How Car Show Judging Totals Are Calculated

Every judge scores every car in every category. Then the software does two steps. The Results page that shows the outcome opens once results are announced, and the Awards tab reads the same totals. So do the Score Results leaderboard on the Judge Results tab and Auto-assign places. There is one total, worked out one way, everywhere.

1. For each category, it averages the scores from the judges who scored that category on that car. That is the car's category score.
2. It adds the category scores together. That is the car's total.

The total is not an average of judges' totals, although for a car every judge scored fully the two come out the same. The difference only shows when judges scored different categories (see below). Nothing is weighted. A 20-point category counts for twice as much as a 10-point category because it can add twice as many points.

These are made-up numbers. A class is judged on three categories, each out of 10, so the most a car can score is 30. Three judges score Car 12.

Paint is (9 + 8 + 8) / 3 = 8.33. Interior is (7 + 7 + 8) / 3 = 7.33. Presentation is (10 + 9 + 9) / 3 = 9.33. The total is 8.33 + 7.33 + 9.33 = 25.0. The category column on the Results page shows each average to one decimal place.

The software adds the exact averages, not the rounded ones. Adding the one-decimal figures by hand (8.3 + 7.3 + 9.3) gives 24.9, so a hand check can land a tenth away from the screen.

Each category has a maximum score, and a judge cannot submit more than that maximum for the category. A car's highest possible total is the sum of its category maximums. The Results page prints each maximum in the column heads and the maximum total over the Total column.

A class can have its own scoring criteria instead of the show's default set. If it does, cars in that class are scored and totalled on those categories only. A class with no criteria of its own uses the show default.

Within one class, totals compare directly, because every car has the same categories. Across classes they do not. A 25 in a 30-point class and a 25 in a 40-point class are not equal. For that reason the Results page has a Compare across all classes button. It ranks every car by its total as a percentage of its own class's maximum, shown as a whole percent next to the raw score. The page itself says to treat this as a shortlist to review, not a final ranking. A model-year filter on the same page helps when a special award spans a range such as the 1960s.

Did Not Present

When a judge marks a car Did Not Present, that judge's record for the car has no scores. The Results page and Auto-assign ignore it. A DNP mark does not drag the average down and does not count as one of the judges for that car. If every judge marks a car DNP, the car does not appear on the Results page at all.

Registration status

Only cars whose registration status is in the show's eligible list are judged and totalled. The default is checked in and parked. You can change the list in the show's Voting & Judging settings. Every screen uses that list.

Classes marked not judged

A class set to not judged on the Classes tab is skipped. Its cars never reach a judge's screen, a score cannot be saved for them, and they have no totals or auto-assigned places. Cars with no class at all are still judged, and appear under Unclassified.

• Judges limited to certain classes only see and score those classes.
• A head judge limited to certain classes also sees only those classes on the Results page.

Judges do not have to score the same cars. If three judges cover a class but only two scored Car 5, its averages use those two. The Judges column on the Results page shows how many judges scored each car, so you can see when a car was scored by fewer people than its rivals.

Averaging each category separately also covers a judge who left a category blank. That judge is simply not part of the average for that one category.

A car is only ranked once every category that applies to it has at least one score. A car missing a category gets no place, is listed after the ranked cars, shows a dash for the missing category, and is skipped by Auto-assign. A banner at the top of the Results page counts these cars. A judge's screen will not save a car with a category left blank, so this only happens if you change the categories during the show. The Judging Progress card on the Judge Results tab shows which entries are not fully scored.

Totals show to one decimal place on the Results page, the Judge Results leaderboard and the Awards tab winner dropdown. Ties are decided on those shown values. Two cars whose exact totals differ by a hair, but both show 25.0, are tied. A car at 25.0 and a car at 24.9 are not.

Tied cars share a place (1, 1, 3) and get an orange Tied badge next to the entrant name. Here is a second car in the same class as Car 12 from the example.

Car 7 totals 25.0, the same as Car 12, so both cars share 1st place and carry the Tied badge. The software does not pick between them. Decide the winner with your tiebreak rule. The tiebreakers guide covers the options and why to choose before show day.

The cross-class table on the Results page works on percent of max instead. It shows whole percents, and cars that show the same whole percent are tied. For example, 86.6% and 87.4% both show 87% and are marked tied.

Once judging is closed, the Awards tab's Auto-assign places button shows a preview first and saves nothing until you confirm. It ranks the cars in each class by the same total, rounded to one decimal, and fills empty 1st to 5th place awards. It never overwrites a winner you have already set, and a car never gets a second award in the same class. Honorable Mention and awards with no class, such as Best in Show, are left for you.

A tie is not decided for you. If Car 12 and Car 7 both total 25.0 and a third car totals 24.6, the places work like this.

The preview lists the tie in an amber box, Tied — left for you to decide, with the award names, the cars and their points. Open the Winner dropdown on those awards, where cars are listed with their points, and pick the winner. Running Auto-assign again only fills what is still empty.

Auto-assign ranks every car that has any score, including a car with a missing category, so finish scoring before you close judging. Ranking is by the total within a class, not by percent of max.