Reviewers

Inviting reviewers

Go to the Reviewers page and use “Invite a reviewer”. You will need their name and email. They get an invitation email that sends them to sign in with the invited email address. After they enter the one-time code from their inbox, they automatically join your organization as a reviewer.

Assigning submissions

Open any submission detail page. The Reviewers panel on the right lets you pick reviewers from your team. Most programs assign three reviewers per submission so you get an average across multiple opinions.

Reviewers can be assigned at any time, even after a submission has been received. Each reviewer gets an email notification when they are assigned.

If your program uses an initial review and a finalist review, assignments belong to the current round. That means you can score the first round, advance finalists, and assign a separate set of finalist reviews without mixing the two score sets.

On the Scores tab, use the round pills to switch between Initial review and Finalist review. The assignment counts, ranked entries, and “advance to finalist review” action all follow the selected round.

When you assign a reviewer from a submission detail page, you can add an optional due date. You can also edit or clear the due date later from the same reviewer card. Due dates appear on reviewer workload pages and power due-soon or overdue reminders.

Bulk assigning reviewers

For larger programs, use Submissions → Bulk assign reviewers. Choose the submissions, the eligible reviewers, how many reviewers each submission should have, and an optional due date for the batch.

Bulk assignment never removes existing reviewers. It only adds the missing assignments needed to reach your target reviewers per submission.

• Balanced workload chooses reviewers with the lowest current assignment count first.
• Randomized eligible reviewers varies the reviewer mix when you want less predictable pairings.
• The preview shows the specific reviewer names that will be added before you apply the plan.
• Reviewers whose email exactly matches the applicant email are skipped to avoid obvious self-review assignments.

Queue order on the reviewer portal

By default, each reviewer's queue is shuffled independently. If five reviewers are all assigned the same 10 submissions, the first applicant they see is different for each of them. This avoids the common problem where everyone reviews the first few items repeatedly while the last alphabetical entries languish unreviewed.

You can change the default per program under Settings → Reviewer queue ordering:

• Randomized per reviewer (the default). Each reviewer gets their own shuffle.
• Due date first. Earlier due dates surface first; assignments without a due date go last. Useful when submissions have different deadlines.
• Applicant name (alphabetical). Predictable; useful for small programs where order doesn't bias review.

Changing the setting takes effect immediately for pending reviews. Submitted reviews stay where they are.

When a program has more than one review round, reviewer queues stay grouped by assignment. Finalist-round assignments can appear with the round name so reviewers understand which stage they are scoring.

Tracking reviewer workload

The Reviewers page shows workload across all programs: pending reviews, reviews in progress, completed reviews, overdue work, conflicts, and the next due date for each reviewer.

Click a reviewer's name to open their detail page. From there you can see every assigned submission, due dates, conflict flags, and links back to the submission records.

Conflicts of interest

When a reviewer opens a submission for the first time, Awards Manager asks them to confirm they do not have a conflict of interest. Options include:

• No conflict (proceed with scoring)
• Employer, meaning they work with or for the applicant
• Customer relationship
• Personal relationship
• Financial interest
• Other

If they flag a conflict, the submission is unlocked from them and you see it on your dashboard's “Needs attention” section. From there, you can reassign to a different reviewer.

The reviewer portal

Reviewers sign in at /review/your-org-slug. They see:

• A list of the submissions assigned to them
• For each one, the application content and a scoring rubric
• A per-criterion score with an optional comment
• An overall comment and recommendation field

Scoring auto-saves as they go. They click “Submit review” when they are done.

After submitting, the scoring panel is replaced with a clear confirmation card — checkmark, the timestamp of submission, a primary “Back to my reviews” button, and an optional “View your submitted scores” expander if they want to verify what they sent. The submission is then locked from further edits.

Mobile review

The reviewer portal works well on phones and tablets. On smaller screens, the rubric appears as a sticky button at the bottom. Tap it to jump to the scoring panel from anywhere in the application. Reviewers can do their work between meetings, on the train, or wherever they have time.

What reviewers see (and don't see)

• They see only the submissions you assign to them.
• They never see other reviewers' scores or comments.
• They cannot see the admin dashboard, scores rankings, or any program settings.
• If a field is marked “hidden from reviewers” in the form builder, they will not see it.