# Categories and scorecards

> From FilmScorecard Help: https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/categories-and-scorecards

Your organization's library: every category submissions can be entered in,
every award those submissions can be considered for, and every scorecard
judges can be given. One library, shared by all of your festivals and every
season they run.

This screen is now a **working screen** for organization owners: you can
create, edit, duplicate, archive and restore categories, create, duplicate,
archive and restore scorecards, attach scorecards to categories, create,
edit, duplicate, archive and restore award categories, **import categories
and awards from FilmScorecard's default list** — and choose which categories
and awards every **new festival** starts with — and every change saves.
Writing what is inside a scorecard happens on its own screen, the Scorecard
Builder, reached from here — see
[Building a scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/building-a-scorecard.md). Managing an award's
eligible categories happens on the award's own page — see
[Award categories](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-categories.md). Staff members see the same screen
read-only. One link is still waiting for a later release, and
[What does not work yet](#what-does-not-work-yet) names it.

## Finding the screen

**Categories and scorecards** sits in the left navigation of every admin
screen, in the organization group alongside Overview, Inbox, Judges directory
and Organization settings. It is live on every screen, so you can reach it from
a season's dashboard or from anywhere else.

At the bottom of the same navigation, this screen also carries a **Festivals**
list — one row per festival, each with an amber number when something there
needs attention, and the quickest way from the library back into a festival's
own season. It lists only festivals that already have a season, so its count
can read lower than the festival count in the top bar. You can put the list in
the order you want; see
[Your festivals list](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-festivals-list.md). Which season each row opens is
[the one the festival is starred on](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/the-season-a-festival-opens-on.md), or
its newest when nothing is starred.

Its address is:

```
/org/<organization>/categories
```

There are three tabs — **Categories**, **Awards** and **Scorecards**, in that
order — each showing how many active things it holds. The two later tabs have
their own addresses, `/org/<organization>/categories?tab=awards` and
`/org/<organization>/categories?tab=scorecards`, so you can link to either or
bookmark it, and reloading keeps you where you were.

Each tab keeps its own search, filters, sort and selection — but only while
you stay on it. **Switching tabs starts the other tabs fresh**, and coming
back starts this one fresh too, so tick your rows and finish the job before
you switch.

## Who can change the library

- **Organization owners** get everything this guide describes, including
  **Import from default list**.
- **Staff members** see the library read-only: no New buttons, no import
  button, no checkboxes, no row menus. On the Scorecards tab they keep one
  button, **Preview questions**, so they can read any scorecard. A staff member
  who opens a Scorecard Builder address reads that screen too, without any way
  to change it, and the same is true of an award's own page.
- **Someone whose access is limited to a single festival or season** can read
  all three tabs, including Awards, and change none of them — see
  [Who can change awards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-categories.md#who-can-change-awards).

**Everybody who can read the library reads the same figures.** The two default
pay columns and the DEFAULT tags are shown to every member of your
organization, not only to owners — what is gated is changing them.

If a change is attempted without owner access, it is refused with "You do
not have permission to change this library." — nothing saves.

## The three scorecard slots

Every category holds three scorecard slots:

| Slot | What it is for | Required? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **creative** | The judging of the work itself: story, performances, craft. | Yes |
| **technical** | Delivery and format checks. | Yes |
| **press kit** | The marketing material that came with the submission. | No |

**A category can only be judged when both the creative and the technical
slot are filled.** An empty press kit slot is a choice, not a problem, and
never counts against a category.

The creative and technical slots are also the two a category can be **paid**
for: a season pays a technical rate and a creative rate per scorecard filed,
starting from the defaults on the category itself. A press kit is never paid,
because no judge is ever assigned one. See [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md).

