Plan the shape of your contest — sections, optional subsections, weights, penalties, Olympic/averaging, and tiebreak philosophy — before (or while) you click through SquirrelScore’s tools.
This page is the brainstorming / rulebook companion. When you’re ready to enter things in the app, jump to Scoring structure and Contest settings.
If you are building a new contest or refining an existing one, I hope this helps.
Just remember: this should be fun, entertaining, and rewarding for everyone — including you.
Take into account how long things can take and plan breaks. Add buffer time to everything. The last thing you want is to overload yourself and others. Look at how much time you have during the event and write down what the goal is for your titleholder as a representative of your “brand.” Keep that fresh while you design — and make sure you include a max time for each contestant for each timed section.
Feel free to use one or more of the examples below and/or invent your own — the options are limitless. Just remember to clearly outline and document your scoring methodology and explain it to your judges and contestants.
You may be wondering what the difference is between the two, and rightly so. Think of Contests as your main event. Sub-contests are different titles within the event that are judged alongside each other by the same judges, using the same rubric, with the same tallymasters, run by the same producers. If you use different judges, rubric, tallymasters, etc. between your contests, create a separate contest.
Reach out to other contests and experienced organizers to figure out what matters for your goals. Passion for community runs deep; support is often closer than you think.
Don’t forget entertainment and other fun for contestants and attendees. Socials, interactive challenges, classes, vendors, and performances make the weekend better — and buy everyone a moment to breathe between contest blocks.
One common way to structure a contest looks like this:
Contests typically have multiple Sections (categories) that judges score. Think of these as the main events. Examples include:
In SquirrelScore, you create these under Manage > sections. See Scoring structure.
Important Note about sections and schedules: Make sure to to determine WHEN you want to LOCK each section (have scores and feedback turned in by the judges), and make sure you communicate this with your judges and tallymaster(s). For example, if it is a section scored during a stage portion earlier in the evening from sashing/crowning the winner, you probably want to have them turn it in immediately. If it's a social score for the weekend, you could have them turn in scores and feedback before the final main event (like just before they sit down for a final stage portion with scenes/skits and speeches before sashing/crowning the winner).
Pro tip: Especially for situations like stage portions, where judges are turning in scores while the emcee is working filler material to give them time to complete it between contestants, default to the emcee waiting for a "green light" from the tallymaster (since the tallymaster will see/review when the judges have turned in their scores/feedback). Make sure it is somewhere in the emcee's line of sight so they see their cue that it is safe to move on. This eliminates the emcee from having to verbally query status, and makes things flow so much better, especially for the audience. I've used green battery-powered safety lights and even just a full screen green and red picture to flip back and forth on my phone to signal the emcee (if you use the phone, remember to turn the brightness to max).
Some contests give each section one overall score per judge. Others break a section into subsections that add up to the section total.
Subsections reduce the chance a judge tanks a whole category because of one tiny gripe ("unshined boots", “same outfit twice", "harness color") and misses the spirit of the section. We’re all only human, after all.
Example — Interviews broken into subsections:
Once sections (and optional subsections) exist, decide how important each is. Remember, it’s your contest - keep those goals from earlier handy.
One easy starting point: 1000 total points per contestant per judge. That gives wiggle room and makes ties a little less inevitable. A spreadsheet helps before you configure max points in the app.
How do you decide weights? Think about contest focus, goals, and community. List your sections, then rank them most > least important. That ranking is your first draft of “more points” vs “fewer points.” Beware of paralysis by analysis, though — sometimes your first instinct is right.
Suggested higher-ranked focus areas (only suggestions):
| Contest section | Max points |
|---|---|
| Interviews | 300 |
| Social interaction | 100 |
| Speech | 150 |
| Educational presentation | 300 |
| Scene or skit | 150 |
Total: 1000 points per contestant per judge.
| Interview subsection | Max points |
|---|---|
| Punctuality | 20 |
| Communication | 75 |
| Integrity & inclusion | 75 |
| Engagement | 50 |
| Demeanor | 60 |
| Presence | 20 |
That’s how a 300-point Interview section can prioritize what matters most inside that block.
Enter these max values when you build subsections in Scoring structure.
Outliers can skew results — bias, bad day, mystery math, you name it.
When Enable Olympic Scoring is on in Contest settings, SquirrelScore omits the highest and lowest judge totals for each section (you need at least five regular judges for that drop to work as intended). Those extreme judge totals are still visible for transparency; they just don’t count toward the result.
Using the Interviews section as an example:
| Judge # | Interview section total |
|---|---|
| 1 | 278 |
| 2 | 134 |
| 3 | 256 |
| 4 | 292 |
| 5 | 246 |
One low outlier can swing the story hard — that’s why many contests like Olympic mode.
Note: Many contests apply the rule that if there’s a tie, peel Olympic off for the tied people and compare again. SquirrelScore can do that automatically when you enable Automatic Tiebreak — see Dealing with a tie.
Sometimes scores are easier to read when they stay on the same scale as “points per contestant per judge” (our 1000-point example).
When Enable Averaging is on, SquirrelScore divides the section total by the number of judge scores used (after Olympic, if both are on), instead of leaving a sum that grows with every judge.
Using the Interview numbers above:
Averaging is applied after Olympic scoring when both are enabled. Averaged values are rounded to keep the board readable.
Sometimes you have to take points off. It’s not fun, but it can be necessary. Bake penalties into the published structure and tell contestants early.
Two common patterns:
| Kind | What it means in SquirrelScore |
|---|---|
| Time penalty | Optional per section: flat-over or per-interval deductions when someone exceeds the allowed seconds (Scoring structure). |
| Overall penalty / adjustment | Integer change to the overall total via Score adjustments when that setting is enabled (for example, missing a required charity basket). |
Penalties and adjustments are applied after Olympic scoring / averaging for section math — they’re meant to hit the section or overall total as your rules describe, not to get “Olympicked away.”
When applying time penalties, make sure to note when the timer starts and ends in the rules and discuss this with your contestants and tallymasters. For speeches, as an example, start the stopwatch when the contestant starts speaking and end it when they clearly finish their speech (either through words or starting to hand off the microphone).
Ties happen. How you break them should live in your rules and match how you configure the contest.
A common cascade — and what SquirrelScore’s Enable Automatic Tiebreak option follows when you turn it on:
Places stay in the original tied slot when Automatic Tiebreak resolves people (for example, a three-way tie for 2nd can become 2nd / 3rd / 4th). Results labels explain what was applied.
If Automatic Tiebreak is off, ties stay tied under contest scoring until you adjust points or use a manual Results control. Details: Results & tiebreakers.
Yes. It definitely is.
Start at the top of this page and work down. Break it into pieces. Use a spreadsheet for the math. Involve others. Ask other producers how they structure, weight, and score their contests — other producers you talk to may share what worked for their contest (and what spectacularly didn’t).
Then open SquirrelScore and build: