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Judges Information

Everything about Judging at the Fair - for Judges Eyes Only
Will be updated as information becomes available

Arrival

7:30am-8am Friday morning 31st August Auckland Museum

Please have a quick read through. We are hoping to save a bit of time on the day and not repeat all of this info. But we probably will.
  • PARKING - Quite limited parking is available in the domain as most areas are 3 hours only. There is a car park near the south entrance and a picture showing prices is above. Arrival is 7:30am and assembly will be at 8am. Time to meet, greet, and have a look at the area. 
  • SOUTH ENTRANCE - Turn to the left inside the museum, the lifts will take you to the top floor. Name tags will be there to be picked up. 
  • ORDER OF THE DAY - Take any spare time before or after the meeting to have a look at the projects you will be judging and the wider category. Y9-10 students are judged from 8:45 to 10am, Tea break is around 10:00am-10:40am and some tables will be set up for this off to the side. Y7-8 students are judged from 11am-12:30pm. Most judges can escape at this time. Just make sure your lead judge has all your results and input on highly commended awards or possible placements. Thank you! Also note there is a cafe or two located downstairs in the main atrium. 
  • PRIZES - The lead judges and committee will start deliberating and aim to finish the process by 5pm. Lead judges are expected to be present for this. If this interests you for the future, speak to Aliona.
They are winners already

Judging

All the things to think about

  • THANK YOU! - You've made a considerable effort in time to be here today and we really appreciate it and the students do too!
  • THEY ARE WINNERS ALREADY - They are winners already from their school fair so we need to treat them like that. There are some projects that might elicit an off the cuff comment when you think no students are listening – so suppress any such urges and keep the warm friendly professionalism at all times. Smile a lot but don’t look creepy. Be positive. For example, there was an entry about particle accelerators, just a round tube as a model of the Cern supercollider. But we had Professor Kroffcheck helping judge and he lept into action and spent some time with them. That meeting itself was a great prize, encouraging them, their teacher, and their school.
  • HOW THINGS RUN - Judges move to a group with the Lead Judge for a category. The Lead Judge will help get you into pairs - preferably one teacher with someone from industry. And if one is new to the fair hopefully paired with someone experienced. We judge in pairs. You are then given a number of projects you will be judging (usually 5-8 in number). Have a read through the projects before the students arrive. Teachers should not judge students from their own school. Are the projects in the right category? If there are any questions like that then see Trevor or Ian. Don’t just move projects or we’ll lose something. Once the students come in, your attention is with them, not the boards. Once they have been judged you can spend more time reading the boards again and consider if any students need to be called back to speak to more judges. Finish judging early so call backs can happen. We like call backs. At the end of the judging time after all call backs have been completed we will dismiss the students and they will take props and things away at that point. They can leave the log books or take them if they choose. 
  • JUDGING - You are trying to determine if any projects are particularly good for prize opportunities or good enough for a highly recommended certificate. There is NO limit to how many highly commended certificates can be given out. If it deserves it, it gets it. Is it a good project? Is it good science? A really nicely presented board promoting astrology or crystal energy isn’t going to be highly commended. A poorly presented board but shows 500 repeats stretching springs would be. Main areas to look for are: clarity of presentation, log book, repeats, is it a fair test or product test without control? Does the student own their project with knowledge and enthusiasm? Having said that, take care enthusiasm doesn't displace objective quality. 
  • RESULTS - The Lead Judge must record your judgements and also take them into consideration when looking for place getters. At the end of the time with the students the judges will start to gather to ultimately determine a "top 5" via the Advocate System: Listen to others. You are responible to promote the ones you judged. Don’t talk too long. Students are called back to talk to a larger number of judges if their project looks to be a really good one. Finally, when you get down to the final 5 any interested judges can coalesce into usually a smaller group with the Lead Judge to place those in order. This allows most judges to go off for morning tea. For this final discussion process about projects you might want to move to the end of the hall away from where the students are sitting - they are always listening. If you have any questions or concerns about a project after this process concludes please see the Chief Judge. 
  • MY MESSAGE TO THE STUDENTS - Before judging starts the Chief Judge will speak with the students and cover things like; they are all winners, the toilet location, the order of the day, how to know they have been judged, where to sit while waiting for possible call backs, and where our wonderful judges are from. The hall will be open to the public from 5:30pm on the Friday and from 9am to 5pm on the Saturday. 

Need Help?

If you've got questions on the day and need a hand, look out for these folks:

Thanks for being part of the Fair! If you're not sure about something or need a hand, you can come find me or send someone to get me. 021399883 

Trevor Mander

Chief Judge

Murray Black

Executive Judge of Awesome

Sandra Jackson

Chairperson and Highly Esteemed Leader

We always need more judges. Contact Aliona if you know of someone who would be interested. 

Aliona Valyashko 

Judge Co-ordinator

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