## Reading the Categories tab

Each row is one category:

- **Its name**, with a small line underneath: its permanent short id, and
  its length when it has one — `CAT-1006, max 10 min`, `CAT-1042, min 61
  pages`, `CAT-1008, 31–120 min` — or the id alone when there is no length.
  Film categories are measured in minutes, screenplays in pages;
  see [The length](#the-length). The id is given when the category is created
  and never changes, so it is safe to quote in an email.
  - **A small indigo DEFAULT tag** sits on that same line when this category
    is in the set every new festival starts with. See
    [What a new festival starts with](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/what-a-new-festival-starts-with.md).
- **Type**: a pill reading Film or Screenplay. A category created as an
  episode in an earlier release still reads **Episode** here: it is measured
  in minutes, no Type filter matches it, and its edit form shows a third
  greyed-out Episode card beside Film and Screenplay.
- **The three slots**, side by side. A filled slot shows the scorecard's
  name and version, for example `Press Kit v1`. A missing creative or
  technical slot is amber and reads **Missing**. An empty press kit slot is
  a dashed outline reading **Not used**.
- **Technical** and **Creative**: the category's **default judge pay**, one
  figure each, as `$8.00`. See
  [The two pay columns](#the-two-pay-columns).
- **Festivals**: how many of your festivals currently use this category, as
  "1 festival" or "4 festivals". In the Archived view this column shows the
  archive date instead, as "Archived 12 Mar 2026".
- **The three slots are clickable** (owners only, active rows): a chip opens
  the scorecard picker for that one slot on that one row. See
  [Attaching scorecards](#attaching-scorecards).
- **The three-dot menu** at the end of the row (owners only) with the row's
  actions: Edit, Duplicate, Attach scorecard, and Archive.

When any slot is empty (creative, technical or press kit), the whole row is
tinted amber. Archived categories are never tinted.

**A library with no categories at all** shows an owner FilmScorecard's preset
categories in place of the empty table, to tick and import — see
[On an empty library tab](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md#on-an-empty-library-tab).
Anybody else reads "No categories yet."

### The two pay columns

**Technical** and **Creative** sit between the scorecard slots and Festivals,
and they show **the library default** for this category — what a season starts
paying a judge, per scorecard filed, the moment the category is attached to it.

- **They are read-only here.** The figures are edited inside the category's
  own form, which is where a category is defined — open **Edit**, or set them
  when you create it.
- **`$0.00` is written plainly**, with no warning and no count line. At library
  level a zero legitimately means "price this per season", and there is no
  volunteer mode at this level. The warning about unpriced categories belongs
  to a season and stays on the season screen — see
  [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md).
- **They are a starting point, not a price.** A season takes its own copy at
  attach; changing a default here never reprices a season that already exists.
- **They repeat the words on the slot columns** to their left, which name the
  same two judging roles. The slot column says which scorecard is attached;
  the pay column says what filing it is worth.
- **The Archived view shows them too**, quietly. Archiving means "do not offer
  this for new attachments", never "forget its numbers".

**Both columns sort.** See
[Searching, filtering and sorting](#searching-filtering-and-sorting).

## The categories that cannot be judged

A category **cannot be judged** while its creative or technical slot is empty.
A missing press kit does not stop judging, but the library still flags it.
Two places count these, and both count your **whole organization's active
categories**, not the rows you happen to be looking at:

- **The amber pill beside the title**, reading for example "4 categories
  missing scorecards". It appears on the Categories tab and counts every
  active category with any empty slot, press kit included. Press it to turn on
  the **Cannot be judged** and **No press kit** filters together, which shows
  exactly those rows; press it again to turn both off.
- **The amber number on the Categories and scorecards row in the left
  navigation**, visible from every admin screen. It counts only the categories
  that cannot be judged, so a press kit gap alone never raises it.

Filtering, searching or loading more rows never changes either number.
Archived categories are not counted. When nothing is missing, each one
disappears completely. There is no "0" to read: no badge means nothing needs
you.

**A category created from an import's category picker** — "Create "<name>"
as a new category", on step 3 of a file import or in the Categories block of
the FilmFreeway tab in Settings, under the name it came with or one you typed —
arrives with your technical and press kit scorecards attached and its creative
slot empty, so it is one of these until you attach a creative scorecard. See
[Importing submissions](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-submissions.md#step-3-match-the-files-categories-to-yours).

