Receiving over 300 entries each year, the competition relies on a large number of volunteer judges since each entry is judged by three separate people to determine the finalists. In just an hour or two, you can provide solid feedback to our high school entrants on their idea, a valuable learning experience for them.  Judges score the entry using a score card and provide comments. These scores will determine the finalists who will compete for nearly $50,000 in cash and scholarships.  To be a judge, please email your interest to kelly@growsd.org by October 25th so your judging account can be created.

The judging takes place during the first week of November each year and is done completely online. In most cases, the judging should take no more than 2 hours time and does not have to be done all at once.

Once a judge has created an account, they are assigned entries to judge which they access through a judging website. Once an entry is chosen, the judge is presented with the student’s work and a scoresheet to complete online for each entry.  There are a few questions to be scored for each section and box to provide comments.  Constructive comments are highly encouraged and key to the students’ learning.  There is also a separate section for scoring the quality of the written work and sourcing.   Examples of the scoresheet, past judged entries and instructions are available at the Dashboard on the judging website.  A How-To video can also be accessed here.