Judge Notes

Judge notes let each judge write private feedback for every competitor they score. Notes are only visible to the competition organizer — they never appear on the public leaderboard.

This is useful for mentorship programs, coaching feedback, dispute resolution, and any event where written feedback matters alongside numerical scores.

Enabling Judge Notes

Judge notes are off by default. To turn them on:

1. Open your competition in the Editor
2. Expand the Settings section
3. Toggle Judge Notes on
4. Optionally check Require notes before judges can mark as complete if you want to ensure every judge writes feedback for every scored entry

Notes settings can be changed at any time before the competition is finalized.

How Judges Use Notes

When notes are enabled, a text area appears below the scoring criteria in each entry card on the judge's scoring page.

Judges type their feedback and it saves automatically — the same way scores do. A small checkmark confirms each save. Notes can be up to 2,000 characters.

If notes are required, the judge will see a warning and cannot click "Mark as Complete" until every scored entry has a note. This does not block saving scores — judges can enter scores freely and add notes at any pace.

Notes are disabled once a judge marks their scoring as complete, or once the competition is finalized.

Viewing Notes as an Organizer

On the admin dashboard, you have two ways to see judge notes:

Notes Tab

Click the Notes button in the view toggle (next to Matrix and List). This shows all notes grouped by entry, with each judge's feedback displayed in a readable card format. Use this view when reviewing feedback before sharing it with competitors.

List View

In the List view, expand any entry's judge breakdown. If a judge left a note, it appears below their score in a quoted format.

Exporting Notes

Click Export CSV from the dashboard. When notes are enabled, the CSV includes a "Notes: [Judge Name]" column for each judge. Each row contains that judge's note for the corresponding entry.

This makes it straightforward to share feedback with competitors — open the CSV, filter to one competitor's row, and send each judge's notes.

Common Questions

Can judges see each other's notes?

No. Each judge only sees their own notes. Notes are completely private between the judge and the organizer.

Can I enable notes after scoring has started?

Yes. Turning on notes mid-competition is fine. Judges will see the notes text area the next time they load the page. Existing scores are unaffected.

What happens to notes when I finalize?

Notes are locked along with scores. They remain visible in the dashboard and CSV export but can no longer be edited.

Is there a character limit?

Notes can be up to 2,000 characters per entry per judge. A character counter appears below each text area.