Prior to 2010, the Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, hosted a poster competition among undergraduate and graduate students for GIS Day. In 2010, maps and photographs are added to include additional ways of representing geographic phenomena, and the competition is expanded to combine GIS Day with Geography Awareness Week. To assist in judging the entries, guidelines for evaluating maps, photographs, and posters were prepared by Barry Wellar, Professor Emeritus, University of Ottawa, and Past Chair, Geography Awareness Week, Canadian Association of Geographers. Initial responses to the guidelines by judges, faculty, and students suggest that the guidelines are very effective as a means to efficiently and fairly evaluate large numbers of geography-related exhibits in a short span of time, and are also useful as design frameworks and checklists for course outlines, research projects, publications, and term assignments.