, media houses and regulatory bodies. Finding reviewers in these places will ensure they understand the standards of excellence, grasp your organisation’s values and evaluate entries from different standpoints.

Consider screening the potential judges to confirm their suitability for your program’s needs.             

2. Onboard your judges

A warm welcome and a well-organised introduction to your awards program are effective ways to provide value to your judges, inform and make them confident in their role as reviewers. 

An agreement to make the relationship official and clear is a good starting point. The contract should define the rules of engagement, covering time commitment, confidentiality, impartiality, conflict of interest and data protection. 

Personalise welcome messages, expressing your appreciation and detailing how their role enhances your program’s fairness, prestige and credibility. It’s important to introduce your reviewers to one another and reiterate the vision of the program to foster connection and networking.  

Take time to educate your awards judges on your judging process. To do this, you might offer orientation sessions to walk them through the judging software, inform them of your judging modes and scoring methods and let them test the process in advance. 

This is also a great time to showcase your judges across your various marketing channels. Provide bios, spotlight pieces and more to highlight the expertise in your judging panel.           

3. Communicate, assign entries and manage judging schedule

It’s necessary to keep judges informed throughout the competition or award program. Leverage award management software, such as Award Force, as a centralised information hub to facilitate communication with your judges. Automated communication in the form of notifications and updates can effectively keep your judges in the loop.   

Evaluation is the major function of your judges. Link them up with entries, but ensure they’re assigned entries in their areas of expertise and experience. With Award Force, entries can be automatically assigned based on your own established criteria, streamlining your award management. 

What’s more, its random assignments functionality, which evenly assigns a specific number of entries per judge, balances the workload and can prevent reviewer burnout.  

Set deadlines to ensure your program stays on schedule. Realistic timelines and smaller milestones can help your judges stay on track, while automated reminders can encourage them to complete their tasks on time. In the event of missed deadlines, it’s important to follow up with those judges and reassign entries to other judges if necessary.               

4. Assess performance

Quality control is integral to managing external judges. You want your judges to deliver at the level your award program promises, so it’s a good idea to evaluate their efforts to ensure quality, compliance and consistency.

Observe how long they spend on each entry, their adherence to deadlines, collaboration skills and their work completion rate. Work with judges to collect feedback on the process, and take steps to streamline and improve where possible.

5. Show appreciation      

At the end of every award season, it’s time to thank your judges. A timely, authentic and personal appreciation is a valuable investment in your relationship with external reviewers, as it can improve judge retention. Consider personalised handwritten thank-you notes or emails within a week after the program ends. 

Gift items, certificates of appreciation, perks, shout-outs across marketing channels and mentions in post-event publications are other effective ways to show your gratitude.

Proper management of external reviewers can help attract and retain judges. These tips will ensure you find the best of judges, engage and signal value to them throughout your award program.