## Searching, filtering and sorting

The toolbar above the table:

- **The search box** matches a category's name or its `CAT-` id, so
  searching for `1042` finds `CAT-1042`.
- **Scorecard** filters by slot state: Cannot be judged, Missing creative,
  Missing technical, No press kit, or Creative and technical attached. Tick
  as many as you like — a row matches if it fits any of them.
- **Type** filters to Film or Screenplay — tick one or both.
- **Status** switches the whole table between the **Active** and
  **Archived** views — see
  [Archiving and restoring](#archiving-and-restoring-categories).

**There is no filter for the default set.** The DEFAULT tags on the rows are
how you read it.

Every option in a filter shows a live count of how many rows it would
match. A **Clear filters** link appears as soon as any filter is set. If
nothing matches, the table shows "No categories match." with the line
"Nothing matches the current search and filters." and its own Clear filters
button.

**Every column heading is a sort button.** Click once to sort by that
column, click again to reverse it. Sorting by a scorecard column puts the
categories missing that slot first — in both directions — so the gaps are
always at the top. The footer names the current sort: "Showing 14 of 73,
sorted by name", with "(reversed)" added after a second click and
"matching" added while a search or filter is on.

**Sorting by Technical or Creative sorts by the money**, and the footer says
so — "sorted by technical pay", "sorted by creative pay". **Reversing reverses
the figures and nothing else**: categories on the same rate always stay in
name order, so a descending sort does not list every `$8.00` category from Z
to A.

The table shows the first **14** rows. **Load 40 more** reveals the next
batch, and the button names the real number when fewer than 40 are left
("Load 19 more"). When it runs out, the button goes away.

Changing the search, a filter or the Status view clears any selection you
had — loading more rows does not.

**On a narrow window the table scrolls sideways rather than restacking**, with
the heading row pinned to the top and the checkbox and Category columns pinned
to the left, so the two pay columns slide under a name you can still read.

## Importing from the default list

**Import from default list** sits in the Categories tab's toolbar, beside **+
New category**, for owners. It opens FilmScorecard's ready-made list — 73
categories, each with its own creative scorecard, and 28 awards — and brings
whatever you tick into your library:

- **Each category arrives judgeable**: its own creative scorecard, copied with
  every question, in the creative slot, and your Film Technical or Screenplay
  Technical and your Press Kit in the other two.
- **It arrives with the DEFAULT tag**, with default judge pay already set —
  $2.00 a scorecard for a short category and $4.00 for any other, technical and
  creative alike — a fresh `CAT-` id and no festivals.
- **Anything you already hold is left out of the list**, whether you imported
  it or wrote a category of the same name yourself. Only an archived one still
  shows, greyed out, as "Archived in your library".

The dialog, the awards half and every rule behind it are in
[Importing from the default list](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md).

## Creating a category

1. Choose **+ New category** in the toolbar of the Categories tab.
2. Enter a **Name**. The Create button stays greyed until you do.
3. Pick a **Type**: Film ("Video file or link") or Screenplay ("PDF upload").
   **Choose carefully — the type cannot be changed after the category is
   created.**
4. Write a **Description**. It is "Shown to submitters on the entry form
   and to judges above the scorecard."
5. Optionally set a length. The row is headed **Length (minutes)** for a film
   category and **Length (pages)** for a screenplay, marked
   **Optional**, and holds two boxes — **Min** and **Max** — with the unit
   printed after them. Fill in either, both, or neither: see
   [The length](#the-length).
6. Optionally set **Default technical pay** and **Default creative pay** —
   what a judge is paid per scorecard filed, on any season this category is
   attached to. Leaving either blank means `0.00`. See
   [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md#where-a-categorys-pay-starts-the-library).
7. Leave **Start new festivals with this** ticked, or untick it. It starts
   ticked, and its line reads "Applies when a festival is created. Seasons of
   festivals that already exist are not affected." See
   [What a new festival starts with](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/what-a-new-festival-starts-with.md).
8. Choose **Create category**.

The footer of the dialog reminds you: "Scorecards are attached after the
category exists." A brand-new category has all three slots empty, so it
appears with the amber "Missing creative and technical scorecards, cannot
be judged." line until you attach its scorecards.

If the name is already taken, the Name field says "That name is already in
use. Choose another." — pick a different one and save again.

