How do I stop one harsh or generous judge skewing results?

Assign every entry to the same number of judges, and show organizers each judge’s average score so outliers are easy to spot. Some events normalise each judge’s scores before averaging; offer it as an option and explain it, because unexplained maths makes results feel unfair.

Do judges need to create accounts?

No. Judges are often volunteers who will use the app once. A short event access code that maps to their judge record is enough, and it removes the biggest source of morning-of friction.

How to Build a Competition Judging App with AI (2026)

What a competition judging app needs

Custom scoring rubric with weighted criteria
Assign entries to judges so each entry gets enough reviews
Judge view with one entry at a time and quick scoring
Live progress of how many scores are still missing
Ranked results by category with tie handling

The screens

Screen	What it does
Events	Competitions with date, categories, and judging status
Setup	Entries, categories, rubric criteria and weights, judges
My Entries	Judge view of assigned entries, scored and still to score
Score Entry	Rubric sliders or steppers per criterion plus a comment
Results	Ranked entries per category with average weighted score

The data model

Event: name, date, status (setup, judging, closed)
Category: eventId, name
Criterion: eventId, name, weight, maxScore
Entry: eventId, categoryId, title, entrantName, tableNumber
Judge: eventId, name, accessCode
Assignment: entryId, judgeId
Score: entryId, judgeId, criterionScores, comment, submittedAt

The build prompt (copy this)

Paste this into ShipNative and it becomes a working React Native app with these screens, navigable in a live preview, in about two minutes:

“A competition judging app for events like science fairs, cook-offs, hackathons, and talent shows. Events lists competitions with date and status. Setup, for organizers only, manages categories, entries with table numbers, rubric criteria with weights and maximum scores, and judges; it auto-assigns entries so each gets a set number of judges and no judge gets more than their share, with manual overrides. Judges join with a short access code, no account needed. My Entries shows a judge their assigned entries by table number, split into to score and done. Score Entry shows one entry at a time with a stepper per criterion, a short comment field, and a submit button; scores can be edited until the organizer closes judging. The organizer sees live progress of missing scores per judge. Results, visible only to organizers until they publish, ranks entries in each category by average weighted score, flags ties, and shows each judge’s scores so outliers are visible. Screens: Events, Setup, My Entries, Score Entry, Results.”

Then iterate with small, screen-specific prompts (“make the primary button bigger”, “add an empty state”), preview on your own phone, and export the full Expo project whenever you want. The full method: how to build an app with AI.

How it makes money

Charge per event rather than monthly, since most organizers run one or two competitions a year: a flat fee per event with a free tier for small events of up to around 20 entries. Schools and nonprofits are price sensitive, so a discounted education price matters. Organizations running many events a year, such as hackathon series, can move to an annual plan.

Implementation and the revenue math for every model: how to make money from an app. When you’re ready to ship: App Store and Google Play publishing guides.

Build it now

The prompt above is free to run at shipnative.dev — working competition judging app on your phone today, full code export, no credit card.

How to Build a Competition Judging App with AI