Winners selection

Winners Slate is the first module in chapter III The Slate, next to Letter Generator and Power List. It is where scoring turns into a decision, and where that decision is turned into the letters that go out. It is also the screen most likely to be looked at by someone who was not in the room when the panel met, so the record it leaves matters as much as the result.

Before you start

• Judging is complete, or close enough that you know which categories are still short. Check Scoring Progress and Category Matrix on the Judging Panel first.
• Each category has met its Minimum Judges Required. A category decided by one judge is a category you will be asked about.
• Any conflicts have been looked at — see the limits of the Conflict Checker, which flags but does not exclude.

1. Work through the slate category by category

The module lists your categories with the scoring behind each one. Expand All and Collapse All move through them quickly; View Judge Scores opens the scores behind a category so you can see how close the top of it is. View All Nominations takes you back to the full entry list for that category.

If judging is not finished, Chase Remaining Judges and Assign Judges are on this screen too, so you do not have to go back to the panel to fix a gap you have just found.

2. Set what a shortlist means

Set Shortlist Criteria (also reachable as Shortlist Criteria) is where you record the rule you are applying — top three by weighted score, everyone above a threshold, or whatever your constitution says. Set it before you look at the results, not after. It is the difference between a rule and a justification.

3. Record the winners

+ Add Winner records a winner against a category, and Edit Winner changes one. For honorary and discretionary awards that are not scored at all — lifetime achievement, chair's award, posthumous recognition — use + Select Honoree and + Add Another Honoree, which keep them separate from the scored categories rather than pretending they went through judging.

Award Settings and Configure hold how the slate is presented.

4. Generate the letters

Generate Letter produces one, Generate Letters produces the set. They are drafts: read them before anything is sent. The Letter Generator module in the same chapter holds the templates and merge fields, and shortlist letters, result letters and regret letters are all different documents — sending the wrong one is the single most expensive mistake available on this screen.

Sending is a separate action from generating, deliberately. Nothing goes to a nominee because you clicked Generate.

Keeping it defensible

Two habits are worth more than any feature here. First, write the shortlist criteria down in the product before you see the ranking. Second, if you depart from the scores — a tie-break, a jury discretion award, a withdrawal — record why at the time, in the category, rather than reconstructing it in an email three weeks later. The people who ask about a result are rarely the people who were there.

Timing

Decide the slate before the letters, the letters before the press, and all three before the run of show needs the names. If the ceremony is close, the practical order is: close scoring, agree the slate, generate and check letters, then hand the confirmed names to the guest list so the winners are actually seated where the cameras are.

Common problems

• A category has no clear top. Open View Judge Scores. If two entries are within noise of each other, the tie-break is a panel decision, not a rounding decision — use Deliberation on the Judging Panel and record the outcome.
• Scores changed after you thought judging had closed. Set the Scoring Deadline on the Judging Panel Settings tab. Without one, a late judge can move a result you have already told someone about.
• A winner's name is wrong on the letter. Fix the nomination record, not the letter — the merge fields read the record, so an edited letter will be wrong again the next time it is generated.
• An honoree appears in the scored rankings. They were added as a winner rather than as an honoree. Remove and re-add through Select Honoree.