### The length

A category's length is a range with two optional ends:

| You fill in | What is kept | How it reads |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Neither | No length | The id alone |
| **Max** only | A ceiling | `max 10 min` / `max 45 pages` |
| **Min** only | A floor | `min 61 pages` |
| Both | A range | `31–120 min` — equal ends are allowed, so `30–30 min` is a real answer |

Each box takes a whole number above zero, or nothing at all. Anything else —
`0`, a decimal, text — is refused with "Enter a whole number greater than
zero." under the row, and a minimum above the maximum with "Min can't be
above max."; nothing is saved until you fix it. The unit is never typed: it
follows the category's type, so the same numbers read as minutes on a film
category and as pages on a screenplay.

**The length is information, not a rule.** The helper under the row says so:
"Shown with the category. Submissions are not checked against it. Leave blank
for no limit." It is printed on this table, on a season's Categories tab and
its attach dialog, and in the default-list import dialog — and nothing
anywhere in FilmScorecard compares a submission's running time or page count
against it. A film over the maximum is imported, listed, judged and scored
exactly like one under it.

## Editing a category

Open the row's three-dot menu and choose **Edit**. The same dialog opens
prefilled, with the category's `CAT-` id in the header, and an amber notice
that states exactly what your save will do:

> Used by 2 festivals. Name, description and length changes appear everywhere
> as soon as you save.

You can change the name, the description, the length, the two **Default
pay** amounts, and whether **new festivals start with this**. **The Type cards
are shown greyed out and cannot be changed** — a category's type is permanent.
If a category was created with the wrong type, create a new category with the
right type and archive the old one. (Duplicate is not the fix: a copy keeps its
source's type.)

**A length change reaches seasons already running the category, open or
not.** A season's Categories tab reads the length from the library every time
it loads — there is no per-season copy — so change `max 30 min` to `max 40
min` here and every season shows `max 40 min` the next time somebody opens it.
The name is the one thing a season keeps its own copy of; see
[A season's categories and awards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/season-categories-and-awards.md#categories).

**Changing a default pay does not reprice any season** that has already
attached this category — it is where the *next* attach starts. A season that
wants the new number uses **Reset pay to library** on its own settings screen;
see [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md#how-a-rate-travels).

**Changing the default-set checkbox does not change any festival either.** It
is read when a festival is created and at no other moment.

**Renaming an imported category does not make the default list offer it
again.** The library remembers where it came from, so it still reads "In your
library" in the import dialog.

## Duplicating a category

The three-dot menu's **Duplicate** opens a confirmation first:

> The copy starts on no festival and copies slot attachments, not
> scorecards.

The **Name of the copy** field is prefilled with "NAME copy" (then "NAME
copy 2" and so on when that is taken) — change it if you like, then choose
**Duplicate category**. The copy appears in the Active view with a fresh
`CAT-` id, the same type, description, length (both ends), **default pay** and
**default-set membership**, the same three slot assignments, and no festivals.
Duplicating from the Archived view works the same way: the copy is always born
active.

## Selecting categories and bulk actions

Ticking any row's checkbox brings up **one bar, at the bottom of the screen**,
reading "6 categories selected".

- Hover a row and its row number becomes the checkbox; the whole cell is
  the click target.
- **The checkbox in the header row** selects every category on the page
  when nothing is selected. Once anything is selected it shows a dash, and
  pressing it clears the whole selection.
- **Clear selection** empties the selection and closes the picker.
- The selection survives **Load 40 more**, but changing the search, a
  filter, the Status view or the tab clears it.

The bar's actions:

| Action | Where it is offered |
| --- | --- |
| **Set as default** / **Remove default** | Both views. Puts the ticked rows into the set every new festival starts with, or takes them out. Neither confirms, and **the selection stays ticked** so you can watch the tags move. See [What a new festival starts with](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/what-a-new-festival-starts-with.md). |
| **Archive** | Active view. |
| **Attach scorecard to 6 categories** | Active view. |
| **Restore 6 categories** | Archived view. |

There is no bulk way to set pay: rates are per category, in the category's
own form.

## Attaching scorecards

There are two ways in, for two different jobs.

