Guide to Judging Student Award Opportunities

This page offers FAQs for judges and information for students participating in presentation competitions for both oral and poster presentation at an AMS conference/symposium. . If you are considering serving as a judge or are a student looking to learn more about how the judging is done, we encourage you to take a look at the resources shared below.

AMS is always looking for professional and faculty judges to offer constructive feedback to our students sharing their research at our annual conferences. Contact us at [email protected] if you or someone you know is interested in serving as a judge for the 104th AMS Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. A complete list of participating conferences and symposia can be seen here.

Thank you for your participation!

Interested in volunteering as a judge? Complete this form!

Information for Students:

Congratulations on all the hard work you’ve done on your research and to prepare for your presentation! Research is an ongoing process and being accepted to present is only a portion of the accomplishment you have achieved. Feedback from judges, other conference attendees, and your peers will help you improve for your next presentation and may lead to new ideas.

While each participating conference and symposia may have their own criteria*, each presentation will be evaluated fairly. Judges may or may not be from your specific discipline and may not identify themselves. Specific questions about your project and your role in the research may be asked. Some tips:

Be yourself.
Be honest.
Be open.
If you need to step away from your poster for a few minutes, leave a note (post-its and pens will be available at the Poster Info Desk in the Poster Hall) on your poster to alert the judge(s).
If you don't know the answer, say so. Suggest the name of someone who might.

You may have access to feedback after the event, but are also encouraged to reach out to your conference or symposium program chairs to request additional information. Please remember feedback is meant to be constructive and helpful to you. The feedback is also used to identify awardees in each category.

*Judging criteria can be found on each participating conference and symposia’s webpage. Conferences and symposia offering student paper awards can be found here.

Information for Judges:

Thank you for volunteering to serve as a judge! AMS is proud to encourage and support students and early career members to present their original work. Please keep in mind that some students are just getting started in research. We welcome the use of positive, constructive, and inclusive language when offering feedback for their personal and professional growth and learning. General encouragement is always welcome.

While judging criteria is set and will be conducted to the discretion of each conference and symposia’s program chairs and/or committee*, AMS has provided some judging guidelines, rubrics, and score sheets as examples. Please note these are suggestions and program chairs and/or committees are free to utilize and/or modify these materials as they see fit. These materials are available to judges via Google doc format. We recommend bringing a phone, laptop, iPad, or other device to access them onsite.

General responsibilities include:

Viewing and asking questions on the presentation(s) they either are assigned or sign up for;
Completing a judging form/rubric, which is used to assign scores;
Provide constructive comments relating to the presentation.

Please note you can review abstracts and supplementary materials, if submitted by the presenter, prior to the meeting in the online program. Specific judging expectations and instructions will be provided by the conference and symposia’s program chairs and/or committee.

You should not volunteer to serve as a judge if it would present a conflict of interest. This includes, but is not limited to an advisee, someone whose thesis committee you serve on, or a member of your research group. Students are not eligible to serve as judges.