Every winner at the Elysian Awards is chosen by an independent judging panel. Here is how that panel comes together, and how it reaches its decisions.
Choosing our judges
Our 2027 panel brings together returning judges from our first year and new judges joining us for the first time.
We look for the same qualities in every judge: fairness, an inclusive mindset, sensitivity to the many different forms impact can take, and respect for confidentiality. Every judge declares any conflict of interest before scoring begins.
You can meet the panel on our Judges page.
How finalists are scored
Categories are shared out across the panel, usually one or two for each judge. Judges read every finalist’s nomination in full, in their own time, and score it against four measures:
Impact. The difference the work has made, and whether that difference lasts.
Innovation. How far the work moves beyond the conventional.
Evidence. How clearly the nomination shows what happened and why it mattered.
Inclusion. How ethics, diversity, equity and inclusion are built into the work.
Each measure is scored from one to five, giving a total out of twenty. Scores are then checked for consistency across judges and categories before results are confirmed.
Awards chosen by the panel
Once every category has been judged, the panel looks across the whole field for work that stood out for its quality, consistency and impact, or did not fit neatly into a single category. That is where the Judges’ Choice Award and our Beyond the Categories awards come from.
Sealed until the ceremonies
Judges’ scores and comments are confidential and never published. Winners are revealed live on stage at G Live, and nobody outside the judging process knows the results until then.
We are very grateful to every judge who gives their time and care to this process. Follow us on Facebook for news from the Awards as the season unfolds.