How do you judge a snowboard contest?

ICR 3311.1 asks for 3 to 9 qualified judges and a qualified head judge. The size climbs with the level of the event: World Cups and Junior World Championships need at least 6 scoring judges plus the head judge (3311.7.2), and the Olympics and World Championships seat 6 to 9 (3311.7.1).

Judges hold an A, B or C licence (3311.4). For snowboard, the C licence is issued by the FIS judges' advisory group or the World Snowboard Federation under an agreed certification protocol, and a C-licence judge may be head judge at any national event.

The head judge should preferably not score (3311.5). Their job is to check the accuracy of the panel's decisions and to confirm the verified results with the technical delegate. At a club contest with three judges that means a fourth person who does not score and checks the panel's scores against the judges' sheets.

One number per run: a whole number from 0 to 100, without decimals (ICR 3403). The judge forms it from an overall impression of the run, using the five criteria in ICR 3402: execution, difficulty, amplitude, variety and progression.

The steno sheet is the judge's own record, and the Judges Handbook makes it the official one: "The official score is the one on the judges Steno Sheet." At top-level events with a data and results system, each judge's score becomes official once the head judge approves and submits it (chapter 7).

Next to each score most judges note the tricks, the direction and the stance, regular or goofy. That is what lets you compare run 3 with run 1 an hour later, and what the head judge reads when a rider asks why two runs that looked alike scored 12 points apart.

Chapter 11 of the Judges Handbook gives snowboard-only deduction ranges. The judge first scores the run as if the landing had been clean, then subtracts. The handbook's own example: a run worth 45 with a deduction of 20 scores 25.

The ranges differ by event (ICR 3403.1). A fall costs more in big air than in slopestyle. Section-by-section judging, where some judges score single features, has the widest ranges.

ICR 3403.2 sets the line at six. Up to 5 scoring judges, every score counts. From 6 judges upwards the highest and the lowest are dropped and the rest are averaged.

With six judges giving 88, 86, 85, 84, 83 and 79, the 88 and the 79 go, and 338 / 4 = 84.50. With five judges giving 86, 84, 83, 83 and 80, nothing goes: 416 / 5 = 83.20.

JudgeMate applies the drop from 5 judges, not 6. The switch is called "Drop extreme scores". On a five-judge panel, leave it off and the result matches the ICR. With 3, 4 or 6 or more judges the product and the rulebook agree.

The score field in JudgeMate accepts steps of 0.1. Tell the panel before the first run that only whole numbers go in, so the screen and the steno sheet always show the same figure.

The Judges Handbook is blunt: "No scores shall be released as official until verified and approved by the Head Judge." In practice the head judge checks that every judge has scored, that no number was typed into the wrong rider's row, and that the order makes sense.

ICR 3405 adds that the head judge must be able to see the rankings after each run. The minimum tool is a spreadsheet. From Continental Cup level upwards, keypads or tablets for direct input are mandatory. The results system must also be able to upload results in FIS XML. Scoring-gap alerts and a tie blocker are required only at Junior Worlds, World Cups, World Championships and the Olympics (3405.1, 3405.2).

In big air with 2 best of 3 runs, the two counting tricks must be different. If a rider repeats a trick, only the higher-scored attempt counts (3502.3.1). The "2 of 4 directions" version, frontside, backside, switch frontside and switch backside, is chosen at the team captains' meeting.

In a Snowboarding Slopestyle category, turn on "Head judge releases scores" when you set the scoring rules. Judges then score into a holding area and the public results board stands still until the head judge releases the run.

Before releasing, the head judge sees the panel's scores in "Start order" or in "Standing". A tie shows in red with a "Tie" label. "Release with gaps" publishes a run even when one judge has not scored, for the moment a tablet dies on the start ramp. Each release removes from the board any score a judge deleted and keeps a before-and-after log.

The judges see each rider's bib and the public fields you collected, such as stance, next to the name. The speaker's console keeps moving through the start order before release, and "Skip athlete" moves past a rider who does not show.

Start from Create with Snowboarding Slopestyle selected. Halfpipe runs in the same category type with the halfpipe criteria template; there is no separate snowboard big air type. The snowboard video tutorial shows the gate being switched on.

DNI means Does Not Improve (ICR 2022.1, 3703.4). In a phase where the best run counts, a run that does not beat the rider's earlier runs is not scored and gets DNI. In big air with 2 best of 3, DNI may also be used when the same trick is tried twice. In JudgeMate the judge sets DNI from the second run onwards; nothing marks it automatically. A judge's DNI does not affect the other judges' scores for that run.

Under ICR 3503, tied riders get the same rank, with the higher start number listed first, and if the tie sits on the qualification line everyone tied goes through. There is no countback on other runs.

JudgeMate's board breaks a tie on the riders' other runs: best, then second, then best trick if it is on, then third. The head judge preview does not apply that countback, so the red "Tie" you see before release is the ICR picture. If your contest runs to the ICR, note the shared place on the official list and do not copy the order from the board.

A youth contest has several age groups, often split again into boys and girls. One Burton Young Punks stop in 2025/26 ran 7 categories with 3 judges. Two tools save you assigning them one by one.

"Invite judges" creates one link for the categories you tick. Each judge opens it, signs in and joins all of them; you still approve them.

"Add to categories" takes one person with a JudgeMate account and adds them as judge, head judge or speaker to several categories at once, approved straight away. The same window adds a co-organiser of the whole event, who gets the same rights as you.

For the scoring itself, the snowboard scoring guide covers the five criteria in more depth.