Freeze a whole section so judges cannot change scores - a key step before trusting Results, exports, and reveal night. Locking is basically "pens down, turn in your papers"-type energy.
- Contest must be active to lock or unlock
- Confirm judge progress in Monitoring judges
- Agree with the producer that this section is ready
- Finish tallymaster scoring / time entry for this section if it applies
- Open Judging Sections for the contest.
- Open the section's contestant / progress list.
- Confirm judges are finished - or that you knowingly accept remaining blanks.
- Review any of the feedback / scores if needed (sometimes producers will ask to do this to ensure integrity / sportspersonlike conduct).
- Click Lock for the whole section.
- Confirm the UI shows the section as locked.
- Tell judges the section is frozen so they stop trying to "just fix one thing."
- Repeat for other sections as the show progresses.
// Chris - To Do: Screenshot of Lock section control
// Chris - To Do: Screenshot of Section locked
- Only unlock if a genuine correction is needed AND the producer approves.
- Click Unlock while the contest is still active.
- Have the judge (or you, for tallymaster sections) make the fix and Save.
- Lock again promptly.
- Re-check Results before anything is put in the emcee's hands.
- Judges see locked sections as view-only
- Many PDF/CSV/Emcee tools expect all scored sections locked
- Contestant My Results wait until scored sections are locked and the contest is inactive
- Review and lock section-by-section as the show completes - don't wait for cosmic perfection if your contest is being done live (they're waiting for these results).
- Announce locks in the judge chat so nobody thinks the site "broke."
- Keep a quick note of why you unlocked (typo, missed contestant) - future-you on the debrief will thank you. Even if its just a text in a group chat to keep record of it.
- Locking the wrong section because titles are similar
- Leaving one tallymaster section unlocked and wondering why exports look incomplete
- Unlocking casually during Emcee Reveal for "fun" (DON'T DO THAT)
Can I lock just one contestant?
No - locking is for the whole section.
What if the contest is inactive?
Treat it as wrap-up/review. Lock/unlock and live scoring edits aren't for inactive free-for-alls - active contests are for live control.
Do locks delete scores?
No. They freeze editing.