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How to build and drive a kick a*$e judging panel!
We are thrilled to have confirmed all 26 of our judges for the 2018 Global Good Awards.
Over the coming months you’ll learn more about our judges in our regular “Meet The Judges” feature, but right now we want to tell you a bit about how the awards are judged, how we ensure consistency and sustainability, plus how our judges are really adding value. All in all, how we put together a truly incredible judging panel and why your organisation should enter!
The GGA criteria for selecting judges
The Global Good Awards are judged by specially-convened panels of experts and all have presided over awards before, so we know they have the experience and the skill to judge for the GGA. We ensure that we have all the particular expertise necessary to cover every category and we match our judges’ expertise to those categories in order to guarantee that every entry gets the most thorough evaluation possible. So we wouldn’t ask environmental expert Paula Owen to judge the Best Community Partnership category, for example.
Up to 5 judges are selected for each category. Some judges will be asked to mark 2-3 categories, but if a category is very popular, they may just preside over one.
New Judges…
All new judges must fulfil our criteria for expertise and experience, but we also look to add to the diversity of our panels; working to find people from different areas of practice and roles. We challenge our judges to engage in serious debate when considering their category, so we value having different perspectives on board.
How does the GGA judging process work
We combine extensive and intensive approaches to our judging.
First, each entry is given a rating against the criteria points for their category. We have an incredible online system, powered by AwardStage, that registers each of our judges ratings, and then calculates the entrants’ percentages for each criteria, as well as their overall percentage.
However, we don’t purely rely on the maths of online scoring, as many entries can be within a couple of percentages points of each other. On Judging Day, all the judges come together to decide who deserves to win, who is close and who are the ‘ones to watch’. Some categories take hours of deliberation before reaching a joint decision!
“… it is great to be part of the Global Good judging panel. And – having entered my fair share of awards in the past – it is even better to see the rigorous assessment process each entry goes through, and the fierce debate to select the winner!” Phil Clarke, Consciam
Managing conflicts of interest…
If a judge has a conflict of interest, they must declare it, and we’ll assign a new judge. We do allow judges to enter their own organisations, however, Karen’s Judging Day strategy ensures that they do not get anywhere near the group assessing their entry. At least, not until after the decisions are made!
Ensuring the independence of the judging process…
The GGA assessment process must be completely unbiased and independent, which requires a strict separation of duties. The awards team themselves are not involved or able to bear any influence on the judging. They don’t even read any of the entries until after the winners are selected.
Karen says “It’s only after that process that the awards team are really able to read the GGA entrants’ wonderful work… I always look forward to spending a few relaxing days after the ceremony, binge-reading the amazing ‘good’ that is being done.”
Building a bigger and better GGA
Together, our judges present a phenomenal breadth and depth of expertise in sustainable development. We have been fortunate to be able to exploit this knowledge in areas beyond judging the entrants:
Developing award categories…
Some of our judges have also been kind enough to help with the description of the awards categories and criteria, ensuring we collect the right info and evidence from our entrants to demonstrate the impacts of the work they do.
“Karen has masterfully brought together organisations who I believe are the best of the best at delivering impact and societal good. Judging between the organisations is both challenging and uplifting in equal measures.” Will Akerman, MyKindaFuture
Feedback to entrants…
The GGA provides FREE feedback from the judges to each of our entrants. All judges are required to record observations and advice for their entries where they can add value. These are automatically sent to every entrant within a few days of the award ceremony and we truly believe this is a valuable add-on for all entrants.
We want the GGA to not only recognise the great work, but to also inspire everyone who enters to seek out new ways to improve their own practices. Based on the information provided in each GGA entry, our expert judges are perfectly placed to really add value via their feedback.
Sustainability and consistency…
We want to our judging to be consistently excellent year in and year out, so it’s a good thing that once they join the panel, our judges just don’t want to leave!
“We believe that a consistent and sustainable Judging Panel is critical to the whole consistency of our Awards programme, which is why I’m very proud that 19 of the 24 judges from 2017 have re-committed their time and support for 2018.” Says Karen.
So why do our judges keep coming back
The GGA judges especially love the work they do on Judging Day, when they come together to decide on the winners. There is always a huge buzz and excitement in the room, and they clearly enjoy the analysis and argument around our entries before eventually, coming to their decision.
We have asked if they would prefer to do all the judging online, which would make it much easier for them… and they ALL said no!
“As a GGA Judge I have the opportunity to review some really amazing work around sustainability, and it’s great fun to chat to like-minded people on the judging day!” Seema Sharma, Founder of Child Action
Our judges are inspired by the entrants each year. They want to see how different people are working to make the world a better place and understand what is driving change. Ultimately, they want to recognise the efforts of those that are going out and making a difference.
“By celebrating those organisations who are changing the way they do business, The Global Good Awards can hopefully inspire others to do the same. Being a GGA Judge is an absolute honour and allows me to be able to see how a vast array of businesses are making a positive contribution to the world they operate in.” Nas Morley, Director of Partnerships from Unltd
Want to know more?
For entries and other enquiries, contact Founder, Karen Sutton: karen@GlobalGoodAwards.co.uk.
Join us at the 2018 GGA Ceremony: To celebrate excellence in social impact and sustainability (and sample our vegan wines!)
You don’t have to be an entrant to come along to the GGA ceremony! If you’re involved in social impact or sustainability, the GGA is the place to be! From our ‘eco-tie’ dress code, to our completely vegan menu, we aim to set the standard for sustainable events, and we want to share our learnings with you. Find out more about the 2018 ceremony, here>>
To book, DOWNLOAD THE BOOKING FORM, and email it to karen@GlobalGoodAwards.co.uk. Refund requests will be accepted until 27th April.
