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How to Write Good Criteria
How to Write Good Criteria

RocketJudge Best Practices for Criteria

Laura Stoy avatar
Written by Laura Stoy
Updated over a week ago

For most of our clients, the criteria they use for their competitions has been passed down through the ages, i.e., from the times of dinosaurs and paper ballots. Switching to a system like RocketJudge sometimes necessitates changes: competition organizers often choose to take wordy criteria titles and make them more succinct.

Keeping in mind, of course, the judge interface:

For your Criteria, we recommend the following best practices

1. Criteria titles should short and sweet
Try to shorten criteria titles so they are one to three words max.  For example, instead of "Significance to Biological Research," choose "Significance" 

The text will wrap, but what we've seen is that it makes it more challenging for judges (especially those less tech savvy) to use the slider bar.

2.  All Criteria should be on the same scale
By having all Criteria set to the same scale (all 1-5, or 1-10), the judges have an easier time using the interface. The value in the center of the slider bar (5, on a scale of 1 to 10, for example) should be the same for all the Criteria.

If you have Criteria that have different weights, use the "Multiplier" column. 

3. Have five to seven Criteria max
In our years of running events, we've found that more than seven is overwhelming for judges.  

Rather than having a lot of criteria, encourage your judges to leave feedback for the competitors using the comment box.  

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