In beauty pageants, judging criteria and scoring systems can be quite confusing. There are so many different things that can be factored in and every system weighs them differently, as well as uses different decimals. It can be challenging for contestants to keep up with everything and even for directors to know exactly how their systems are being used.
To help make things more clear, directors should have a brief explanation of how they are using their scoring system. They should also include a list of the specific criteria that judges are looking for in each portion of the competition. This will provide a clearer picture for both contestants and fans of the pageant to understand what judges are scoring each contestant on.
For example, in comparison judging (also known as ballot scoring), the judges will have a list of all of the contestants and they will circle which ones that they feel are most competent in each area or skill set. The judges will then rank their selections and the contestants with the most checkmarks are the ones who go on to the next round.
This is a great way for the pageant to ensure that no one person is receiving preferential treatment over another due to money, publicity or other factors. It is important for the directors to note that it may be impossible to eliminate conflicts of interest completely from the judging panel but they must always instruct judges not to allow prior knowledge or memory of a delegate in a previous event to influence their judging decisions at this event.