**One category, one slot: click its chip.** Clicking a row's slot chip —
`+ Add Creative`, or a filled chip you want to replace — opens the picker
right there, attached to that chip. It changes that one slot on that one
category and **does not touch whatever you had selected**. A row's
three-dot menu **Attach scorecard** opens the same panel on the creative
chip.

**Several categories at once: select them.** Tick the rows you want and use
**Attach scorecard to N categories** on the bottom bar. That picker floats
above the bar and attaches to every selected row in one commit.

Inside the picker:

- **The destination slot.** In the bulk picker the **type tabs are the
  destination slot**: choosing **Technical** means the attach lands in the
  technical slot, so it can never overwrite creative work. Each tab shows
  how many scorecards of that type you have, and switching tabs clears the
  search and any open preview, because the previous choice belonged to a
  different slot. The chip picker has **no tabs** — the chip you clicked
  already chose the slot, and its title says which: "Choose a creative
  scorecard".
- **The list** offers your active scorecards only — archived scorecards
  are never in it. Each row shows the scorecard's name and version, in full
  — a long name wraps rather than being cut off — and its question count
  ("12 questions, 1 to 10"). The first scorecard in the tab starts
  selected; pick another with its radio button. How widely a scorecard is
  used is in its **Preview** footer, not in the list.
- **Preview** opens the scorecard's real questions, read-only, numbered
  `01`, `02` and so on. Its footer totals them: "5 questions, 1 to 10 each,
  50 points total. Used by 52 categories." **Use this scorecard** picks it
  for the attach and then reads "Selected for this attach". Read the "1 to
  10" wording with care — see
  [Previewing a scorecard's questions](#previewing-a-scorecards-questions).
- **The footer** carries the warning to read before you commit — whether
  the attach is about to replace something. The bulk picker counts: "4 of
  the 6 selected categories already have a technical scorecard. Attaching
  replaces it for future seasons. Seasons already created keep the versions
  they started with." The chip picker names the one category instead: "Best
  Feature already has a creative scorecard. Attaching replaces it…". Either
  way only the slot you are filling changes; the other two are left alone.
  **For judging, the "future seasons" part is not what happens** — see
  [What an attach does to judging already under way](#what-an-attach-does-to-judging-already-under-way).
- **Attach *Name v1* to 6 categories** commits it — or just **Attach *Name
  v1*** in the chip picker, where there is only one category to attach to.
  The picker closes and the table shows the new chip straight away.
- **Cancel** closes the picker. Your selection, if you had one, is
  untouched either way.

Every number in the bulk picker is counted from the categories you
selected, not from the rows on screen. A type tab with no scorecards in it
says "No creative scorecards yet." and the attach button is greyed out.

If the scorecard you picked was archived by a colleague while your picker
was open, the commit is refused with "That scorecard is no longer
available. Refresh the page and try again." — nothing is changed.

**Changing a category's technical scorecard has one pay consequence** worth
knowing: a technical review is priced from the category whose technical
scorecard is the one being filed, so swapping a scorecard while a judge holds
a film can leave that scorecard recorded as unpriced. See
[A film in more than one category](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md#a-film-in-more-than-one-category).

### What an attach does to judging already under way

**Seasons read a category's scorecards from this library as they go.** So an
attach reaches every season that runs the category — seasons judging right
now included — the moment you commit it, whatever the picker's footer says
about future seasons. Nobody is told.

| Who | What the attach does |
| --- | --- |
| A judge who presses **Start scoring** on a film in that category from now on | They are given the new scorecard. |
| A judge holding a film on that category right now | Nothing while they hold it. They keep the scorecard they started on, and can file it. |
| A judge whose 48-hour hold lapses, when they pick the film up again | They move to the new scorecard, and **their answers to the old scorecard's questions are cleared**. Their feedback boxes, award recommendations and answers to the filmmaker's own questions stay. Nothing tells them. See [Picking a lapsed film up again](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/scoring-a-film.md#picking-a-lapsed-film-up-again). |
| A scorecard already filed, by a judge or by your staff | Unchanged. It keeps the questions and answers it was filed with, and the [Review Queue](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/review-queue.md) shows it that way. |
| [Fill out a scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/filling-out-a-scorecard.md) | Offers the new scorecard. **A creative card a colleague filed on that category before the attach can no longer be saved from its Edit row**; they correct it in the Review Queue instead — see [Correcting a scorecard you filed](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/filling-out-a-scorecard.md#correcting-a-scorecard-you-filed). |

