Article
How a tie is broken, step by step
The criteria are read in a fixed order. Public votes are not part of it.
2 min read
Article · July 2, 2026
When two entries in a group finish level, the tiebreak reads execution first, then the brief, then the outcome. Public votes never enter the calculation.
What the criteria actually measure
Every group is scored against the same four criteria: the problem the work was given, the idea it answered with, how well that idea was made, and what happened once it left the studio. A juror cannot substitute a fifth criterion of their own, and cannot score a piece on a criterion its category does not carry.
The scores are recorded per criterion rather than as a single impression, which is what makes a result explainable afterwards. When two entries finish level, the tiebreak reads the criteria in a fixed order before it reads anything else.
Why the tier is settled first
A student ranked against an agency is not a competition, so the tier a piece competes in is verified before any juror sees it. Verification looks at the entrant, not the work: enrolment, trade licence, the size of the studio that made it.
It happens before scoring for a plain reason: moving an entry after a jury has read it would either discard their work or carry a score across a boundary it was never given for.
Read this next
The criteria, the tiers and the six phases are set out in full under Awards. If a point here matters to an entry you are preparing, that is the page that governs it - this one only explains it.
