Judging Committee
The key to a successful judging operation at a CWSF is a team of dedicated and well-qualified individuals comprising the judging committee. This team should be recruited incrementally in the two or three years leading up to the Fair. The committee is intentionally "oversized" in anticipation of attrition.. Recruitment and preparation is done first by involvement in the regional fair, either as member of the judging committee or as a best-of-fair judge, and then, if possible, by judging at a CWSF. Monthly meetings commence in the fall and continued until January, at which time biweekly meetings become the norm until mid-April. In the 3 weeks prior to the fair, there were more frequent meetings held as necessary and varying widely in format depending on what type of work needs to be done.
The major responsibilities taken on by the individuals comprising the committee are
- Chief Judge
- Co-Chair
- Interdisciplinary Awards Chair
- Interdisciplinary Awards Co-Chair
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Seven Disciplinary Division Chairs:
- Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Computing and Information Technology
- Earth & Environmental Sciences
- Engineering
- Health Sciences
- Life Sciences
- Physical & Mathematical Sciences
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Two Interdisciplinary Division Chairs
- Automotive
- Environmental Innovation
- Coordinator of Judging in French
- Registrar of Judges
- Data Management Specialist.
This division of responsibilities allows the Chief Judge to focus on the management of the overall operation, timelines, communication with the Host Committee, recruitment of judges, contacting delegates to track down missing project information, etc. All committee members also assume various minor responsibilities in the 4 months leading up to the fair.