At Judges Training, you will be asked to sign up for the particular job you will do on the day of the tournament. The following are brief descriptions of the various judging jobs. These will be covered in more detail at Judges Training, but are presented here so that you know ahead of time what the possibilities are before you make a choice at the training.
Long-Term Judging Positions
Head Judge: The problem captain usually assigns this position to an experienced judge before the day of Judges Training. Head judges do not do any actual scoring of teams, but lead the judging team and are responsible for keeping the problem site on schedule. They are also the ones who will give the coaches their raw scores, and will handle any problems or complaints.
Staging Area Judge: These judges are the first judges a team meets. They greet the team and make sure they have all the proper paperwork (style forms, outside assistance forms, cost forms, etc.). They also make sure the problem solution meets certain requirements (props of a certain height/width, membership sign is present and correct, etc.) and make sure the team is not violating any of the safety rules (everybody has foot coverings, they’re not using helium balloons, etc.). It is important that these judges be outgoing, warm, and friendly. They deal with very anxious kids who are about to perform, so they need to be able reassure the teams. There will be at least one staging area judge on a judging team, and sometimes there are two.
Problem Judges: These judges are responsible for scoring the long-term section of the problem. They are responsible for a mix of objective (Did it pop the balloon?) and subjective (How creative was the theme?) criteria. These criteria are defined in section D of the long-term problem description. There are at least two and could be as many as four problem judges per judging team.
Style Judges: These judges are responsible for scoring the completely subjective style portion of the problem. There are five categories that receive 1 – 10 points. The categories are outlined in section F of the long-term problem description. Usually, there are three required categories and two that are “free choice of team”, which means you will be judging whatever the team specifies for those categories. There are at least two and sometimes as many as four style judges per judging team.
Timekeeper/Emcee: This person is the announcer for each performance, explaining basic rules to the audience, introducing the team, and starting the timing for the performance. Every problem has a time limit and the timekeeper will stop the team at the end of their allotted time if they have not already finished. There is one timekeeper per judging team.
Score Checker: This judge will not be directly scoring any teams. Score checkers are the keepers of the paperwork. They will record and proofread scores on laptaps, print the results, and make sure all of the paperwork is in the right place. Well organized people are needed in this position. Score checkers usually work in teams of two, but sometimes three score checkers will work with two judging teams.
Weigh-In judges: These judges are needed for the balsa wood problem only. These judges check in the balsa structures and make sure they meet all the building criteria (height, weight, size, etc.). They get a chance to take a good, in-depth look at each structure and how it is built. There are at least two and sometimes three weigh-in judges.
Spontaneous Judging Positions
Judging teams consist of from three to five people. For small teams, a judge could assume more than one role, and all judges will be scoring. If there are enough judges on the team, it might be that not all of the roles will score.
Head Judge: The head judge leads the judging team and is responsible for keeping the problem site on schedule.
Timekeeper: The timekeeper reads the problem instructions and keeps time.
Score Checker: This judge will be the keeper of the paperwork. This involves checking the individual judges’ scoresheets for obvious errors and delivering the score sheets to the problem captain’s room.
Escort: This judge goes to the holding area to get the team, ensures that the team is the correct one, escorts them to the problem site, and escorts them back to the holding area after they have finished.