The manage duplicates feature helps program managers identify and manage duplicate entries. Duplicate entries are detected based on a configurable similarity threshold and can also be manually assigned. When duplicates are confirmed, duplicate entries are archived, while the selected primary entry remains active for judging.
Duplicate management is non-destructive:
- Entries are not merged
- No data is moved between entries
- Duplicate status can be reversed or changed
How duplicates are identified
Award Force automatically identifies duplicates when entries have:
- The same or very similar entry name
- The same category
Duplicate detection compares entry names using a configurable similarity percentage.
Set the similarity threshold
You can control how strict duplicate detection should be.
- In the Manage workspace, go to Settings > Entries > Form settings
- Open the 'Advanced' tab
- Adjust Duplicate identification minimum similarity percentage
- Click Save
The similarity threshold can be set between 50% and 100%. The recommended similarity threshold is 80–85% (default: 85%).
Scan for duplicates
Duplicate detection must be triggered manually.
- In the Manage workspace, go to Entries
- Click Manage duplicates in the bottom-left corner of the page
Click Scan for duplicates
The scan compares each entry with previously created entries and displays any potential duplicate sets.
Each duplicate set includes:
- The primary entry
- One or more potential duplicates
Confirm duplicate entries
Once duplicates are identified, review each duplicate set.
Program managers can:
- Compare entries if needed
- Change the primary entry
- Mark entries as Not a duplicate
- Confirm and archive duplicates
To confirm duplicates:
- Review the entries in the duplicate set
- Select the correct primary entry if necessary
- Click Confirm + archive duplicates
Archived entries are removed from normal entry views but remain accessible; see Archiving entries.
Primary entries
The primary entry is the entry that will be judged. By default, the first submitted entry becomes the primary entry, but program managers can change this selection.
Only submitted entries can be selected as the primary entry.
Set duplicates manually
If the automatic scan does not identify duplicates, managers can mark them manually.
Duplicates can be set:
- From the Entries list view
- As a bulk action
- From the entry ellipsis (three dots) menu
This can be useful when entries differ significantly in spelling or naming but refer to the same submission.
Display duplicates to judges
Duplicate information can optionally be shown to judges.
- In the Manage workspace, go to Judging > Settings > Score sets
- Select the desired score set
- Open the 'Display' tab
- In the 'Display' box, select Duplicate entries count and, if desired, Duplicate entries list
- Click Save
When enabled, a duplicates panel appears at the bottom of the entry during judging.
Judges can see:
- The number of duplicate entries
- The entrants or nominators
- Optional links to view duplicate entries
All judging actions—scoring, commenting, and voting—apply only to the primary entry.
Good to know
- Duplicate detection compares entry names within the same category.
- Only submitted entries can be selected as a primary entry.
- Duplicate sets cannot be confirmed if none of the entries are submitted.
- Duplicate scans process up to 3,000 entries per batch. Running another scan continues processing remaining entries without rescanning completed entries.
- If an entry name or category changes after confirmation, the entry will be flagged for rescanning.
- Changing the similarity threshold requires running a new scan.
- Previously confirmed duplicates remain unchanged after threshold adjustments.