## Archiving and restoring categories

Archive from a row's three-dot menu, or select several and use the bulk
**Archive**. Every archive is confirmed first, and the dialog states the
consequences plainly:

> The category moves to the Archived view. Nothing is deleted, and you can
> restore it at any time.

with its two facts: "Seasons already open keep everything as it is." and
"The category is not offered in new season setup until restored."

**Nothing is deleted, and nothing downstream moves.** Archiving never
empties a slot and never detaches a festival — the category simply leaves
the Active view, stops being offered when a new season is set up, and
waits. An archived category is also left out of the attach picker on a
season's settings screen, and out of the "of *N* in the library" count
beside it — a season that already runs the category is not disturbed. It
also drops out of the eligible list of every award category that
named it, without being removed from those awards — see
[When a submission category is archived](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-categories.md#when-a-submission-category-is-archived).

**And an archived category is never given to a new festival**, whether or not
it carries the DEFAULT tag — see
[Archived rows](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/what-a-new-festival-starts-with.md#archived-rows).

**It keeps its default pay, and that still counts.** Archiving means "do not
offer this for new attachments", never "forget its numbers": a season that
attached the category before it was archived still resets to those defaults.
**It keeps its DEFAULT tag too**, so restoring it puts it back in the set
without anybody re-ticking a box.

**An archived category still counts as in your library for the default list**:
its row in the import dialog reads "Archived in your library" and cannot be
imported again. Restore it here instead.

Switch the **Status** filter to **Archived** to see them: muted rows, the
archive date where the festival count was, and **Restore** on each row.
Restore is confirmed too:

> The category returns to the active library.

with "Slots come back as saved, an empty slot still blocks judging." and
"No festival changes until its next season." Everything comes back exactly
as it was, including its place in any award that had it.

If a colleague archived or restored the same rows moments before you,
nothing goes wrong — rows already in the right state are simply left
alone.

## The Awards tab

The middle tab holds your **award categories** — Best Original Music, Best
Editing, Audience Choice. They are their own records, not submission
categories: an award carries a name, a description and the set of
submission categories eligible to enter it, and it has no scorecards and no
type of its own. Its **Applies to** pill is worked out from the types of
its eligible categories rather than typed in.

The table behaves like the Categories tab — search, filters, sort, tickable
rows, a bulk bar, an Active and an Archived view, confirmations on every
change — and each award has a full page of its own for its name,
description and eligible categories. **It carries the same DEFAULT tags and
the same Set as default / Remove default buttons**, because a new festival is
born with awards as well as categories, and **the same Import from default
list button**, which opens the import dialog on its Awards tab. An owner whose
Awards tab is empty sees FilmScorecard's preset awards in its place, the same
way the Categories tab offers its presets.

Everything about it is in [Award categories](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-categories.md).
**Which awards a particular season runs, and what its add-on costs, are set
on that season's settings screen** — see
[A season's categories and awards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/season-categories-and-awards.md). What
a season then does with those awards — its pools, its winners — lives on the
season's own screens: [Awards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/awards.md) and
[Award pools](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-pools.md).

## The Scorecards tab

The Scorecards tab is a table like the Categories tab, sorted by slot
(creative, then technical, then press kit) until you sort it yourself:

- **Scorecard**: the name with its version ("Press Kit v1"), with the
  scorecard's description on one line underneath. A scorecard with no
  description shows its name alone — no line at all. The description is
  written in the Scorecard Builder — see
  [The description](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/building-a-scorecard.md#the-description).
- **Slot**: Creative, Technical or Press kit — which slot it fills.
- **Type**: Film or Screenplay — what kind of submission it is
  written for.
- **Questions**: how many questions it holds.
- **Used by**: "Used by 8 categories" — or "Used by 0 categories", shown
  dimmed, for a scorecard attached to nothing. In the Archived view this
  column shows the archive date.

