If an evaluator tells you their list is empty, or the Evaluate / Start evaluation button is missing or greyed out, this checklist will get them back on track. Work through it in order.
1. Is the evaluation period open?
Open the round and go to Settings → General Settings.
Under Evaluation Dates, check Evaluation Start and Deadline.
Check the round's Timezone on the same page.
The Evaluate button only appears while the evaluation period is open. Public voting has its own dates, which don't affect evaluators.
2. Was the evaluator added to the right round?
You add evaluators round by round. Check that they're listed in the Evaluators tab of the round they're evaluating.
3. Are submissions assigned to the evaluator?
If the evaluator's list is empty, open the round's Evaluators tab and scroll right to the Assigned, Evaluated and Remaining columns. If Assigned is 0, assign some submissions. See Assigning Judges to Submissions.
4. Evaluators can see some submissions but can't evaluate them
If the evaluation dates are open and the evaluator sees their submissions, but Evaluate is greyed out or missing for some of them, check the evaluation form's tracks. When your round uses submission tracks, a submission can only be scored with an evaluation form assigned to its track. If its track isn't linked to any evaluation form, there's nothing to score it with.
In the round's Submissions tab, note the Track of the submissions that can't be evaluated.
Open the Evaluation Form tab, choose a form in the selector and click the Edit icon (pencil).
In Assign to submission track (Category), add the missing track and click Save.
For the full steps, see Assigning Evaluation Forms to Tracks.
5. Has the evaluator already submitted this evaluation?
If Allow evaluators to edit their evaluations until evaluation deadline is off (round Settings → Evaluation Settings), evaluators can't reopen an evaluation once they've submitted it. Turn it on if they need to change their scores.
6. Is the submission preview switched off?
In Settings → Evaluation Settings, make sure Disable submission preview for evaluators is unticked, unless you meant to hide submissions.
7. Has the evaluator logged in?
Click the Gear icon → Users → Evaluators.
Find the evaluator and check the Last Seen column. The Latest Activity column shows what they did most recently.
If Last Seen is empty, they haven't logged in yet.
8. Is the evaluator logging in the right way?
Evaluators log in through the program link, not the admin dashboard. To send an instant login link, reset a password or copy the right link, see Login and Password Help.
Message: "User exists. Remove from users to add as a jury"
This means the email already has an account on your platform.
If you're an admin adding yourself
You don't need to be an evaluator to judge. Open the round, go to Settings → Evaluation Settings and turn on Enable admin judging. You can then evaluate submissions from the dashboard. See Judging Submissions as an Admin.
If the person is a participant
To add them as an evaluator:
Click the Gear icon → Users → Participants.
Remove their participant record.
In the round's Evaluators tab, click Add Evaluator and add them again.
Need a hand? Message us in chat with the round name and the evaluator's email.