Over the past few weeks we have announced the new Judge Foundry level system. As part of that, we mentioned that there would be an expedited process for some judges who are already operating at higher levels to be promoted to those levels. The expedited advancement process will be available for judges for about six months, until May 31, 2024, after which no additional expedited advancement applications will be accepted.
The expedited advancement process is explained for each level, for completeness. As a reminder, this covers judges who are currently active – if you’re a judge who has lapsed, please read this article for how to recover your previous level.
Level One, Two, and Event Admins
Judges wishing to advance to L1, L2 and Event Admin do so using the normal process, which will be available for judge levels as soon as Judge Foundry launches membership, and Event Admin soon afterward. All Judge Academy levels earned on or before October 13th will be honored for judges who are in good standing with Judge Academy, and there are no extra steps or applications needed – your level will automatically port over once you become a Judge Foundry member.
Level Three
The process for L3 is vastly different from the old process, so it’s worth calling out that current L2s that wish to advance to L3 with Judge Foundry should use the normal Judge Foundry L3 process. This requires a short checklist, which most L2s who feel like they should be L3 will have already completed. After submitting the checklist, judges should request a recommendation, take the exam, and sit for an interview. The exam and interview are not expected to be particularly difficult for judges who are already operating above what’s expected for new Level Three Judges.
There are two paths available for promotion to Levels Four and Five, in part due to the large number of potential candidates for immediate promotion, and in part due to the need to quickly spin up Level Five Judges in order to promote L3s and L4s. The form for L4 and L5 expedited advancement is here.
Level Four Automatic Promotion
Automatic Promotion is open for the first three waves, approximately 45 days after launch. To be eligible to apply for Level Four Automatic Promotion, Judges must meet one of the following requirements:
- Joined Judge Foundry as a Level Three
- Had a historical L3 certification and regained Level Three by completing the maintenance requirements
- Is a Judge Foundry L2 or L3 and has completed an advanced L2 team lead certification, including any of the following
- Judge Academy Medium Event Lead
- GP Team Lead in Training Program
- Team Lead Check
The eligible L2s and L3s apply for Level Four based on having fulfilled the maintenance requirements for L4.
- Lead a total of 20 judges as a Team Lead at events
- Head-judge an event with at least eight judges
- Work at least six multi-day events
- Write a short self review describing recent events judged that reflects on your readiness for Level Four.
All requirements count activity since July 1, 2021
Judges who meet these requirements and apply for promotion will automatically be promoted to Level Four with the next wave without further review needed.
Level Four Expedited Promotion
Expedited promotion is open for six months after launch. To be eligible to apply for Level Four Expedited Promotion, Judges must meet one of the following requirements:
- Joined Judge Foundry as a Level Two or Level Three
- Had a historical L2 or L3 certification and regained that level by completing the maintenance requirements
To apply, the candidate writes a short self-review including recent events judged and reflects on their readiness for L4. They may include particular strengths and weaknesses, but this isn’t an extensive self-review and specifics for each quality are not required. Candidates should include with which large tournament organizers they have worked in roles typical for an L4, such as Team Lead on medium-sized events or Head Judge on Sunday headliners.
All current Level Five judges at the time of the application will assess the review.
- They may provide additional information about the candidate
- Large tournament organizers may be contacted for additional feedback
- Existing level, including historical level, will be taken into account
The L5s will assess whether they believe the candidate is, clearly and convincingly, a Level Four.
All current L5s may vote on each candidate. If a majority of voting L5s approve, the candidate is advanced to Level Four.
Level Five Automatic Promotion
Automatic Promotion is open for the first three waves, approximately 45 days after launch. To be eligible to apply for Level Five Automatic Promotion, Judges must meet one of the following requirements:
- Joined Judge Foundry as a Level Three
- Had a historical L3 certification and regained Level Three by completing the maintenance requirements
The eligible L3s apply for Level Five based on having fulfilled the maintenance requirements for L5.
- Choose Three (all requirements count activity since July 1, 2021):
- Lead a total of 30 judges as a Team Lead at events
- Head-judge an event with at least twelve judges
- Work at least six multi-day events
- Serve on one or more advancement panels
- Write a short self review describing recent events judged that reflects on your readiness for Level Five.
All requirements count activity since July 1, 2021
Judges who meet these requirements who apply for promotion will automatically be promoted to Level Five with the next wave without further review needed.
Level Five Expedited Promotion
Expedited promotion is open for six months after launch. To be eligible to apply for Level Five Expedited Promotion, Judges must meet one of the following requirements:
- Joined Judge Foundry as a Level Three
- Had a historical L3 certification and regained Level Three by completing the maintenance requirements
To apply, the candidate writes a short self-review including recent events judged, and reflects on their readiness for L5. They may include particular strengths and weaknesses, but as this isn’t an extensive self-review, specifics for each quality are not required. Candidates should mention which large tournament organizers they have worked in roles typical for an L5, such as Team Lead for a large event or Head Judge for a Saturday headline event.
All current Level Five judges at the time of the application will assess the review.
- They may provide additional information about the candidate
- Large tournament organizers may be contacted for additional feedback
- Existing level, including historical level, will be taken into account
The L5s will assess whether they believe the candidate is, clearly and convincingly, a Level Five.
All current L5s may vote on each candidate. If a majority of voting L5s approve, the candidate is advanced to Level Five. If the candidate is not advanced to L5, and is not already L4, an additional vote to advance the candidate to L4 will be held. It’s not necessary to apply for both L4 and L5 at once.
Application Waves
The expedited advancement system will operate in monthly waves. Applications will open shortly after Judge Foundry membership is online. Advancements from each wave will take effect and be announced simultaneously. For an abundance of clarity, it’s not possible for a candidate to advance during a wave and then immediately vote on another candidate in the same wave.
Rejected Applications
Judges who apply for an expedited level but do not receive it will be permitted to re-apply with a two-month cooldown. That is, if they apply in December and are not granted an expedited level, they will be eligible to re-apply in February.
First Wave
On the day that Judge Foundry launches, an initial quick wave will open for applications which will be open for 48 hours. Candidates may only apply for promotion by having completed the maintenance requirements. This wave is designed to promote judges to L4 so that they can immediately begin Level Three interviews, and to L5 so that the second wave has L5s to complete assessments. The results of the wave will be published immediately following its closure.
Second Wave
The second wave will open for all applications immediately following the first wave, and will close 14 days later.
Conclusion
This is not only the end of the article, but the conclusion of the series of articles introducing the new Judge Foundry level system. There’s much more to come, before and after our upcoming public launch, including additional Operations track certifications, information about our bylaws, information about our new website, some discussion of our philosophy, previews of merchandise you can purchase, and plenty of articles whose topics we haven’t even considered.
Please keep your feedback coming – it’s been invaluable throughout the process of founding Judge Foundry. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter, join our discord, comment on this story on JudgeApps and Reddit, or just email us. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!