MHOT JUDGING

(Revised February 20, 2009)

(This document supersedes all previous documents, which should be destroyed)

Preliminary Competitions of Multi-Night/Multi-Day Pageants
and Scoring for Single-Night/Single-Day Pageants

Private Interview - 30%
Talent - 35%
Evening Wear/ On-Stage Question - 20%
Lifestyle and Fitness in Sportswear - 10%
Scholastic Achievement - 5%

Following the preliminary competitions, Multi-Night/Multi-Day Pageants are required to schedule time with their judges to conduct silent composite scoring for the number of Semi-Finalists they intend to announce for the final night of competition (some states do not have a Top Ten, some have a Top Fifteen, and others may have a Top Seven or Eight). These are the Top _____ contestants receiving the highest preliminary scores. States with 30 or more contestants have the option of assigning composite scores to the contestants receiving the top fifteen preliminary scores. Instructions for Composite Scoring are included as Appendix “A”. This composite is scored on a scale of 6 to 10 using whole numbers. Multi-Night/Multi-Day State Pageants may not carry forward the Interview score, but instead are required to complete the Composite scoring process.

Following the Composite Scoring, the state, at its option, may have a Top Ten discussion.

Judges’ Semi-Finalist Discussion

THE DISCUSSION CANNOT - AND WILL NOT - TAKE PLACE
UNTIL THE COMPOSITE SCORING IS COMPLETED.

The judges’ panel is being asked to “find” one of the primary representatives of the State Organization.

The Miss America Organization recognizes the problems that have occurred in previous years, which led to the dissolution of the practice of conducting a discussion of the finalists moving into the final round of competition. This included pressuring other judges to vote a certain way, undermining contestants (in a way in which they were spoken of) and the colluding of judges to help assure “their” outcome by lowering the scores of those contestants, (who they heard through the discussion) other judges were considering. There are serious potential problems with this concept. To this end, the Miss America Organization requires the following to occur.

Once again, this discussion cannot - and will not - take place until the Composite Scoring is completed. Once the Composite Scoring is completed, the judging panel will consider each of the
Semi-Finalists, one at a time, and individually answer each of the following three questions.

Do you believe this contestant is able to fulfill the responsibilities of Miss State’s Outstanding Teen?

This question may only be answered by “yes” or “no” with no further discussion. The head judge will make a list of the contestants who receive at least one “yes” to this question. Those contestants who received all “no’s” to question number one may no longer be discussed.

Do you believe this contestant wants to be Miss State’s Outstanding Teen and perform ALL of the duties that have been set forth?

This question will only be asked of the contestants who received a “yes” to question number one. Again, question number two may only be answered with a “yes” or a “no”. The head judge will then make a list of these contestants who have received at least one “yes” to both questions one and two. These contestants will move to the third question of the discussion.

Do you believe this contestant possesses the personality, temperament and attitude necessary for working with all of the parties she will encounter while performing the duties of the titleholder?

Again, this question may only be answered “yes” or “no”. ANY contestant, who has received at least one “yes” to all three of these questions, will then move to the final round of discussions.

From this “short list” of contestants, the judges may discuss why they see these contestants before them at that moment (in the discussion) as being capable of performing the duties of Miss State’s Outstanding Teen. There may not be any comparing of contestants and there may not be any comments made regarding “who I am going for”. Discussion is limited only to the contestant’s ability to fulfill the responsibilities, wanting to perform the duties, and personality/temperament/attitude. This conversation may include discussions of strengths and weaknesses in relation to these three criterions. The contestants should be discussed one at a time in the order in which they are going to compete. Judge Number One should begin the discussion of the first contestant and the discussion proceeds around the judges’ table until all judges have spoken. No judge may speak on any one contestant for more than one minute. The second contestant on this “short list” is discussed next and Judge Number Two begins this discussion. It continues, in turn, until all contestants who have received at least one “yes” to the three vital questions have been discussed.

There may not be any decisions and/or discussions regarding placement among the judges.

The reason for the discussion taking place following the Composite Scoring is so that the discussion actually serves its purpose. It allows judges to learn from one another, but it does not allow the judges to “brow beat” other judges.

