02.12.13

Calibre Judging: Behind-The-Scenes

The 25th Annual Calibre Awards Gala is still several months away, but behind the scenes the preparation process is in full swing. Awards submissions were due at the end of January, and I bet some of you are curious as to how the judging process works.

Last year, we totally revamped the process for two reasons. One, we wanted to ensure a consistently high caliber (pun intended) of judges. Second, we needed to find a way to emphasize the TEAM aspect of the awards. 60% of the judges’ score, after all, is based on the strength of the consultant, client and support teams behind the projects’ success stories.

In the past, we’ve traveled to an IIDA Chapter elsewhere in the country and asked their local leadership to assemble a panel of judges for us. Last year, we took the bull by the horns and decided to hand pick the judges from Chapters all over the country and bring them to Southern California instead.

For the first round of review, the jury only sees the written portion of the submission. This allows them to focus on the team story without being influenced by the project photography. This part of the process is done remotely, with the judges having two weeks to complete their review of the written portion and assign a score to each submission.

Round 2 is in-person. The jury convenes in Los Angeles in late March and sees the project images for the first time. This second round is all about design, and the jury spends the better part of a day debating the merits of the submissions. The combination of this review and the previous scores from the written portion determine the winner in each category.

As co-chair of this year’s event, I am so appreciative of our jurors and the time they give to make the Calibre Awards truly unique. Thank you to this year’s esteemed panel of judges:

Brian Graham, IIDA, IDSA
Rob Moylan, IIDA, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP
Kelly Ennis, IIDA
Felice Silverman, IIDA
Peter Conant, IIDA, AIA, LEED AP

Best of luck to all the submitting firms!

Find out more about the Calibre Awards Gala on our website! Don’t miss this special year!