Module #1: Chief Judge Responsibilities

1. Reads and understands the event’s rules and ensures the rules are up to date at the start of the event.
2. Makes all their decisions and suggestions by balancing what is best for the competitors, the judges, the attendees, the event, and the overall community.
3. Reports to the Event Director.
4. Communicates and coordinates with all the contest staff. 
   1. The judges, score person, floor coordinators, deejays and emcees report to and are under the authority of the Chief Judge.
5. Oversees the judging staff and holds a Judges’ meeting if possible. The Chief Judge confirms the the judging staff is familiar with the computerized scoring system (e.g., tablet scoring).
6. Make sure the competitors and contest staff are aware of any last-minute changes to rules, contest format or schedule.
7. Make sure there is an odd number of judges (5, 7, 9) for finals and routine divisions.
8. Make sure there is a minimum of five (5) judges for a finals contest panel, plus the Chief Judge. (WSDC recommends seven (7) judges, plus the Chief Judge, because there is a lesser possibility of a tie, and the larger the panel, the more credible and/or defendable the results.)
9. Make sure there is a minimum of six (6) judges, with a minimum of three (3) judges for each role, plus the Chief Judge, for all Jack & Jill prelims (preliminary, quarter-final, or sem-final). (The WSDC recommends 4-5 judges for each role to prevent ties and get a better result.) 
   1. In smaller contests, if there are 15 or fewer couples, events may use a minimum of three (3) judges and must judge both roles in preliminary rounds.
   2. If there are 16-20 couples, events may use a minimum of five (5) judges and must judge both roles in preliminary rounds. 
10. Scores all competitors in both roles, with a numerical raw score for all contests (prelims and finals)_.
11. In large Jack & Jill preliminary rounds, the Chief Judge may assign a Secondary Chief Judge or Raw Score Judge to numerically raw score one role. (Scores are not used in base tabulations and calculations.)
12. Scores are used to break ties (after the original calculation) and are not posted.  Unless there is an unforeseen or unavoidable shortage of general judges, resulting in the Chief Judge’s scores being used to complete the judging panel (because there must always be an odd number of judges in finals).
13. The Chief Judge does not throw out a judge’s score.  However, there are exceptions: 
    1. A judge has to leave the contest due to illness, unforeseen emergency, a conflict of interest was discovered, or one of the panel judge’s scores were incomplete (.e., large number of contestants not scored, etc.).
14. In rare circumstances, it may be necessary to rerun a contest with the appropriate number of judges (e.g., limitations with scoring tablet, scheduled and alternate judges were not in attendance.
15. Work with the Event Director to determine any contest changes are needed at the event (e.g., a division is too small to be held; divisions need to be combined, if possible; when should the contest be held if a scheduled preliminary or semi-final round is not needed.).
16. Determine the size and number of heats, the number of callbacks, number of finalists, contest format/structure, rotations, and number of songs in heats or finals. (The Chief Judge may confer with the Event Director, before the contests, to determine the number of preferred finalists for the various contests.) The emcees, deejays, score person, floor coordinators and/or registration staff do not have the authority to make the above noted decisions.
17. Make sure the deejay is informed in a timely manner with the number of heats and the number of songs required for each contest.
18. If a “restart” is warranted, only the Chief Judge can make that decision and call for a restart, not the deejay or emcee.
19. The Chief Judge must verify that all of the judges’ scores are complete (prior to being submitted) and that all scores are submitted. Judges’ scores must not be altered once computer scores (e.g tablets) have been submitted or paper score sheets have been turned in to the Chief Judge, or score person, or contest coordinator.
20. It is unethical and is considered tampering for a Chief Judge to add their scores from a previous preliminary contest to a different contest because they forgot to score both roles.
21. Judges understand that a Chief Judge may question a score in order to understand their process, reasoning, and score, in order to defend the results and the judge, if necessary.
22. Oversees the scoring procedures and results.
23. Understands the Relative Placement and Callback Scoring systems.
24. Checks the results after each contest’s tabulations for accuracy and the correct postings of results with paper scoring systems. For tablets, scores are final once submitted.
25. Must be capable of understanding and explaining judging processes and reasoning. These include but are not limited to the following:
    1. Why there are variations in scores.
    2. What results mean.
    3. The impact of any specific score.
    4. Why judges do not see everything “the same.”
    5. Why judges may score the same dance differently.
    6. Why a judge who is “out of the norm: is not a bad judge.
26. May meet with competitors after awards or the end of the event. The Chief Judge is to share information about the rules, judging, scores, cuts, and results.
27. Responsible for correcting any contest mistakes, posting adjustments to awards, announcements as soon as possible, assisting in notifying all competitors affected where there were revisions to the scores and results.
28. Be respectful and supportive of the event and the community in public, in social settings, and on social media.
29. Report any contest irregularities that may impact a contest or event’s integrity to the WSDC for review. An Incident Report is available on the WSDC website (worldsdc.com/incident-report).