Automating Judging for your Awards and Competitions

When the platform crashes the weekend before submissions close, panic sets in. You’ve spent hours managing spreadsheets and file transfers that crash after running all night – it’s exhausting. You can’t help but wonder: is there a better way to manage entries that need to be judged?

What is a Judging platform

Enter automated Judging platforms. They will eliminate a lot of the manual process (think no more creating and managing spreadsheets, downloading/saving files, collating presentations, chasing on email, the list goes on!), reduce administrative burden (so you can focus on your core responsibilities, not the technical ones) and enables remote judging (allowing judges to review from home in their own time).

Judging platforms do more than process submissions and score – they protect the mental energy and emotional wellbeing who are already stretched thin. Program Managers need to manage volunteers, coordinate across (international) partners, juggle multiple responsibilities and need to reduce rather than add to their emotional load. So what do you need to consider when migrating the Judging process to something more automated and streamlined?

The Zealous judging dashboard – designed for clarity, collaboration, and consistency.

Check list for Judging

Here are a few things to think about when setting up Judging on a platform:

• Would it accommodate the judges varying technical abilities without extensive training.
• If you do need Support, what is offered (live chat, videos, self tours etc)?
• Is the interface intuitive and simple enough that allows judges to focus their energy on evaluating work rather than figuring out how to use the system
• And can you trial (test) Judging to see for yourself?
• What is your judging/selection process and what tools do you anticipate needing (e.g. scoring criteria, weighted scoring, by categories, manual/bulk entry allocation, leaving comments, tracking progress, downloading scores etc)
• What automated communication options do you have, from the platform?
• Will it cost more to add more judges?
• How you will deal with any conflict of interest between judges and entrants?
• How much access to information will judges have vs administrators?
• How will you filter which entries goes to judges or will all of them go into scoring?
• Do judges have the option to submit themselves and how to avoid them scoring their own entries?
• Do Judges need different set of score criteria for different rounds?
• How scalable is the platform to hold thousands of entries to then be reviewed by Judges?
• How easy is it to set up Judging (Do you need coding skills)?

After you have established your Judging needs, it is time to find out what is available.

Take an interactive tour of Zealous for Judging by clicking here.

What Platforms are out there

There are many Judging platforms, but here are a few:

• Award Force– Enterprise-level platform emphasizing scalability and complex judging workflows, popular with large awards programs and government organizations.
• Judgify – Specialized judging software with advanced scoring algorithms and blind review options, popular in academic and business competitions.
• Open Water – Awards management platform with emphasis on networking features and event integration, commonly used for association awards programs.
• Zealous – This is us! Awards and submissions management platform for creative industries with strong judge coordination features and impact tracking capabilities.
• Submittable – Broader submissions management tool serving publishing, grants, and awards markets with simple judging features and content review workflows.
• WizeHive – Application management platform for scholarships, grants, and awards with configurable review workflows and reporting dashboards.
• Evalato – Comprehensive awards management software focusing on automated workflows and customizable evaluation forms for various competition types.

Click on this link for another more detailed article about these various platforms.

Your ideal judging platform may require more investment than online forms. And perhaps it does not make sense to make that investment just yet, especially if you’ve just launched your program. But we hope this article gives you a flavor for what’s out there and how it might be able to help you.

The Bigger Picture

A robust judging platform does more than reduce administrative burden—it transforms how you deliver programs. By streamlining submission management and scoring workflows, it protects the mental energy and time of both program managers and judges, allowing everyone to focus on what truly matters: identifying and supporting exceptional talent.

Beyond efficiency, the right platform brings credibility and confidence to your entire process. Judges can evaluate submissions fairly and consistently, while candidates trust that assessments are transparent and unbiased. This integrity matters—it protects your organization’s reputation, strengthens relationships with sponsors and stakeholders, and creates the foundation for program growth.

Perhaps most importantly, it gives program managers the freedom to focus on strategic priorities rather than being consumed by spreadsheets, emails, and logistics. When the operational complexity is handled, you can invest your energy in what drives real impact for your organization and the communities you serve.

All data in this article is based on publicly available information and reviews for these sites as of September 2025. AI was used to support us with the comparison between services.