Hello judges!
In this article I would like to explain our current status regarding judge levels in the International Judge Program. Disclaimer: We don’t have all the details ready yet, but we want to provide maximum transparency and explain the process we’re going to follow.
The International Judge Program is considering using a 5 level structure similar to the one Judge Foundry is using (kudos to them for rising to this significant challenge). Here are the 5 levels as defined by Judge Foundry:
- Level 5: Level Five represents judges with the most experience in event leadership and large tournament logistics.
- Level 4: A Level Four Judge is an expert in tournament policy with experience head-judging events of 150+ players and teams of judges.
- Level 3: Level Three Judges make up a large portion of the staff at large events. A Level Three Judge is comfortable with competitive tournament policy, and experienced with all of the tasks and teams seen at large competitive events.
- Level 2: A Level Two Judge knows the basics of competitive tournament policy and runs small in-store competitive tournaments on their own.
- Level 1: Level One Judges primarily run events at local game stores (LGS) or casual events outside of stores, and may occasionally attend a large event that’s close to them.
(Credits: JF team)
We may change these definitions for the IJP as the result of the consultation we’re going to do.
Status Quo and Next Steps
1st – We have reached out to major Tournament Organizers (TOs) to ask what their needs are and the qualities they want in their judges. Our belief is that Judge Levels are a path to help Judges grow but cannot exist without providing a clear value to the TOs. Consequently we want to make sure we listen to the TOs and provide our members with levels that are used and respected by the TOs all around the globe.
2nd – For the first year of the International Judge Program the Program Leads will appoint a group of Temporary Regional Advisors. We’ll get their input on the needs, requirements and limitations of their regions.
3rd – We’ve assembled a small group of judges from various continents and backgrounds to define the requirements to obtain and maintain each level. This group is currently has the following members but may be expanded if input from TOs or Temporary Regional Advisors reveals we need extra perspectives for a successful level system:
- Alfonso Bueno, Spain. Lead
- Bruna Chiochetta, Brazil. Backup lead
- Luca Chiassoni, Italy
- Mikael Rabie, France
- Omar Gonzalez, Mexico
- QJ Wong, Malaysia
- (more members may be added if needed)
Our Global Philosophy
Levels 1 and 2 should be flexible and adapted to the region where the judge will be operating. Wherever there are 8 Magic players, it must be possible to become an L1.
However in our opinion, levels 3, 4 and 5 should have a more international scope and that is where consistency becomes more relevant. International judges could regularly work for TOs who don’t know them in depth (or at all) and it’s important the level the IJP grants to those judges reflects that a certain threshold of skills is met. Otherwise the TOs won’t trust those levels and therefore won’t use them in their selections.
We expect to complete this work and have the initial levels structure ready, published and working in early January. After that point a person will remain in charge of each level to ensure it remains up to date with future environment changes and to run maintenance on each level.
