Rules for Judges

• Judges cannot judge their own family members or any participant they have previously been on a GISH, Rogue, or Starfish Search team with.
• Judges cannot see each other’s scores until all judges have finished scoring.

The Judging Process

• Each judge is given the judging criteria (see below) a spreadsheet, and access to the submitted items. Each judge scores the items/teams on their own.
• Once all judges have completed scoring, the scores will be averaged and a total point value assigned to each team.
  • The top team will be decided by the point average from all the judges
  • The Altruist prize will be selected based on point value average from all judges on items marked Altruist on the list
• Once the teams have been selected for Overall Prize and Altruist Prize, the item specific prize (98) will be decided upon by judge discussion / vote.
• Lastly, the judge’s prize will be awarded based on discussion / vote.

Prize Eligibility

• A team or individual cannot win more than one prize in a given year.
• The same individual or team is not eligible to win the same prize for the same event twice in a row.
• Teams composed of Starfish Scholars that qualify for unpaid registrations may only be eligible for alternate non-monetary prizes at the discretion of the Starfish Foundation. 

Assigning Points

• If a submission completes the task as written, regardless of quality*,it receives full point value.
  • *If submission quality is so poor as to make viewing / judging the task impossible, the item may be given 0 or partial points at the discretion of each individual judge.
• If a submission is in the wrong file format (ie – a video when we asked for an image or a PDF when we asked for a video), that item can earn up to 50% of the allotted point value.
• If a submission completes the task as written and has exceptional quality, it may receive anywhere between full point value and 2x point value.
• If a submission does NOT complete the task as written, the item generally does not receive any points. However, up to full point value may be earned for a submission that is exceptionally creative or otherwise noteworthy. Items that do not meet the written description cannot earn bonus points.
• Submissions that partially complete the task as written may be given 0 or partial points at the discretion of each individual judge.
• Submissions named with the wrong item number can earn up to 50% of the item’s point value.
• Submissions uploaded after the end of the hunt will be given 0 points. (Yes, we can see the date and time stamp.) Multiple items uploaded after the end of the hunt may lead to disqualification.

Video Length

• There is no minimum video length for a task.
• Points may be deducted for videos that exceed the allotted time by 5 or more seconds at the judge’s discretion.
• Videos that add more than 10 seconds to the allotted length cannot receive bonus points.

Faked Items

• Items that are faked to look as if they are completed are given an immediate 0. Multiple faked items can lead to disqualification.
• Images taken from the internet and uploaded as a submission are given an immediate 0. Multiple stolen images can lead to disqualification.
• If someone draws an item that was intended to be completed otherwise, it is worth 0 points (but does not lead to disqualification).

Bonus Points for Donation Items

• Item 12 (fundraising item) will be awarded bonus points based on total number of donations.