How to judge an online Hackathon
This article is for judges or managers that would like to see what Judging on Devpost looks like. Please check out this video with step-by-step judging instructions that teach you how to judge submissions. This article will walk you through the same judging process as the video.
Getting Started
You’ve agreed to be a judge, but you don’t know what to expect. Your main question is probably: how will I know when to start judging? It’s easy: we’ll send you an email. When the hackathon creator sets up the hackathon, they provide a list of judges and their email addresses. When the judging period starts, an email similar to the below will be sent to each judge. See the Starting the judging period article for details.
Do not forward or share this email because it contains your private “Start judging” link.
If for some reason you don’t receive an email, check the scheduled start date of the Judging Period on the Hackathon Site by following the view all dates link on the right panel. If the site says the judging period should have started, feel free to email the hackathon manager or to us at support@devpost.com.
Start Judging
The only way to get to your judging dashboard is to click Start Judging in the email you receive from Devpost. Your first time clicking Start judging will prompt you to log in to Devpost or create an account. Then you’ll be redirected to the Judging dashboard.
The judging dashboard lists the detailed judging criteria that you’ll use to judge submissions. It also displays your progress. When you’re ready to start judging, click the big Start Judging button to be directed to the first submission.
Rating Submissions
On the bottom right side panel of each submission, you will find a Rate the Submission box. For each item in the list of criteria, you will assign a rating of 1-5 stars.
1 star is the lowest rating and 5 is the highest rating. (There is no other mechanism for judges to provide feedback.) For more details about the criteria, you can hover your mouse over the question mark icons next to each criteria. When you’re done ranking a submission, click Save and continue to continue to the next submission.
If you do not want to judge a particular submission because of a conflict of interest, you can select I recuse myself, and click Save and continue to continue to the next submission.
After you have rated all the submissions, you can double-check your progress on the Judging dashboard and edit any of your prior scores if you’d like.
Once you’ve rated all the submissions, your work is done!