The Awards Night Planner

Weights as shares, a missing judge handled in the open, winners ranked on the raw figures with ties called ties, the walk to the stage timed, a program that fits the venue slot, and plates that fit their words

Awardship's free calculators each answer one question for one nominee, one ceremony or one plate. The Award Scoring Calculator averages whatever scores it is given, so a judge who missed a nominee quietly changes the panel. The Ceremony Timeline Calculator adds awards to an opening block and stops: no walk to the stage, no closing, no venue slot. The Engraving Line Planner divides characters by line length, which is only the floor. The Awards Night Planner puts them in order for one awards night. It turns weights into shares, so 8, 6 and 9 weighted 3, 2 and 1 score 7.5 out of 10 rather than 15. It compares every nominee on the same panel: in its example, skipping the hardest marker's blank crowns Casey, while the same three judges for everyone crown Avery. It ranks on the unrounded figures, so two finalists who both show 7.5 are not a tie and two at 7.8 are. It times each award from the walk, plans the program to nine tenths of the slot (20 awards at 2.5 minutes fill a whole 90 minute slot; seated near the stage they fit with 10 minutes to spare), gives every block a clock time, and wraps each inscription by whole words: 62 characters at 20 a line count as 4 lines and need 5. Every figure is computed by the site's own tools from worked examples, tagged as examples; the hold-back, the beat timings and the plate size are rules of thumb, and the plate is confirmed with your engraver. League and sport rules come first. You get a 24-page printable PDF with 7 steps, a rubric sheet, a score grid, a run of show, an engraving order sheet, a slot card with an order sheet and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked out from the numbers you entered in the calculator.

Look inside

Two full pages from the planner, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Shares Rule: weights divided by their sum, so the weighted score stays on your scale
• The Shared Panel Rule: a blank is not a zero and not a skip; fill it or strike the judge for the whole category
• The Raw Figure Rule: rank on unrounded averages, report equal figures as a tie, and settle it with a tie-break written first
• The Walk Rule: time the walk, handover, photo and applause, not the citation
• The Nine-Tenths Rule: plan the program to nine tenths of the venue slot, with three ways back inside it
• The Clock Rule: a clock time for every block and a halfway checkpoint with its cut decided in advance
• The Plate Rule: wrap each inscription by whole words, confirm the plate with your engraver, and proof against the results
• The rubric sheet and the score grid, printable
• The run of show and the engraving order sheet, printable
• A slot card, an order sheet for medals, tie spares and engraving, and a one-page quickstart

The planner picks up where the free Award Scoring Calculator leaves off. The calculator averages the scores you give it for one nominee; the planner turns weights into shares, compares every nominee on the same panel of judges when one missed a score, and ranks on the unrounded figures, with ties reported as ties. It times each award from the walk to the stage in the Ceremony Timeline Calculator, fits the program to nine tenths of the venue slot with a clock time for every block, and wraps every inscription by whole words in the Engraving Line Planner. Characters a line and line spacing belong to the plate: confirm them with your engraver. League and sport rules come first, and the worked figures are examples.