The toolbar has the same search plus **Slot**, **Type** and **Status**
filters. Search matches the name and version together, so "v1" is a search
you can make. Every column heading sorts.

**There is no DEFAULT tag on this tab**, and no import button. Scorecards
reach a festival through the categories that hold them, and a creative
scorecard comes from the default list with its category — there is no
importing one on its own.

Each row's three-dot menu offers **Edit scorecard**, **Duplicate
scorecard**, **Preview questions** and **Archive scorecard**; the Archive
item carries its own one-line consequence — "8 categories keep it until you
change them." or "No category uses it, so nothing changes downstream." In
the Archived view the menu is shorter: **Restore scorecard** and
**Duplicate scorecard**.

**Scorecards carry no money.** A rate belongs to the category, not to the
scorecard attached to it, so two categories sharing one technical scorecard
can pay different amounts for it.

**Renaming or archiving Film Technical, Screenplay Technical or Press Kit
changes what an import attaches.** A category imported from the default list
takes your active scorecard of that name, or your only active one of that
kind, or nothing — see
[A category](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md#a-category).

### Creating a scorecard

**+ New scorecard** in the toolbar asks for a **Name**, a **Type**
(Creative, Technical or Press Kit) and a **Submission type** (Film or
Screenplay). Neither type can be changed afterwards. The new
scorecard is created with no questions at all and opens straight into the
Scorecard Builder, where you write them — see
[Creating a new scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/building-a-scorecard.md#creating-a-new-scorecard).

### Previewing a scorecard's questions

**Preview questions** opens the scorecard's real questions in a read-only
dialog — the same numbered list the attach picker shows, with the totals
line in the footer. This is the one action staff members keep.

This dialog and the attach picker were written when every question was
scored 1 to 10, so they describe every scorecard that way: "1 to 10" beside
each question, and a points total of ten per question. Since scorecards can
now be authored freely, that wording is only accurate for a creative
scorecard whose questions are all 1-to-10 scales. **For the true picture of
any scorecard — response types, points and running total — open it in the
Scorecard Builder**, or read its list of questions here and ignore the
scale wording.

### Duplicating a scorecard

**Duplicate scorecard** confirms first:

> The copy starts a new lineage at version 1 with the same questions, used
> by 0 categories.

The name is prefilled "NAME copy"; change it if you like and choose
**Duplicate scorecard**. The copy is born active, attached to nothing, at
version 1 — a fresh start, not a new version of the original. Every
question is copied in order with everything on it: its response type or its
points, its options, its guidance and its Show on Scorecard setting, along
with the scorecard's description, its submission type and its two
written-feedback settings.

Duplicating from this list leaves you on the list. To make a copy and start
editing it in one move, use **Duplicate** inside the
[Scorecard Builder](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/building-a-scorecard.md#duplicating-a-scorecard)
instead, which lands you inside the copy.

### Archiving and restoring scorecards

Archiving a scorecard works like archiving a category: confirmed first,
nothing deleted, nothing downstream moves. The dialog says it in two
facts: "Categories that hold it keep it in their slot until you change
them." and "It is no longer offered in the attach picker until restored."
Scores already given are kept.

So a category whose technical slot holds an archived scorecard **can still
be judged** — the slot is filled, and that is what counts. The only real
effect is that the scorecard leaves the attach picker, so it cannot be
attached anywhere new until you restore it. Restore returns it "to the
active library and the attach picker", exactly as saved.

An archived scorecard also stops being editable: opening its builder
address shows the whole scorecard read-only under an amber notice, with
Duplicate as the only action. Restore it here first, or duplicate it and
edit the copy.

