Judges
The accessibility score
What the 0 to 100 judge accessibility score tells you about a hackathon, and how to use it to plan your outreach
Every event on /judge-opportunities has a judge accessibility score from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the more likely the event is to welcome an outside judge. It is a guide for where to spend your outreach, not a promise: always confirm with the organizer.
What the number means
| Tier | Score | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Likely open | 70 to 100 | Strong signals that external judges are welcome |
| Worth reaching out | 40 to 69 | Some positive signals. Contact the organizer to check |
| Probably closed | 0 to 39 | Few signals of openness to external judges |
The tier shows as a colored badge in the Accessibility column. Hover it to see the exact score. The score uses only public information about the event, and it updates as the listing changes.
What makes an event more open to judges
The score reflects the kind of event that tends to welcome outside help. Events score higher when, for example:
- the organizer can be reached directly,
- the event page says it is looking for judges,
- the event is student-run, small or community-run,
- the organizer is newer to running hackathons,
- the event runs online, so you can judge from anywhere.
Large, heavily sponsored events with an established judging panel usually score lower.
See why an event scored the way it did
With Dev Pro, open any event's details from the table, or its event page, and find the Judge Accessibility section. It lists the reasons behind that event's score, such as "Organizer email available" or "Student-run event".
On the free plan you see the tier and score on every row, but not the reasons.
Things to keep in mind
- An event that wants judges but does not say so on its page can score low. If an event interests you, ask anyway.
- A high score does not mean the organizer has judging slots left. Use it to decide who to contact first.
- The score is separate from the listing quality score that sponsors use. See Quality scores.