How do you judge worldbuilding? And how do you compare worlds and worldbuilding that are completly different? At World Anvil, some of our events, like Summer Camp and WorldEmber, are judged by community members. If you’re a community judge and need some guidance, or if you’re on the fence about becoming a community judge, this post is for you! And if you’re taking part in one of these challenges, this post will give you some insight into how judges might look at your work.

What does being a judge entail?

You want to be a judge? Or maybe you already are! Regardless, here’s what you can expect to do as a judge:

  • Read many articles. You won’t know exactly how many articles you have to look at until it’s time to judge them… but expect a lot of reading! That being said, it might not be as much as you might think if you’re smart about your process. More on that in the next section!
  • Make hard decisions. Selecting a winner will not be easy, because you’ll often end up with a handful of articles that all deserve to win. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner! The next section will give you some ideas about what to look for to make your final decision.
  • Judge as you please! For World Anvil community judging, you’re free to come up with your own judging criteria. Some judges will be looking for flowery prose, while others might appreciate detailed articles written like Wikipedia. Some judges share what they’re looking for, while others prefer to keep it private.

How to choose the winning article

If you’re not sure how to tackle judging—especially if you have a ton of articles to read—, I recommend doing it in phases! Here’s a 3-step process to try out:

  1. Initial read & longlist: If you have many articles to read and you’re short on time, don’t fully read every single article yet. Instead, focus on the hook of each article—generally, this is the title, a subtitle, and the first paragraph or two. Dismissing an article without fully reading it might seem harsh, but the hook tends to be a good indication about the rest of the article. Plus, time you save now is extra time you’ll be able to dedicate to reading the longlist later!
  2. Compile your shortlist: Once you have your longlist (that is, the articles that made it through the first round of quick reading), you can dive deeper into each of these articles. But before you do, decide how long your shortlist will be: I recommend five articles. If you don’t decide before you begin, your shortlist will end up… well, not short! And that would defeat the purpose of narrowing down the list of choices.
  3. Select your winner: You should now have just five articles to choose from… which is both great (it’s only 5!) and super hard (you have to choose only one!). I can’t tell you how you should make the call, but the next section will give you some tips.

What makes a great article?

As a judge, you’ll have to decide what you prioritize when choosing a winner article. But here are some things you can consider!

  • Does it over- (or under-) explain? Knowing what to cut and what to keep is a skill, and it’s not easy to get right! As you read the article, see if you spot any areas of the article that are too wordy. And is there anything that isn’t explained clearly enough?
  • Layout and clarity. Are paragraphs too long? Does the information hierarchy (i.e. the section headers) make sense? If the article uses columns and highlighted containers like read-aloud boxes, do they help or detract from understanding the article?
  • Custom CSS and art. I recommend not deducting points for not using these elements. However, if the article has custom CSS and art, it should add to the article’s theme and content! Is the art made for the article, or is it just placeholder? Is the custom style readable and accessible? Do the color scheme and other styling elements fit the themes of the article?
  • Adherence to the prompt. If the article is part of a prompt challenge (such as in Summer Camp), the article should be an answer to that prompt. The amount of prompt-bending you allow is up to you, but it probably shouldn’t be limitless! After all, the challenge is all about writing articles for the predefined prompts.
  • Is it an interesting take? Finding an article that is completely and fully original will be hard—true originality is hard to come by in general—, but especially if it’s a prompt challenge many of the articles you read will be similar. So take note of the articles that surprise you by developing a topic in an unexpected way!
  • Does it stay with you? Once you’ve finish reading the article and taken a break, does it stick with you? Does your mind keep going back to it even when you’ve read other articles? That probably means there’s something special about it!

All in all, you can boil down this section to a single question: Does this article do what it set out to do? If every single element of the article (content, writing style, layout, etc) works together seamlessly to create a cohesive work, you might have a winning article!

Giving feedback as a judge

We love to read out your feedback to the winner in our awards ceremonies! To make sure the awards ceremonies don’t run too long, we only read feedback for the winner and we ask that you keep it quite short. However, you can still give longer feedback to your winner by leaving a comment in the winning article after the winner reveal. Some sponsors even give feedback (and stickers!) to all articles that made it to their shortlist, which is a great way to celebrate other winners who also did amazing work.

When you give feedback, keep it positive. Remember that you’re giving feedback to amazing worldbuilding, after all! You can, if you want, mention something that could improve the article, but be sure to phrase it constructively. Use phrases like “I think there’s an opportunity to dive more into X” or “I’d love a better understanding of Y” and sandwich them in between positive comments.

So, are you interested in judging an event like Summer Camp or WorldEmber? If so, keep an eye on our community channel (such as our Discord server and the News section on World Anvil) on the month before the challenge begins: June for Summer Camp, November for WorldEmber.