Judging Roles and Responsibilities

This article describes the people involved in judging a VEX Robotics Competition event, the requirements for each role, and what is expected of judges. It is written for judges, Judge Advisors, Event Partners, and volunteers.

For an overview of judging, awards, and advancement, see Competition Judging Overview. For other event volunteer roles, see Volunteer Roles at a Local Event.

Definitions of the terms used here are maintained in the central glossary.

Judging Roles and Requirements

Judge Advisor

The Judge Advisor manages the entire judging process and ensures it is carried out consistently and fairly. Assistant Judge Advisors, when used, must meet the same requirements.

Requirements

• Must have completed the current season's official VEX Competition Judge Certification (coming soon)
• Must be at least 21 years old and not enrolled in primary or secondary school.
• Must have no or minimal conflicts of interest with attending teams.
• May not be part of a team competing at the event.

Responsibilities

• Guides Judges through the Engineering Notebook review and team interview processes.
• Facilitates award deliberations and submits final award winners to the Event Partner.
• Assists the Event Partner with Code of Conduct and Student-Centered concerns.
• Receives and acts on concerns raised by judges.

Judge

Judges evaluate teams and determine eligibility for judged awards.

Requirements

• Must meet the minimum age for the program:
  • VEX U Robotics Competition / VEX AI Robotics Competition: 21 years or older
  • VEX V5 Robotics Competition: 20 years or older
    • Not part of a competing VEX V5 Robotics Competition team
  • VEX IQ Robotics Competition: 18 years or older
    • Volunteers ages 16–17 may serve as VEX IQ Robotics Competition Judges only when paired with a Judge who is at least 18 years old.
• Must not be enrolled in primary or secondary school, whatever their age.

Responsibilities

• Reviews Engineering Notebooks.
• Facilitates team interviews.
• Deliberates to determine judged and nominated awards.

Note: All Judges must be at least 21 years old for the VEX Robotics World Championship.

Event Partner

The Event Partner manages the planning and operation of the event and supports the judging process. The Youth Protection Policy refers to this same role as the Event Lead.

Responsibilities and Notes

• Recruits and supports the Judge Advisor and Judges.
• Works with the Judge Advisor to develop the judging schedule and ensure adequate judge staffing.
  • For in-person judging, plan for approximately two Judges for every 8–10 teams.
• May not serve as a Judge or Judge Advisor at their own event.
• May not recommend or assign Judged Awards.

Expectations for Judges

Judges play an important role in creating a fair, positive, and student-centered experience. The goal of judging is to recognize teams that best demonstrate the values and award criteria of the program, while ensuring every team is treated with respect and consistency.

Be Confidential

• Do not share scores, rankings, deliberations, notes, or award decisions.
• Keep any conduct reports and other sensitive information confidential.
• Do not provide specific feedback about interviews, notebooks, or award considerations to teams.

Be Fair and Impartial

• Judge teams only on what you observe during judging at this event.
• Avoid personal bias and disclose any conflicts of interest to the Judge Advisor.
• Do not interview or evaluate teams with whom you have a conflict of interest.
• Wait until all qualification matches are complete before finalizing award winners.

Note: Conduct that happens outside judging — during travel, online, or elsewhere at the event — is handled through the Code of Conduct rather than through judging. Raise it with the Judge Advisor. Do not reflect it in a score.

Be Consistent

• Evaluate all teams using the same standards and processes.
• Ensure every team has an equal opportunity to participate in judging.
• Apply the same time limits and the same criteria to every team.
• Provided rubrics are tools to guide evaluation, not automatic award calculators.
  • See Judging Engineering Notebooks and Judging Team Interviews for how to apply each rubric.
• Consider the complete picture when determining award recipients.

Maintain Integrity

• Select the team that best exemplifies the award criteria.
• Do not negotiate awards or attempt to influence outcomes for or against any team.
• Use the authority of your role only for its proper purposes.

Protect Students

• Work in pairs. At least two judges are present whenever judges interact with students, and no judge is ever alone with a single student.
• Hold interviews in open, public spaces.
• Photograph robots only, never students. Delete any photographs at the conclusion of the event.
• Do not contact students directly beyond the interview. Anything a team needs to be told goes through the Judge Advisor or the Event Partner.
• Respect accommodations. An interpreter, communication support, additional processing time, or a written response is how a student takes part, and is never a reason to score a team lower.

Recognize Student Ownership

• The work belongs to the students. Adults may teach, advise, and support, but the decisions and the work are the team's.
• The rubrics score evidence of student learning, decision-making, and the engineering design process. Score what you see against the criteria.
• Building on outside sources, including generative AI, is allowed, and crediting those sources is what teams are asked to do. Credited work is not a mark against a team.

Be Professional

• Serve with integrity and professionalism.
• Respect different perspectives during deliberations.
• Work collaboratively with fellow judges.
• Remain open-minded and willing to learn from students and other volunteers.

Reporting Concerns

Two kinds of concern come up during judging, and they follow different paths.

Judging, Conduct, and Student-Centered Concerns

If you have a concern about a team's conduct, or about whether the work you are looking at is the team's own, raise it with the Judge Advisor. Do not discuss it with the team, and do not reflect it in a score. The Judge Advisor works with the Event Partner to handle it.

You are not expected to investigate. Report what you saw and let the Judge Advisor take it from there.

Youth Protection Concerns

A concern about a student's safety or about an adult's conduct toward a student is different, and the Youth Protection Policy governs it.

• If a student is at risk, act immediately. Stop what is happening. Reporting it afterward is not enough when you could have intervened.
• Report promptly. Follow the reporting requirements in the Youth Protection Policy. For suspected abuse or serious harm, contact law enforcement or child protection directly. You do not need to make an internal report first, and you do not need permission from anyone at the event.
• Never report through the person the concern is about. If your concern involves the Judge Advisor, go to the Event Partner. If it involves the Event Partner, report directly to Global Robotics.
• If a student raises a concern with you, treat it as a report. Do not evaluate whether it is credible before passing it on.

Anyone who reports a concern in good faith is protected. Retaliation against them is itself a violation of the Code of Conduct.