Creating Rubrics
Creating Rubrics
Section titled “Creating Rubrics”Build the scoring sheets your judges will use to evaluate entries. Each rubric defines what matters and how many points each level of performance is worth.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- Required permission:
rubrics:create - Helpful to have categories set up, since rubrics are tied to them
1. Open the Rubrics page
Section titled “1. Open the Rubrics page”Go to Judging → Rubrics in the sidebar.
2. Create a new rubric
Section titled “2. Create a new rubric”Click New Rubric. Give it a clear name — something judges will recognize, like “Engineering Project Rubric” or “Life Sciences Evaluation.”
3. Add a description
Section titled “3. Add a description”Write a short description explaining what this rubric covers. Judges see this before they start scoring, so a sentence or two about the intent goes a long way.
4. Set the category and division
Section titled “4. Set the category and division”Pick a Category from the dropdown. If your faire uses divisions, choose a Division too. These determine which entries get scored with this rubric.
5. Add criteria
Section titled “5. Add criteria”Click Add Criterion. Each criterion is one thing judges evaluate — like “Methodology,” “Creativity,” or “Presentation Quality.” Give it a name and an optional description that tells judges what to look for.
6. Define performance levels for each criterion
Section titled “6. Define performance levels for each criterion”Every criterion needs performance levels. These are the rating options judges pick from, each with a point value. For example:
| Level | Points |
|---|---|
| Excellent | 10 |
| Good | 7 |
| Fair | 4 |
| Poor | 1 |
Click Add Level within a criterion to add more options. Set the label and point value for each one. You can have as many levels as you want — three to five works well for most faires.
7. Repeat for all criteria
Section titled “7. Repeat for all criteria”Add as many criteria as the rubric needs. A typical rubric has three to six criteria. Too many and judges get fatigued; too few and scores lack nuance.
8. Save the rubric
Section titled “8. Save the rubric”Click Save. The rubric starts in an Active state by default. You can toggle it to Inactive if you’re not ready to use it yet.
Good to know
Section titled “Good to know”- Point values don’t have to be evenly spaced. You might want a bigger gap between “Excellent” and “Good” than between “Fair” and “Poor.”
- Performance level labels are yours to define. You’re not stuck with “Excellent/Good/Fair/Poor” — use whatever language makes sense for your faire.
- Inactive rubrics won’t appear when judges score entries. Toggle a rubric inactive to take it out of rotation without deleting it.
- If you need similar rubrics for different divisions, create one, then duplicate it and tweak the differences. See Assigning Rubrics.