This guide is for those running Strutta-powered contests. Strutta's Popular Voting to Internal Judging Contest option is best for contests with high valued prizes, award shows, business competitions, etc. where community engagement and social sharing is paramount in selecting a winner! With this PRO package option, popular vote will determine your contest finalists and a panel of judges will determine your contest winners. 

In this guide we’ll walk through the transition from voting to judging, and how to close your contest through our system. 
We’ll also take a look at some creative ways to showcase your contest winners! To create your own contest using Strutta's platform or for more information, visit: http://strutta.com

1. T
O N E ST
C
SK
ON
L
IL
TI
BA O
SED PROM
Closing your
Voting to Judging
Contest

2. With this PRO package option, a popular vote will determine
your contest finalists and judges will determine your contest
winners.
In this guide we’ll walk you through the transition from voting
to judging, and how to close your contest through our system.
We’ll also take a look at some creative ways to showcase your
contest winners.
2 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

3. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
Let the voting begin
When a user logs in via Facebook (or by default on
contests launched as a Facebook App) they will be
prompted to share their favorite entry on their
Timeline after casting a vote for all their friends and
family to see!
Voting limits as per your settings will be enforced.
As questions from your contest community are sure
to arise, you may find our participant FAQs helpful.
3 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

4. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
When the voting round comes to a close, take a
look at the Strutta Fraud Guard results to ensure
voting integrity. Then, take action in your Admin
Dashboard > Timeline.
Click Review & Confirm
Your live site will be updated to reflect the closed
voting round: voting capabilities removed, buttons
and timeline messaging updated.
Note
Winners will not be published on the site through
our system at this point. You must first Review &
Confirm the winners.
If your contest has more than one winner, you can
drag and drop the winner rankings.
Click Replace to select another entry for each
winners spot.
Click Confirm to proceed to the Prize Claiming
round.
4 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

5. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
The finalists will be published to the site when you confirm them.
The judging round will begin as per your specific timeline.
5 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

6. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
When the voting round has finished, take action in
your Admin Dashboard > Timeline.
Click Set up Judging.
While the judges pick winners on the back end,
your live site will be updated to reflect the closed
submission round: submission capabilities
removed, buttons and timeline messaging
updated.
Note
Winners will not be published to the site through
our system at this point.
The judges must first pick the winners. You’ll also
have the chance to review & confirm the winners
before any winners are published to the live site.
6 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

7. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
We’ve streamlined the judging process for you and
your judges. When the time comes, just go to your
Admin Dashboard > Timeline.
If you have not named judges yet (in the Content >
Details section of your Strutta builder), you can add
judges now.
Customize the pre-populated message and then send
out the e-mails.
Note
Do not remove the <judge> or <link> placeholder, it
will be replaced in the e-mail with a unique link that will
lead each judge to their personal judging interface.
Example Received E-mail
7 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

8. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
Judging Interface
Each judge will be directed to a judging interface where
they will review their favorite entries and rank them.
Judges can drag and drop the ranking of their shortlisted
picks.
Judges do not have to submit their picks in one sitting.
Our system will automatically save their shortlist so they
can leave and return to their work at their connivence.
You can track judging results in your Admin Dashboard >
Timeline.
8 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

9. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
Once all judges have submitted their picks, you’ll need to
take action:
Click Review & Confirm.
If your contest has more than one winner, you can drag
and drop the winner rankings.
Click Replace to select another entry for each winners
spot.
Click Confirm to proceed to the Voting round.
9 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

10. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
You’ve confirmed the winners. Now its time to let them know
what they’ve won!
Click Send Winner Notifications to close your site through
our system. The site will post the winners when all the
winners have claimed their prize.
You can also click Skip This Step to publish winners
immediately. The site updates automatically to reflect winers.
You must notify winners manually.
Assign any listed prizes to each winner and personalize the
message.
Do not remove the <link> placeholder, It will be replaced in
an email with a unique link that will lead each winner to their
prize claiming form.
10 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

11. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
Winners will click through to the prize claiming
form.
Track who has claimed their prizes and collect
the contact information in your Admin
Dashboard > Tools > Export Data.
Once all winners have claimed their prizes, your
contest will close.
11 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

12. Voting Round > Confirm > Judging > Confirm > Notify > Claim >
Site Update
Once all winners have claimed their prizes, your contest will
automatically close and your site will update to reflect the winners!
12 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

13. Other ways to display your
winners
Before you send out the good word on Facebook,
in blog posts, tweets, e-blasts and other
communications, make sure your site is updated.
You can edit your site while it is live in your
Admin Dashboard > Edit, we encourage you to
get creative!
We’ll host your site for an additional two weeks
past the contest’s end date. Beyond that you can
keep it live by enabling Extended Hosting.
Maggiano’s updated the graphic in the Look & Feel > Intro
Image section of their Strutta Builder to show their prize
winners.
13 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

14. More ideas
• Create a photo or video collage of the
winners for your sites About page.
• Create a video with your big news and
update your Intro video.
• Update your Prizes page to name who
has won what prize.
N_K_D Pizza used simple HTML in the Details
section of their Strutta builder to create a video
collage of their finalists.
Here’s our HTML cheat sheet
14 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest

15. There You Have It!
Your Voting to Judging Contest is now closed.
For more tips, be sure to check out:
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS
PART ONE PART TWO PART THREE
Planning Tips and Best Promoting and Managing Life After Your
Practices Guide Your Campaign Guide Campaign Guide
strutta.com | facebook.com/strutta | @strutta
15 Closing Your Voting to Judging Contest