Final Night Competition

Final night On-Stage Competitions will be judged on a scale of 6 to 10 using whole numbers.

Composite - 35% (scored on a scale of 1 to 10)
Talent - 35%
Evening Wear/ On-Stage Question - 15%
Lifestyle and Fitness in Sportswear - 15%

From these scores, the Top Five contestants will be named. Upon identifying the Top Five, all previous scores will be discarded.

Top Five On Stage Final Discussion

States have the option of staging a Top Five final discussion session. It may be staged so that each contestant receives one question or a group discussion. The Top Five final discussion is NOT scored. Each judge may use this final discussion to assist him/her in ranking each contestant in order from first to fifth. A first place vote is worth 10 points, second place - 5 points, third place - 3 points, fourth place - 2 points, and a fifth place vote - 1 point.

Only from these votes will the winners and runners-up be selected. Because the points are pre-set, there is no reason to drop highs and lows in this phase of competition.

Tie Breakers

Tie Breaker from Preliminary Nights into Final Night Competition

Talent (contestant with highest talent points moves on). If still tied:

Private Interview
Evening Wear/ On-Stage Question
Lifestyle and Fitness in Sportswear
Scholastic Achievement

Head-to-Head (If it is still a tie after all phases of competition are considered, the names are placed on a Tie Breaker Selection Sheet and handed to the judges and each judge circles his/her choice for placement.)

Tie Breaker from Final Night into the Top Five

(using the same procedure as above)

Composite

Talent
Evening Wear/ On-Stage Question
Lifestyle and Fitness in Sportswear
Scholastic Achievement

Tie Breaker for Tie Within the Top Five

(using the same procedure as above)

The contestant with the highest number of points from the final night competitions prior to going into the Top Five competition - total of Composite, Talent, Evening Wear, Lifestyle and Fitness in Sportswear will receive the higher placement.

Composite

Talent
Evening Wear/ On-Stage Question
Lifestyle and Fitness in Sportswear
Scholastic Achievement

Head-to-Head Competition (Prepare a slip a paper for each judge with the names of the contestants who are tied for the placement. Please make sure the slips of paper are clearly identified as to the reason for the tie breaker). Ask each judge to circle his/her choice for the higher placement.)

Ties Into or Within the Top Five of a Single-Night/Single-Day State Pageant

Talent (contestant with highest talent points moves on). If still tied:

Private Interview
Evening Wear/ On-Stage Question
Lifestyle and Fitness in Sportswear
Scholastic Achievement

Head-to-Head Competition - If contestants are still tied after exhausting the previous judging categories for breaking the ties, the names are placed on a Tie Breaker Selection Sheet and handed to the judges and each judge circles his/her choice for placement.

These competitions will select the Top Five. Each state has the option to have the Top Five contestants participate in a final discussion that is not scored. The Top Five will compete in the competitions described above with the same point value for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth place votes on the final ballot.

States that do not believe they can announce a Top Five may simply hand the Final Ballots to the judges with all names except those with the five highest scores crossed through and have each judge rank the contestants on the Final Ballot. This would be appropriate for a state pageant with fewer than 12 contestants. This ranking would take place during the final production number, farewell, etc. or as soon as possible after all of the preliminary competitions are complete.

MISS AMERICA’S OUTSTANDING TEEN

APPENDIX A

STATE PAGEANT COMPOSITE SCORING AND

TOP FIVE FINAL BALLOT GUIDELINES

(Revised June 1, 2007)

Composite Scoring in limited to State Pageants that conduct Multi-Night/Multi-Day competitions and is not available to State Pageants that only conduct a Single-Night/Single-Day competition. Composite Scoring allows each judge to individually assess his/her overall opinion of each of the Semi-Finalist’s ability to fulfill the responsibilities and requirements of a state titleholder.

It is preferable that the judges receive the names of the Semi-Finalists in the order in which they will be announced on-stage during the final night of competition. If that is not possible due to production delays, the names must be presented to the judges in a random order. They may not be presented to the judges in contestant order (the order in which they competed in preliminary competitions), by group, or by point totals.

