Download - 10 commandments of judging

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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006

The 10 Commandments of Judging

Paul Stregevsky

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1. “Before thou judgeth an entry, readeth its entry form.”

The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky

Wrong: Right:

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve seen one entry form, you’ve seen them all.”

“It says the author had to use the big boss’s Foreword verbatim. I’d better go gently on grammar and style.”

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2. “Judgeth not an entry by its cover; nor by its Foreword; nor by its Table of Contents; nor by its nationality, but by the sum of the parts.”


Wrong: Right:“‘Forward’! Stupid foreigners! This one’s a loser!” “‘Forward’? I

guess they don’t emphasize

spelling in their ESL classes. I must say, his

grammar is impeccable.”

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3. “Thou shalt writeth detailed comments, citing examples and references.”


Wrong: “The style seemed awkward; some procedures were unclear.”

Right: “At times, the passive voice made it difficult to know who’s to do what. On p. 16, for example, we find:If the alarm “trips,” it must be reset.

“Reset by the user? A technician? Or either one?”

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4. “Chooseth thine words kindly; offereth specific ways to improve; for not all that is thought must be writ.”


Wrong: “The formatting is amateurish, with insufficient white space, equally spaced headings, and ill-chosen fonts.”

Right: “Consider using wider left and right margins; your readers will be grateful. To help readers scan your headings, try using twice as much space before each heading and a sans serif font, such as blue Arial Bold to contrast the body text.”

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5. “Reveal not your impressions to thy fellow judges, lest they hesitate to disagree.”


Wrong: Right:“Hey, before you judge that online tutorial from Capital, make sure you have Maalox handy; you’ll need it.”

“What did I think of the

tutorial? I’ll be glad to talk

about it after you’ve finished

writing your evaluation.”

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6. “Verbally explain thy numerical scores.”


“See comments.”

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7. “Judgeth not with thy head, nor with thy heart, but verily, with head, heart, and ear as one.”


Wrong: Right:“I had to assign low marks for formatting and navigation. Too bad that clever illustrations and graceful, engaging writing aren’t judging criteria.”

“That was fun. True, I had to score it low in several categories. But it was a joy to read; I couldn’t put it down! In my book, that makes it at least a Merit winner.”

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8. “Thou shalt check thy spelling; check thy grammar; check thy punctuation; check thy pagination; or judge not; for all that ye deliver shall reflect good or ill on the Society.”


Wrong: “I dont undestand why Section Two is formated differently than Section 1.”

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9. “Thou shalt contact not the entrant, no matter how noble thy reason.”


Dear Entrant: “I was judging your STC entry when a glaring typo caught my eye on page 6. I hope there’s time to correct it before your next release. If you need a full-time copy editor, I’m available.”

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10.“At the Consensus Meeting, thou shalt bargain, not bully.”


Wrong: Right:

This entry sucks! There’s no way I’m letting the two of you give her an award.”

To be honest, I still don’t feel she deserves an award. But since both of you

feel she deserves “Excellent,” can we compromise on “Merit”?

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11.“Delay not until the final days, or verily, the hours will be too few.”
