Welcome to the Vojvodina Guitar Fest Digital Portal

To enhance the experience of all participants and ensure maximum transparency, fairness, and efficiency, Vojvodina Guitar Fest uses a modern, custom-built web application for the registration, grading, and ranking process.

This documentation is intended for competitors, their teachers, and jury members, to familiarize themselves with how our digital system works.

🎸 PART 1: Guide for Competitors and the Public

Our goal is to make the process from the moment of application submission to the announcement of final results fast, accurate, and completely transparent.

1. How does the registration process work?

Registration for the competition and masterclasses is done exclusively digitally via our application.

• Simplicity: The form is adapted for all devices (mobile phones, tablets, and computers).
• Mandatory Data: For a successful registration, it is necessary to enter basic personal data, school and class (teacher) details, select a category, enter the competition program, and attach a Birth Certificate (as proof of age).
• Masterclass: During registration, competitors can optionally choose desired lecturers for the masterclass and the number of lessons (up to a maximum of 4 lessons in total).
• After a successfully submitted application, the system automatically records your data in our secure database, and your files are safely archived.

2. How does the grading system work?

When the competition begins, jury members use the application to grade competitors in real-time.

• Competitors are graded based on 5 specific criteria (e.g., technical readiness, tempo precision, musical expression, etc.).
• Each criterion brings from 10 to 20 points.
• The total number of points from each jury member can be from 50 to 100.

3. How is the final ranking list formed and awards distributed?

The system completely eliminates human error in calculation.

1. Average: Once all assigned jury members have graded a competitor, the system automatically calculates the average score (the mean value of all valid grades).
2. Awards: Based on the average, awards are automatically distributed:
   • 1st Prize: 95.00 – 100.00 points
   • 2nd Prize: 85.00 – 94.99 points
   • 3rd Prize: 75.00 – 84.99 points
   • Honorable Mention: Below 75.00 points
3. Tie-breaker rule: If two or more competitors in the same category and for the same award have an entirely identical average score, the system automatically gives priority (higher rank, e.g., I-1 ahead of I-2) to the younger competitor, based on the entered date of birth.

⚖️ PART 2: Guide for Jury Members

The jury application is designed not to distract your focus from the competitor’s performance. The focus is on large, clear controls and a clear workflow.

1. System access and user experience

• The system is „Mobile-First“, meaning you can easily use it on your smartphones and tablets while sitting in the hall.
• You access it by selecting your name from the dropdown list and entering the access password provided by the organizer.
• The system automatically shows you only those competitors and categories you are assigned to.
• Grading is done using interactive sliders. There is no need to type numbers – simply drag the slider to the desired grade (10-20) for each of the 5 criteria. The system automatically sums up your total points.

2. Conflict of Interest Prevention Policy

To guarantee objectivity, the application has an automatic conflict of interest recognition system.

• If your name is in the „Class (Teacher)“ field for a specific competitor, the system will automatically recognize you as their teacher.
• In that case, a red warning „Conflict of Interest“ will be displayed on your screen for that competitor.
• The grading interface will be locked, and you will not be able to enter a grade for your student.
• The system will simply calculate the final average for that competitor based on the grades of the other jury members, without any disadvantage to the candidate.

3. Special Grade: Performance of J. Jovičić’s work

If the competitor performs a work by J. Jovičić, there is a special, separate grading process:

• At the bottom of the grading screen, there is a toggle switch labeled „Competitor performs J. Jovičić piece“.
• Activating this switch opens a new slider (visually distinguished by a yellow/gold color) with a grading range from 50 to 100.
• Important: This grade is recorded completely separately and does not enter the average for the main awards (I, II, III). It serves exclusively to form a special, unified ranking list for the „J. Jovičić“ special award.

4. Finalization and subsequent grade corrections

• When you are satisfied with the entered grades, click the „Finalize“ button. The application will ask you to confirm the decision to prevent accidental clicks.
• After finalization, your grades are locked and sent to the central database. Only after finalization will you be able to see how other jury members graded that competitor and what the current overall average is.
• How to correct a mistake? If you finalized a grade and later realized you made a mistake, the system does not allow you to change it yourself for security reasons. In that case, you need to contact the Competition Administrator. The Administrator has the option to „Unlock“ your grade with one click, after which the sliders will become available to you again for correction and re-finalization.