The Composite Scoring procedures should be explained to the judges and time should be allowed for them to ask any questions. They must fully understand the process BEFORE it begins. The only people who should be in the room are the judges, auditors, and the necessary pageant executives. Everyone in the room should be extremely cautious as to any comments they may make. The fewer words spoken, the better off everyone will be. Once the Composite Scoring procedure begins, judges and all pageant officials should remain silent.

Once the names of the Semi-Finalists are provided to the person designated to prepare the score sheets, he/she should prepare them for each judge and not expect the judges to write the names of the contestants onto blank score sheets.

Judges should be instructed to have all of their own notes available for their own review. They cannot discuss any of the contestants prior to or during this process. It is advisable, if the room is conducive to it, to allow the judges to spread out throughout the room and make themselves very comfortable.

Once the Composite Scoring is explained, the duties and responsibilities of Miss State’s Outstanding Teen presented earlier in the week should be reviewed one more time.

When everyone is ready to begin, a designated pageant official should read the first contestant’s name, number, and title aloud. Once the name is called, the composite score sheet with the contestant’s name on it should be handed to each judge. The judges will have up to one minute to review all of their notes. Each judge gives the contestant a score on a scale from 6 to 10 evaluating her overall ability to perform the duties and responsibilities required of the titleholder. The judge should ask himself/herself, “On a scale of 6 to 10, what is the contestant’s ability to be the beautiful, talented, intelligent, and well-spoken role model this state needs to perform these duties?” Once the judge has placed the score on the score sheet, it is folded in half and turned into the judges’ chair to give to the auditor. Once all of the score sheets have been collected for the first contestant, the second name on the list is read. The procedure repeats itself until all Semi-Finalists have received a composite score.

States with 30 or more contestants have the option of judges assigning composite scores to the contestants receiving the top fifteen preliminary scores and the TEN contestants with the highest composite score will move into the final night of competition.

Once the Composite Scoring is completed, the State Organization, at its discretion, may proceed to a Semi-Finalist Discussion as prescribed within the Mechanics of Judging document.

Remind the Judges that the Composite Score will account for 35% of the contestant’s final score before moving into the Top Five Competition. Also remind the judges that the Final Night On-Stage Competitions MUST be scored on a scale of 6 to 10.

Top Five Final Ballot Explanation

Once the Composite Scoring and the Semi-Finalist Discussion (if held) are completed, it is appropriate to explain the Top Five Final Ballot Competition. Judges should be instructed well ahead of time that once all On-Stage competitions are completed - Talent, Lifestyle and Fitness in Sportswear, and Evening Wear plus the Composite score - the auditors will identify the Top Five contestants. At this point, all previous points will be discarded and each of the Top Five contestants will have zero points. (Show the judges a sample of the Final Ballot with fictitious names to review so they are familiar with this ballot before it is handed to them during the final moments of the competition. This sample ballot should be returned to the auditors, before the judges are dismissed.)

During the actual pageant, each judge will then be provided a Final Ballot. Each judge should then list the contestants in the order in which the judge believes the contestants should finish. A 1^st place vote will be worth 10 points, a 2^nd place vote worth 5 points, a 3^rd place vote worth 3 points, a 4^th place vote worth 2 points and a 5^th place vote worth 1 point. These points will be totaled and these points alone will determine the outcome of the pageant.

Remind judges to vote their conscience and to accurately place the contestants in the order in which they individually believe the contestants should finish without any consideration to any other factors. Typically, any attempts to manipulate the outcome of the pageant can and do result in an outcome unsatisfactory to all parties.

Depending upon the size of the pageant, the Top Five contestants may or may not participate in a Top Five discussion. This discussion can be used merely to assist the judges in placing the contestants in order from 1^st through 5^th. Judges are not actually judging the Top Five discussion itself. If the State Pageant has less than 12 or so contestants, pageant officials may choose to not separately announce the Top Five and may simply give each judge the Top Five names and have the judges place the contestants names/titles on the Final Ballot in the order the judges feels the contestants should place. The winner and runners-up will be announced solely from the results of the Final Ballot.