Both runners-up and finalists are nominees for an award. Externally, SparqFest does not distinguish between a finalist or a runner-up. For many festivals, all nominees are finalists.

If a festival has both finalists and runners-up for an award, this means that some level of pre-judging has occurred before you are tasked to step in and perform your judging. This pre-judging often occurs so that you can focus on fewer nominees during your deliberations.

Reminder: as a juror, you should NEVER disclose anything about your deliberations, including who is a “finalist” and who is a “runner-up”.