Painting competition score sheet
Everything a club or game store needs to run a painting contest on paper: numbered entry cards, a scoring sheet for each judge, a results sheet, and a tally that adds up the marks for you.
1. Set up your contest
2. Print what you need
Entry cards: 20, numbered 1 to 20, each with a tear-off stub the painter keeps. Judging sheets: one per judge for each of the 5 categories, 15 pages in all. Results: a page with places for every category. Weights add up to 10.
3. Add up the marks (optional)
Type each judge's marks in and the page works out the totals and places as you go. Marks stay on this device, in this browser, and are not sent anywhere.
Entries: category and painter
| No. | Category | Painter (optional) |
|---|
Results
Evening out moves a judge who marks everything high or everything low so their average matches the average of all marks. It never changes the order a judge put entries in. Leave it off if every judge marks every entry.
No marks yet.
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How to run it
Type the name of the event, your categories, what the judges will mark and how much each part counts. Choose marks out of 5 or out of 10, and say how many judges and entries you expect. The link in your address bar now holds the whole setup, so you can send it to the other people running the day.
Print the entry cards and hand one out with each piece. The painter fills in the category and their name, tears off the numbered stub and keeps it, and the card goes beside the model. Judges only see the number. Print the judging sheets, one per judge for each category, and the results sheet for the end of the day.
How the scoring works
Each mark is multiplied by how much its criterion counts, the results are added up, and the total is divided by the counts added together. That is a weighted average, and it stays on your scale: a judge who gives 8 for everything gives the entry 8. The entry's score is the average of every judge who marked it in full. A half-finished sheet is left out, so a missing mark never drags an entry down.
Places follow the usual sports rule. If two entries tie for first, both are first and the next one is third. Scores are compared to two decimal places.
Evening out the judges
Some judges mark high and some mark low. If your judges each cover different entries, check Even out the judges. Each judge's marks move up or down so their own average matches the average of all the marks given. It never changes the order a judge put the entries in. If every judge marks every entry, leave it off, because it makes no difference.
Tips for a fair contest
Agree before you start what a top mark looks like, and look at the same few pieces together first so everyone marks the same way. Judges should not mark their own work. Keep painters' names off the table until the results are in. And photograph the winners: our guide to photographing a miniature shows how to get a sharp picture with a phone. New painters at your club might like our guide to painting miniatures.
Questions and answers
What should a painting competition be judged on?
Our starting set is technique, color, finish and basing, and overall impact, with technique and color counting a bit more. It is only a suggestion: add, remove or reweight anything to suit your club.
How do you break a tie?
The sheet shows a tie as a shared place, such as =1st. You can award both, or ask the judges to look again at the tied pieces together and agree an order.
How many judges does a painting contest need?
Three is a good number for a club: an odd number helps when you talk a result through. One judge works for a small event, and the tally handles up to nine.
Are the marks saved?
The marks you type stay on this device, in this browser, until you clear them. They are not sent to us. The setup itself lives in the link, so it opens the same on any device.
