In-Person Judging with Reviewr
Thank you for using the Reviewr platform to power your program — and congratulations on reaching the judging stage of your event!
For in-person judging, the Reviewr team is here to ensure everything goes smoothly. We provide all the resources you need to confidently manage the process, whether you're planning a single-day event or a multi-day judging session.
Preparing for In-Person Judging
If your in-person judging is scheduled during our standard support hours — Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Time — you can reach out via the in-app chat for live assistance with any questions or needs that come up. If you're planning to judge outside of those hours or want extra standby support during your event, we’ve got you covered. Reach out to the Reviewr team to learn more about extended support options and pricing for dedicated assistance.
Before your in-person judging kicks off, it’s important to take time to plan how you want your judging day to run, from start to finish. Think through exactly how you’d like the judging process to be executed, including timelines, breaks, presentation flow (if any), and how scores or feedback will be used. Once your itinerary is set, we recommend sharing it with all judges ahead of time so everyone arrives prepared and aligned. A little planning and communication up front can make a big difference in keeping the day organized and on track.
In addition to logistical planning, make sure your judges are well-prepared to use the Reviewr platform. Hosting a brief orientation session to walk through the evaluation process is a great way to set expectations. This can be done in person or virtually, or you can share the self-guided training materials provided by Reviewr — including step-by-step instructions and Storylane tutorials.
Once judges are familiar with the process, you can move into preparing the judging setup within the Reviewr platform. This involves setting evaluation timelines, adding and inviting all judges to your event, and then completing the evaluation assignment process inside the system. This includes placing judges into groups if needed, assigning submissions to those groups, matching evaluation forms to groups (if necessary), and finally assigning submissions to the appropriate judges. Taking care of this setup in advance ensures everything is in place for a seamless experience on the day of judging. If you need additional support while setting up the review process, the Reviewr team offers a variety of helpful resources, including training articles and step-by-step instructions.
Running In-Person Judging
As your judging day begins and all judges arrive, take a few minutes to confirm that each judge is able to log into the Reviewr platform successfully. It's a good idea to do this before any official start time so that login issues, forgotten passwords, or account setup problems can be resolved quickly. Making sure everyone is logged in and ready helps keep all judges on the same timeline and avoids unnecessary delays.
Once everyone is ready to begin, double-check that the evaluation live date in the platform is correctly set to align with your event’s start time. This should be preset during your initial setup, but if judges are unable to view their assignments when they log in, this is often the cause.
You’ll also want to set the evaluation deadline date to reflect the end of the judging period. If your event includes multiple rounds, this deadline can be updated between rounds as needed to match your schedule.
With access confirmed and the live date active, judges can begin reviewing and scoring their assigned submissions. For events with multiple rounds, wait until all initial scoring is completed, then evaluate which submissions should advance. You'll then reassign submissions and judges for the next round, following the same review process as you did for the initial judging round.
Throughout the event, administrators can track each judge’s progress by navigating to the Submissions page and clicking on the View Results button. This will download all scores and answers, giving you real-time visibility into which judges have started or completed their assignments, helping you keep everything on schedule and organized.
Still have questions? Reach out via the chat — the Reviewr team is here to help you get your in-person judging set up and running smoothly.