Adding judges

There are four ways that judges can be added to Award Force. You can:

• Manually add judges individually: an easy option if you only have a few judges
• Import them: best suited for a large number of judges
• Invite judges: best suited for asking individuals to judge without requiring they do so
• Have judges self-register: a good option if you want judges to apply for the role

Adding judges individually

1. In the Manage workspace, go to Users
2. Click New user
3. Add the judge’s name, email address, and password
4. Under 'Account roles' select Judge
5. Save

Once you have added the judge/s, you can send an email to the judge/s with the password you chose. When they log in to Award Force, they can change their password by going to their profile.

Import judges in bulk

1. From the Manage workspace, navigate to Users
2. Click Import users at the bottom of the page
3. Download the provided import template
   
   
4. Enter your judge data following the spreadsheet template format and save the document
   
   Important: if your program requires a mobile number (setting is located in Settings > Users > Registration), it will need to be added in the template. Without this value the import will fail. Mobile numbers must be added in international format, ex. +44 785 111 111.
   even if a mobile number is not compulsory, it is necessary to keep the Mobile column in the spreadsheet.
5. Click Import file and select the template
6. In the Role to apply to imported users drop-down, select Judge
7. Click Process

The import happens in the background. You’ll receive an email when the process is complete with a link confirming the import was successful.

Be aware that when importing users, the user email address must be unique— if a user already exists in the system, the import process will simply add the specified role to the user. The user’s name and other roles will not be changed.

When importing judges into the platform, Award Force does not notify these users on your behalf. As judges can sometimes be added weeks or months ahead of when the judging takes place, we leave it to you to contact these users when you're ready. To do so, we recommend sending a broadcast to your judges when you're ready for them to access their accounts.

Be sure and include the {password_set_url} merge field when broadcasting to your judges so that they can log into the platform using a magic link and then configure their own password. You may find these articles helpful: Ultimate guide for judges and Ultimate guide to user passwords.

Invite users

1. In the Manage workspace, go to Users
2. Click Invite users
3. Add the email addresses associated with the individuals you'd like to invite, separating them with a comma, new line, semi-colon or colon
4. Select the role(s) you would like for these users to have
5. Compose an optional message to be included in the outgoing notification to these users
6. Click Send invite

Once a user has been invited, they will appear with your Users list with the invited confirmation status. When the user accesses the system for the first time, they will be asked to supply their first name, last name, and a password in addition to any applicable user fields. 

Judge self-registration

This process is only suggested if judge registration is open well in advance of judging and if you want to allow judges to apply to judge. If you have chosen and invited VIP judges, we recommend you create accounts on behalf of the judges to minimize their effort and to ensure all your invited judges exist in the system before you configure judging panels, etc.

To configure judge self-registration, follow this role registration form configuration guide. Once you have a destination registration form configured, you can then promote the URL for the form to potential judges.

Video overview