A. Number of Judges Needed

1. An even or odd number of judges may be used for callbacks in preliminary and semifinal rounds. For Jack & Jill callbacks, half the judges may select leaders and half may select followers.
2. An odd number of judges will be used in all final rounds to minimize the possibility of ties. A minimum of 5 judges is recommended for Relative Placement; 7 or 9 judges are even better. (Boogie by the Bay typically will be using 7 judges plus a Chief Judge for all finals.)

B. Preliminary and Semifinal Rounds

1. In the preliminary and semifinal rounds, a callback system is used. In this system, each judge selects individuals (in Jack & Jills) or couples (in Strictly Swing) for callback to the next round, but does not rank them in any particular order.
2. The Scorer converts each judge's selections into ordinals: 1 for all those selected, 2 for any alternates, and 3 for all those not selected. Contestants are then ranked according to the total number of 1s, 2s, and 3s received from the judges.
3. After the judges' scores have been tallied, the Chief Judge determines how many individuals or couples will be promoted to the next round.
4. The Chief Judge's scores are used only to break ties.

C. Tallying the Final Placements

1. In the finals, each judge must place every couple in rank or order (1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place, etc.). In a finals with a
   large field of couples, the judges will concentrate on placing the top twelve couples.
2. Raw scores (9.5, 8.9, 7.6, etc.) are used only to determine a judge's order of placements. If a judge submits only raw
   scores, the Scorer will convert them into ordinals (1, 2, 3, etc.) for Relative Placement.
3. Duplicate placements are not permitted. If a judge mistakenly provides duplicate placements, the Chief Judge will request that the judge provide unique placements for each couple.
4. A couple must have a majority of judges' votes to be awarded a final placement.
5. If no couple has a majority of votes, then the next placement is added to the previous placements (1st through 2nd, 1st
   through 3rd, etc.) until a majority is reached.
6. If there is a tie, a larger majority beats a lower majority (for example, 5 votes beats 4 votes).
7. If two or more couples have an equal majority (such as 4 votes each), then the numerical value of the placements for
   each couple is added. The couple with the lowest sum gets the higher position. If the sums for two or more couples are
   identical, then the next placement is added to the previous placements for those tied couples only.
8. If two couples remain tied through all placements, then each judge's placements for only those two couples are compared. The couple with a majority of higher placements wins.
9. The Chief Judge's scores are used only to break any remaining ties.

D. Example of Relative Placement

1. In the example below, there are 6 couples competing. Because there are 5 judges, a majority of at least 3 judges is
   needed to award any couple a final placement.
2. Here, no couple has a majority of 1st place votes from the judging panel. Adding the next placement and counting 1st
   through 2nd place votes, only couple #1 has a majority of at least 3 votes. Therefore, couple #1 is awarded 1st place.
3. Counting 1st through 3rd place votes, only couple #6 has a majority of at least 3 votes. Therefore, couple #6 is awarded
   2nd place.
4. Counting 1st through 4th place votes, three couples have an equal majority of 3 votes. When the numerical value of the
   ordinals making up those votes is added, couples #2 and #3 both have the lower sum of 7, whereas couple #5 has the
   higher sum of 9. Couple #5 is therefore awarded the lowest final placement of the three couples, in this case 5th place.
5. To break the tie between couples #2 and #3, it is necessary to count 1st through 5th place votes. Couple #3 has 5 votes, one more than couple #2, which has 4 votes. Couple #3 therefore is awarded 3rd place, and couple #2 is awarded 4th place.
6. Couple #4, the only remaining couple, is awarded 6th place.