Overview
Together, these Judging Principles provide guidance for judges, judge advisors, and event partners. Judging is an important role that can have a significant impact on students. Judges work together to evaluate teams using established award criteria and should always interact with students and fellow judges respectfully and professionally.
All judging volunteers should keep the following principles in mind:
Confidentiality
The judging process, including discussions, notes, rubrics, and award worksheets, must remain confidential. Judges should ensure that discussions and materials are not shared with teams, event participants, or staff. Sharing a team’s award standing or rubric scores is a violation of this principle.
After the event, judges must give all written judging materials to the judge advisor for disposal. Judges must not retain competition notebooks or any photos or digital copies used for deliberation.
If a team or individual records an interview or judging notes, judges should immediately pause the interview and ask them to stop recording. If they refuse, the issue may be reported to the event partner as a Code of Conduct violation.
Impartiality
Judges should be impartial and fact-based. Judging volunteers should avoid anything that could appear to favor a team, including team shirts, buttons, or other branded items.
A conflict of interest occurs when a judge has a relationship with a team or organization that could affect or appear to affect, fair and impartial judging. Event partners should avoid these conflicts when selecting judges and judge advisors whenever possible.
If a conflict exists, the judge must disclose it to the event partner and judge advisor. Judges must not advocate for or against teams with which they have a relationship or participate directly in judging those teams, including Team Interviews or competition notebook evaluations.
Consistency
Competition notebooks and team interviews must be evaluated under similar conditions for all teams to ensure fairness and consistency. This applies to in-person, remote, and hybrid events. Judges should provide all teams with the same judging format, time, and evaluation conditions to avoid giving any team an advantage.
Qualitative Judgement
Judges should use qualitative judgment when making final decisions for judged awards. Rubric scores are tools to guide eligibility and discussion, not the sole factor in determining winners. Judges should consider the full award criteria and use their professional judgment when selecting recipients.
Inclusion
Every team must have an equal opportunity to be interviewed by judges, whether or not they submit a competition notebook. Teams that decline an interview remain eligible for all other aspects of the competition but are not eligible for judged awards.
Balance
A team may receive no more than one judged award at an event. Performance awards and individual awards do not affect a team’s eligibility for a judged award.
Integrity
Judged awards should go to the teams that best meet the award criteria. Teams should be judged only on their merits and conduct at the current event. Past awards or performance awards should not affect judged award decisions.
Youth Protection
Judges must prioritize student safety. Judges should work in pairs and meet with teams in public spaces, unless a responsible adult is present. Judges should avoid personal questions and use language that is respectful and appropriate for students.
Student-Centered Teams
Judged award recipients must be student-centered, meaning students have ownership of how their drone is flown, programmed, and used in competition. Judges should consider observations, team interviews, and event staff input when evaluating this. Teams that do not follow the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation student-centered principles should not receive judged awards. See the RECF Student-Centered Policy for more information.
Team Ethics and Conduct
Teams, including students, coaches, mentors, teachers, and parents, are expected to act with integrity, honesty, respect, and reliability. Teams should operate in a student-centered manner with limited adult assistance. Judges should consider team conduct when determining judged awards. Teams that do not follow the RECF Code of Conduct or Student-Centered Policy should not be considered for judged awards.