FAQ Entry #496

This is a respond to a previously asked question about the A' Design Award and Competition. The full list of frequently asked questions can be accessed here.

#496: Our preliminary score is low can you increase it? We think if you increase our preliminary score, the grand design award jury might give us a higher evaluation?

You cannot be more wrong. The grand design award jury, will not see your preliminary score, this is a design decision that allows them to vote independently and without bias. By not seeing your preliminary score, the grand design award jury would not be effected either positively or negatively during the voting session. Furthermore, other jury members do not see the votes of any other jury members to reduce any crowd mechanism. A' Design Award jurors vote for themselves. Crowd voting is a common problem in other design awards where some dominant alpha jury member, will literally control all other jury members as a conductor would control a concert; effectively determining the outcome of an entry all by herself. At A' Design Award, we have built mechanisms to ensure that this does not happen; we are very against this hive-mind like mechanism where a queen would determine the outcome; instead, we count the individual votes of jury members, and to make sure jury votes stay individual and not effected by anything, we take many steps. Hiding preliminary score from the grand award jury is one such step. Furthermore, we cannot potentially modify the preliminary scores since our support staff actually does not have access to it; only preliminary jury members could give such scores. If you get a low score, do not worry about it; the grand award jury would give your design the real score it truly deserves. If you get a high score, remember that that is not a guarantee of victory; your design should still be voted by the grand design award jury. In summary, do not worry about your preliminary score that much; do not worry that it would effect the final outcome; it would not effect the final outcome because the future is not certain; the preliminary score is just a forecast by a single individual, it is usually a good forecast but it is subjective and it is not a guarantee of anything. We cannot change your preliminary score; you could however, follow instructions, improve your design presentation, and resubmit the design, then you could maybe get a better score, but you might even get a lower score; most likely if your design presentation goes to the same preliminary juror, and if you had improved your presentation you would expect to have a better preliminary score, but if your presentation goes to a different preliminary jury member with a different taste then you might get a lower score, but you might even get a better score, so do not worry much about that and only focus your energy on improving the presentation as much as you could; try to work on clear images, and very good text that communicates your design smoothly. In any case, you can send us

Keywords: preliminary score, improve preliminary score, effect of preliminary score, increased preliminary score, increase preliminary score, preliminary point, design score, design point, preliminary round

The following questions could be related:

• #242: I see that my vote went down (or up) after I updated the presentation very slightly, could you explain why this happens?
• #256: How can I know if my design project is good enough to win the contest?
• #257: If I fix the client / studio section and input my brand info, would it raise my preliminary score?
• #264: My preliminary score decreased after making improvements in design, how is this possible? Which award status will my design have?
• #271: I have uploaded my entry several days ago, but I did not see or receive any updates so far for this entry, its status still seems to be new, I wanted to ask that if there is any absent info for preliminary check?
• #274: I have put a substantial amount of effort into all of our submissions to boost my submission analysis scores and each submission has now gained a 99/100 score. Yet I received a low preliminary score. Could you advise what is required to get a better score then I have received.
• #299: Why was my preliminary score decreased from 7 to 6 after I improved and modified all suggestions from preliminary jury?
• #300: My project got X points from the preliminary tests. Is there any chance to raise my design points to the 9-10 range if I consider and apply your recommendations?
• #302: I wanted to ask, how can I get a comment of a project from Preliminary Checking Service? I just uploaded a project description and images. Do I only need to wait or do I need to inform someone that I want to get a preliminary score?
• #316: I have uploaded the new images. Could I expect a new voting for preliminary score?
• #317: I uploaded my project in order to have a preliminary judging service, but I haven't been able to get it. How can I get it?
• #318: Do we have to nominate each project that we upload to the system. I mean that can we decide to nominate our projects according to the preliminary checks?
• #320: We have just updated all the text fields with better descriptions. However, after we've done that, the preliminary score we received earlier, seems to have disappeared. Is there a particular reason for that? Moreover, is it possible to get a new preliminary score (besides the professional preliminary evaluation) ?
• #330: The preliminary check was not as accurate as I expected, I am an important designer and I deserve to know more about my work.
• #331: Honestly I can't settle with the preliminary score that was given already by the jury member.
• #335: At the end of the competition, I would like to ask you about preliminary score, it decreased the last day, can you please increase it?
• #360: If we choose to get a preliminary evaluation for our design by uploading or work, is it obligatory to nominate the projects later or can we decide and pay the nomination after known the score?
• #363: I have uploaded my design, how should I apply for Free Preliminary Check?
• #375: After awards announcement, I notice my presentation score changed, it went to 98 from 100, how come!
• #378: Which is the next stop if our design has passed the preliminary test? Do I have to nominate my design, how can i do it? which is the deadline?
• #381: I have already registered my entry but I need to know that do I have to pay any money for the first judgment or not? How many times our entry would be judged?
• #383: I got different preliminary scores on different dates with different account types, there was one point difference. Has the account type any effect on our score?
• #384: We will not nominate our design due to the negative feedback of the preliminary test but are we obliged to nominate our design or can we participate with another project?
• #397: Can we submit our products free and decide on nomination after the preliminary score?
• #398: After nominating my work and paying for the nomination, it possible for me to win the prize？
• #414: My friend has not gotten any preliminary score, there is a question mark in her page, how she can get preliminary score?
• #415: I have updated the details of the entry as well as images, but my preliminary score remained the same. Is that because there are no more evaluations before the deadline? I am too late for a preliminary score?
• #441: I had nominated my design and got a Preliminary Evaluation and score. As your suggestion, I am working on editing my design and updates, can I still get a Preliminary Evaluation again with free of charge?
• #462: I have uploaded my designs in my hidden cabinet, and I would like to use Preliminary check before nomination. How could i activate this service?
• #470: I have submitted my designs but did not get scores, did I forgot anything?
• #476: My better design got a worse preliminary score than my other design, why is that and how does it happen?
• #482: May I purchase the entry now, but submit my work later? Do I need to firstly do the Preliminary Score Test ? When can I use the ticket last?
• #492: I did not get a preliminary score and my entry was rejected! WHY!
• #504: For the very same design, with the very same images, and within the very same competition category, I got totally two different preliminary scores when I submitted from different accounts. How and why this happen?

If you did not find your answer, please feel free to check the faq pages for more questions and answers. You will also want to check our webpage for details; thanks to our transparency policy, we document and publish everything.