For the Judge Candidate:

Part of the benefit of requiring L1s to be responsible for finding their own endorsements is that it pushes them to start connecting with their local judge community. In both our local and global communities, judges lean on and depend on each other, and it’s important to know other judges and to be able to know where to go if you need help. Therefore, before you can become a Level 1 Judge, you need to show that you are resourceful enough to find help when you need it.

Please remember that at the end of the L1 process, you will need to get an endorsement before testing and advancing to Level 1. We STRONGLY suggest looking for someone sooner rather than later.

Most of the time, endorsements will come from someone you already know prior to deciding to become a judge. This may be a Local L2 or L3 judge, or if you only know Level 1 judges, then they likely have an L2 they know and trust, or who has helped them in their journey. In the past, every L1 Candidate needed to find one L2+ that was willing to help them to become Level 1. This has not changed. However, in the past, that L2+ needed to be physically present in order to interview and test the L1. That caused some high barriers to entry, and occasionally put a heavy burden on L2+ Judges, and that is something we changed about the system. It’s not required that your L1 Endorsement comes from someone who has seen you judge in person.

That said, it should ideally be someone in your local community or region that you can build a relationship with, someone who you can reach out to with questions along the way, and especially after you become a judge. Most people get these types of digital endorsements from judges they meet and begin interacting with in the Rules/Policy channels or their regional chat on the Judge Academy Discord, or in some regional Facebook groups. While you might find someone in another region who you make an impact on through conversation, we’ve found many L2 judges do not feel comfortable being asked for an endorsement from a judge outside of their own areas, as it leads them to wonder if the L2s in that person’s areas said no already, if they have a poor local reputation, etc

For the Judge Endorsing a Candidate:

Although we ask that you put some thought into the conversation you have with the candidate, we do not expect the process to take more than 30 min or so. Passing the rules and policy tests for L1 will ideally be enough to prove they have met the base-level expectation of what it means to be a Level 1 Judge from a knowledge side. With that taken care of, the endorsement is more about who the judge is as a person since that is a thing we can’t check electronically. However, it’s totally okay to still double-check some of their rules/policy knowledge as well. Below I’ve listed some example items you may want to discuss with the candidate, although these are just suggestions:

• • Is this person a real person who is not already a certified judge?
  • How did they hear about Judge Academy, and why do they want to become a judge?
  • If you already knew this person, what kind of a community member are they? Are they a helpful player? Are they toxic to the community?
  • If you didn’t already know this person, why did they come to you? Are there other judges in their community that could give you some insight?
  • What would you need to know about this person and their knowledge, attitude, or reputation to feel comfortable working with them at a future event?
  • Do you believe that this person understands how to run a safe and welcoming event for their community?

How Do I Give an Endorsement?

1. Visit the candidate’s profile. (If you cannot find them, have the candidate check their privacy settings, or send you a direct link to their profile)
2. On the “Leave a Review” tab, select “Level 1 Endorsement” from the dropdown.
3. Type your endorsement, and click “Submit Review”.