ADDY Judging

How Are ADDY® Entries Judged?

Each ADDY® entry is judged independently by three judges on its own merit and given a score between 1 and 100. The three judges' scores for that entry are then averaged together to give that entry its SCORE. That score then falls into a scoring category of Gold, Silver or Bronze. When all entries are scored, the judges get together to select the "Best Of " winners for the show. To be considered for "Best Of" an entry must have won a Gold ADDY® Award. AAF-San Angelo also has the judges select entries for "Judges Commendation." "Judges Commendation" may be awarded to any entry they feel stood out in the competition, but for whatever reason did not receive a Gold, or if there are two entries that they are debating for the "Best Of", they can give one entry the "Best Of" award and award the other entry a "Judges Commendation." The National ADDY® Committee recommends that local and district shows not allow work entered in the Industry Self-Promotion or Public Service categories be eligible for Best of Show consideration.

To view 2010 Judges Bios, click here.

What is Small Club Judging?

What has come to be known as Small Market Judging started in 2002 during the Winter Leadership Conference in Tyler, TX. The idea is for clubs with less than 250 ADDY® entries to be judged during the Winter Leadership Conference. The district ADDY® committee secures the judges and provides the location in one of the meeting rooms at the conference hotel. Clubs attend the conference and have their entries judged the day before the conference begins. A win-win situation for both the district and the clubs, each club pays a $650 fee to the district for this service which is much less than the expense of flying in their own judges and paying for hotel rooms and food. The fees go into the district operating budget offsetting district expenses. The district helps the clubs and the clubs help the district.

When the Winter Leadership Conference took place onboard a cruise ship in 2008 the judging was moved to Dallas, TX as a central location and that worked so well we decided to hold it in Dallas again each year. Judging takes place at Clampitt Paper in their Creative Center. If you have not had the opportunity to see the Creative Center you need to drop by the next time you are in Dallas. A maximum of eight clubs can participate each year. Four are judged in the morning and four in the afternoon with lunch and refreshments provided by the district. Each judging room is provided with AV equipment for judging broadcast while Wy-Fi in the Creative Center at Clampitt makes judging the internet entries easy. All judges are from the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

The judging process is the same as if they were judged locally with the local ADDY® chair there to actually manage the judging of their competition. One big advantage of this process is that the distict ADDY® chair and the district Executive Committee is there to help the local chair and answer any questions that may come up.