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The Judges tab in the Event Management dashboard lets you set up and manage the judging panel for your event. Access it from the Event Management Overview by clicking the Judges tab. HackerSquad uses a tournament-style judging system where projects advance through rounds, judges are organized into groups, and scores are aggregated for fair, structured evaluation.

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Judging structure

The judging system is organized in a hierarchy:
LevelDescription
Judging RoundA stage of evaluation (e.g., Round 1 preliminary, Round 2 finals). Projects advance between rounds.
Judging GroupA subset of judges within a round. Each group evaluates a specific set of projects.
JudgesIndividual judges assigned to groups. Each judge scores the projects in their group.
ProjectsProjects assigned to groups for evaluation. A project may appear in one group per round.

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Adding judges

To add judges to your event:
1

Open the Judges tab

Navigate to your event’s management page and click the Judges tab.
2

Add a judge

Click Add Judge and enter the judge’s details: name, email, and area of expertise or role.
3

Assign to a group

Once judging rounds and groups are configured, assign the judge to one or more judging groups.

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Setting up judging rounds

Rounds let you run multi-stage evaluation — for example, a preliminary round to narrow the field followed by a final round for top projects.
1

Create a round

Click Create Round and give it a name (e.g., “Preliminary Round” or “Finals”).
2

Create groups within the round

Each round contains one or more judging groups. Click Add Group within a round to create groups. Groups let you split judges and projects so each judge reviews a manageable number of submissions.
3

Assign judges to groups

Add judges to each group. Use the Auto-Balance Judges feature to distribute judges evenly across groups.
4

Assign projects to groups

Add projects to each group. Use the Auto-Balance Projects feature to distribute projects fairly so each group has a similar workload.

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Auto-balancing

HackerSquad provides two auto-balancing tools to save time and ensure fairness:
FeatureWhat it does
Auto-Balance JudgesDistributes judges as evenly as possible across all groups in a round
Auto-Balance ProjectsDistributes projects as evenly as possible across all groups in a round
Use auto-balancing after adding all judges and projects for the round. You can manually adjust assignments afterward if needed.

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Conflict of interest detection

When assigning judges to groups, the system checks for potential conflicts of interest — for example, a judge who is associated with a team or sponsor that has a project in the same group. Flagged conflicts are surfaced so you can reassign judges or projects as needed.

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Managing judges

From the Judges tab you can:
  • View all judges — see each judge’s name, email, expertise, and group assignments
  • Edit judge details — update a judge’s information or expertise
  • Remove a judge — remove a judge from the event entirely
  • Reassign judges — move a judge between groups within a round
Changes to judge assignments after scoring has begun may affect score consistency. Reassign judges before the judging period starts whenever possible.

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Next steps

Judge Scoring

Configure scoring criteria and review judge scores.

Leaderboard

View real-time rankings based on judge and community scores.

Community Voting

Enable community judging for attendee voting.