Judging Guidelines

  1. Log in to florida.awardsplatform.com with the username and password that have been sent to you.
  2. In the “Browse by Category” box, select a category to view the entries just for that category.
  3. Click on the Entry Title or Entry ID to start reviewing entries
    1. Important! If an entry has “SEE PAPER ENTRY” in the title, it is a placeholder for a hardcopy tearsheet. Please review the paper entry that was mailed to you and submit your judgment using the online system.
  4. Review all parts to an entry (e.g. multiple attachments, websites, comments, etc.). Use the “Previous” and “Next” navigation to review all entries in a category. (If you click “Close” you will need to select the category in the “Browse by Category” box again to narrow the entries to just that category).
  5. When you have finished reviewing all entries in a category and are ready to select winners, go to the main judging page by clicking “Pick Entries” in the left black sidebar, and select the category in the “Browse by Category” box.
  6. Under the “Your Picks” column, you will see numbers you can click to indicate if an entry won First (1), Second (2), or Third (3) place.
    1. Please select First, Second, and Third place, although you are not required to grant any awards in any category.
    2. Important! An individual can only win once per category. When reviewing entries, pay special attention to the “Contributors” field. The same newspaper can place multiple times in the same category as long as the authors of the entries are different. For example, John Smith from The Times can’t win both First and Second Place in the Sports Column category. But it is fine if John Smith from The Times wins First Place and Jane Smith from The Times wins Second Place.
  7. We kindly request that you add brief comments for each of the three winning entries in the Comments boxes available when you click on the entry.
  8. Repeat these steps for each of your assigned categories.
  9. When you are finished, please review each category and double-check that your selections are highlighted on the screen.