How judging actually works
Five criteria, ten points each, and audience size explicitly excluded.
Every eligible candidacy is scored independently by at least three judges against five published criteria, each out of ten.
Judges are briefed in writing to discount audience size. It is not a criterion, it is not shown to them, and it never will be. What they are shown is a prepared case: the eligibility checks PALMA has already completed, a sample of what the audience said, the evidence our team gathered, and the category's own criteria.
A judge cannot reach the scale without declaring whether they have a conflict, and declaring removes the candidate from their assignments immediately. The chair decides whether it mattered, not the judge.
Where four or more judges have scored a candidacy, the highest and lowest scores are dropped before ranking. Panels disagree, and one outlier — enthusiastic or hostile — should not decide a PALMA.
A submitted assessment cannot be edited. If PALMA needs a correction it goes through an administrator, and the state before and after is written to the audit log.
The PALMA Journal is published by PALMA, The Creator Honours.