The Head Judge & Support Judge Selection Process
Hello judges and players! In this brief article we would like to introduce you to the selection system for the Flesh and Blood Head and Support judges. We are:
The positions of Head Judge (HJ) and Support Judge (SJ) are vital to any Premier event, not only because they are responsible to issue the final ruling on any judge call and they decide in cases of cheating or other infractions, but also because they set the mood, standards and values of the entire Judge Program.
When we designed the selection system, we had to weigh many factors on what makes a great Head/Support Judge, find out how to qualify them and, at the same time, create an evaluation system that is fair and reliable.
In the following lines, we’re going to explain how the selection process works in its second iteration. As we run the process and we gain expertise, we expect to keep adapting and improving it. We would also like to credit Ward Warren, who has been the previous advanced certification lead.
STEP 1: Experience Requirements
Those represent the minimum experience we believe a judge needs to have enough expertise to be HJ/SJ at a Premier event. This does not mean that anyone with this experience is qualified for the position. Each human is unique, each one has their own strengths and weaknesses and their own learning processes.
At the moment, the requirements to apply to the Premier Event HJ/SJ evaluation process are:
- L2 Judge for 180 days+
- One of the following criteria:
- Head Judge of a Battle Hardened
- Support Judge of a Battle Hardened at a World Championship or Pro Tour weekend
- Head Judge of a 250+ player FAB competitive event.
- Having been team lead 3 times at Calling tournaments or above events.
In future applications, the minimum time required as L2 will be raised to 360 days. The Team Lead Certification will be required starting in 2025. Other requirements may be added in the future, the positions of HJ/SJ are to always be covered by the most skilled people in the Judge Program.
STEP 2: Free Text Questions
After verifying the requirements the applicant will receive a set of 4 or 5 prompts they should answer in around half a page each in a limited amount of time. Those prompts must be answered solely by the candidate without any input from others; the candidates are also not allowed to show the questions to anybody. Any questions they have must be asked in reply to the email they received the prompts from.
Answers will be anonymized and sent to to a selected group of evaluators, mostly being selected current Premier Event HJ/SJ to evaluate them anonymously. Each will evaluate answers from all candidates in one or two questions. Multiple people will evaluate each question and the score will be averaged.
By anonymizing the answers we prevent any favoritism, even unconsciously. Candidates must make sure their answers are anonymous when writing them. A guide will be provided to the candidates with some suggestions (like providing the names of Events and Judges to use in their text, instead of the real ones that could identify them).
By having all the answers to the same question evaluated by one person, we ensure consistency in the evaluation. If an evaluator has a tendency to give high or low scores all candidates will be affected the same way in the same question.
By having multiple people evaluating each question and making the average of the qualification, we lessen the weight of each evaluator’s preferences or style on each question.
STEP 3: Personal Interview
For those candidates who successfully pass step 2, there will be an online interview, tailor made to evaluate that candidate’s weaknesses. The content and shape of each interview will vary, but the ultimate goal of each interview will be ensuring the candidate is qualified to perform the roles of Premier Event Head Judge or Support Judge.
Other Relevant Details
Failing the selection process: A candidate, who fails this process twice in a row, won’t be allowed to apply for any selection process run in the next 12 months.
Feedback after the process: Running just the evaluation part of the process is highly resource intensive, as you can see in the above description. While we agree the process would be purely better if we could provide personalized feedback and mentoring to each candidate who fails, unfortunately this is beyond the Program’s current capacities. Therefore this process must be understood as an evaluation process, not as a training process.
First events as Premier Event HJ/SJ: After acquiring the Premier Event HJ/SJ certification for the first time, the judge, in most cases, will be required to spend one event as a HJ/SJ Observer and then another as Support Judge, before they can act as Head Judge of a Premier Event.
Selection process frequency: When the selection process will be performed will ultimately be decided by the Judge Program Manager according to the Organized Play needs.
Judges passing the evaluation will receive the Premier HJ/SJ tag on JudgeHub, passing the evaluation does not automatically guarantee a show as shadow head judge, support judge or head judge.
Premier Event HJ/SJ expiration: Once a judge passes the evaluation process their Premier Events HJ/SJ Certification will be valid until the next selection process happening at least 18 months after the judge got their Certification. This means, if a judge gets their Premier Event HJ/SJ certification in Sept 2024, they won’t need to test again in the process run in Jun 2025, but will need to recertify in the process run in June 2026. For HJ/SJ that passed the first evaluation earlier in 2024, they will be divided up over two or three evaluations.
All photos used in this article are courtesy of John Brian McCarthy, whose work you can find at Judges at Work.
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