### Editing a scorecard

**Edit scorecard** opens the
[Scorecard Builder](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/building-a-scorecard.md), where you write the
questions themselves. What happens first depends on how widely the
scorecard is used:

- **Used by nothing:** the builder opens straight away.
- **Used by one or more categories:** a dialog marked **Shared scorecard**
  opens first, stating the size of the change in real numbers — "Press Kit
  v1 is used by 73 categories." — with its two panels: future seasons
  "Pick up the edited scorecard when the season is created", seasons
  already created "Keep Press Kit v1 exactly as it is today, including
  scores already given." Then choose:
  - **Edit for all 73** opens the builder on that scorecard. Your edits
    reach all 73 categories, for their future seasons.
  - **Duplicate and edit a copy** creates "Press Kit v1 copy" — a fresh
    version 1 attached to nothing — and opens the builder on the copy, so
    the original is untouched. Attaching the copy where you want it is a
    separate step.
  - **Cancel** closes the dialog and changes nothing.

## What does not work yet

Everything above is real, with one exception: the small **New scorecard**
link inside the attach picker — either picker — does nothing. Use
**+ New scorecard** in the Scorecards tab toolbar instead.

Awards are fully live, here and on the season side: which awards a season
runs is set on the season's settings screen, and each award's pool and
winners live on the season's [Awards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/awards.md) and
[Award pools](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-pools.md) screens. **No price is set in this library**
— an award's add-on price belongs to a season, and nothing collects it yet.
See
[Prices and season lists are not here](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-categories.md#prices-and-season-lists-are-not-here).

**Judge pay is the one number this library does hold** — a default per
category, now shown in two columns on the table and edited in the category's
own form, which every season copies when it attaches one. It is still only a
number: nothing charges or pays anybody. See [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md).

Of the neighbouring navigation rows, **Judges directory** is live for
everyone in your organization
(see [Judges directory](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judges-directory.md)) and **Organization settings**
is live for owners and org admins (see
[Organization settings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/organization-settings.md)). The **Festivals** list
further down the same navigation is live too: every row in it opens a
festival.

## What your organization starts with

**A new organization's library holds three scorecards and nothing else**:
the shared **Film Technical**, **Screenplay Technical** and **Press Kit**,
each at version 1 with all its questions. The Scorecards tab lists the three,
each "Used by 0 categories". The Categories and Awards tabs hold nothing: an
owner finds FilmScorecard's presets there in place of the empty tables, and
anybody else reads "No categories yet." and "No awards yet."

From there the library is built two ways, and you can mix them:

- **Import from the default list.** FilmScorecard's ready-made 73 categories
  and 28 awards, taken as many or as few at a time as you like. Each imported
  category brings its own creative scorecard and is attached to the three
  shared ones, so it can be judged from the start. See
  [Importing from the default list](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md).
- **Write your own**, with **+ New category** and **+ New scorecard**.

The scorecards you start with, and the creative scorecards the default list
brings, are uniform inside: every creative question is a 1-to-10 scale, every
technical item is worth 4 points, every press kit item 2, none carries
guidance, and none is hidden from the submitter's scorecard. All of that is
yours to change in the [Scorecard Builder](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/building-a-scorecard.md).

**Judge pay comes with them.** Every category imported from the default list
arrives with **Default technical pay** and **Default creative pay** already
set: **$2.00** a scorecard for a short category — a film of at most 30
minutes, a screenplay of at most 60 pages — and **$4.00** for any other,
including one with no maximum. A season that attaches it starts paying those
figures. Seasons start **Paid**; change the figures here or on the season, or
switch the season to Volunteer. See [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md).

**Categories you imported before the default list carried pay** were given the
same figures, provided both of their rates were still at `$0.00`. One whose pay
you had set yourself, and one you wrote yourself, kept what it had — and no
season's rates moved, because a season keeps the rates it copied at attach.

The copy is yours. Category ids are numbered fresh for your organization,
starting at `CAT-1001`, award ids at `AWD-2001`, and nothing you change here
reaches any other organization's library — or the default list.

**If your organization was created earlier**, it was given the whole list of
categories and scorecards at creation, and keeps them. The import dialog leaves
out every category it already holds by name, and its awards can still be
imported — they link to those categories straight away.

**What a later festival is born with is the set you curate here.** Creating a
festival attaches every category and award that is in the default set and not
archived — see
[What a new festival starts with](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/what-a-new-festival-starts-with.md).
Creating a *season* inside a festival that already exists is a different
thing: it copies the previous season's own line-up and never reads this
library at all.