# A season's categories and awards

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

Two tabs of [Festival settings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/festival-settings.md) decide what a single
season competes in: **Categories** — the submission categories this season
accepts — and **Awards** — the award categories whose pools this season fills.
Both are also where the money for a season is written down: an add-on price
per award, and — on the Categories tab — what this season pays its judges for
each scorecard they file. **A season does not record an entry fee.** Entry
fees are collected on FilmFreeway and never reach this platform.

Two things are true of both tabs and worth reading before anything else.

**Attaching never creates anything.** Categories and awards are written in
your organization's library and shared by every festival you run. These two
tabs only connect an existing library record to this season and set what it
costs here. Renaming, rewriting, adding, importing or archiving one is library
work — see [Categories and scorecards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/categories-and-scorecards.md),
[Award categories](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-categories.md) and
[Importing from the default list](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md).

**Both tabs wait for Save.** Typing a rate, pressing Paid or Volunteer,
**Reset pay to library**, attaching and detaching all change the tab on screen
at once, but nothing is stored until you choose **Save categories** (or **Save
awards**) in the footer. Until then the tab shows the amber dot, the footer
offers **Discard**, and leaving the screen asks first. Each footer carries a
count line and the time of the last change.

## Where a season's line-up comes from before you touch it

Which rows a season starts with depends on how the season came to exist:

| How the season was made | What it starts with |
| --- | --- |
| **The first season of a new festival** | The categories **and awards** in your library's default set, at their library judge pay and at `$0.00` for add-on prices. See [What a new festival starts with](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/what-a-new-festival-starts-with.md). |
| **The first season of a new organization's first festival** | **Nothing.** A new organization's library holds no categories or awards yet. The Welcome page's **Set up categories** button opens the library, where an owner imports FilmScorecard's presets; the line confirming the import links back here to attach them — see [Getting categories onto the season](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/finishing-setup.md#getting-categories-onto-the-season). |
| **Start next season**, from a season that already exists | A copy of that season's own line-up, add-on prices and judge pay rates. The library is not consulted. See [Season and festival actions](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/season-actions.md#start-the-next-season). |

**A festival's first season arriving with awards is new.** Until this release
awards reached a season only through the Attach awards dialog below, and every
festival was created with none.

Whatever a season starts with, these two tabs are how you change it — with one
shortcut on the Submissions screen, where an owner or org admin editing a
submission's categories can tick a library category the season is not yet
running and have it attached on the way (see
[Attaching categories](#attaching-categories)). Nothing you do here ever
reaches the library or another season.

## Categories

Each row is one category **this season** is running.

| Column | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Category** | The name this season competes under, over a monospace line with the category's 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`. A category with no length shows the id alone. |
| **Type** | Film or Screenplay. |
| **Technical pay** | What a judge's technical review of a film in this category is worth, per scorecard filed. **Only on a season set to Paid** — see [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md). |
| **Creative pay** | The same for the creative scorecard. Paid seasons only. |
| **Submissions** | How many submissions in this season compete in this category. |

**The Submissions numbers can add up to more than the season holds.** A
submission competes in every category it is attached to, so one film entered in
Drama and Experimental is counted by both — see
[A submission competes in every category it is attached to](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#a-submission-competes-in-every-category-it-is-attached-to).

The table starts in name order and the footer says so: "**4 attached of 73 in
the library.** Sorted by category, ascending." The library figure counts your
organization's **active** categories — archived ones are not counted, because
they are not offered for attaching either.

**Three headings sort**: Category, Technical pay and Creative pay. Click one to
sort by it, click it again to reverse, and the footer keeps naming what you are
looking at. Type and Submissions do not sort. Details are in
[Sorting by pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md#sorting-by-pay).

**The name is this season's own copy.** It was taken when the category was
attached, so renaming the category in the library later does not rewrite what
this season competed under. The short id, type and length on the other hand
are read from the library every time the page loads, so they are always
current — change a category's length in the library and every season running
it shows the new figure the next time the tab is opened. **The length is
information only**: nothing checks a submission against it. See
[The length](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/categories-and-scorecards.md#the-length).

**The two pay rates are copies too**, taken from the library at the same
moment — and the whole of how they travel is in [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md).

### Every category is also an award

**Each category this season runs is a category award on the
[Awards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/awards.md) screen**, from the moment it holds a submission: its pool
is the submissions entered in the category, its winner and honorable mentions
are named by hand there, and it carries the category's **rank** — every scored
film's position — which a coordinator releases to submitters from the same
screen. Nothing on this tab creates or removes it: it comes with the category
when the category is attached, takes the name on this row, and goes when the
category is detached. It has no add-on price and no library page. See
[Two kinds of award](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/awards.md#two-kinds-of-award) and
[A category award's pool](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-pools.md#a-category-awards-pool).

A category whose Submissions column reads 0 has no card on the Awards screen
until something is entered in it.

### Finding a row

- **Search** matches the name and the monospace line, so `CAT-1006` finds a
  row as surely as its name does.
- **Type** is a multiple-choice filter listing only the types actually
  present in this season.
- **Clear filters** appears as soon as either is in use.

Both reset when you leave the tab. Rows you have ticked survive a tab switch.

With no match you get "Nothing matches those filters" and a way back; with
nothing attached at all, "No categories are attached to this season yet."

### A row that is not in the library any more

If a category was deleted from the library after this season attached it, the
season keeps competing in it — the row stays, with its name and its
submissions. It just has nothing to read the extras from, so:

- there is no monospace sub-line and no type pill (the Type cell shows "—");
- no Type filter value matches it;
- its row menu has no **Open in library** item;
- **Reset pay to library** skips it entirely — there is nothing to reset
  toward.

Its two pay rates can still be edited and it can still be detached.

### Attaching categories

1. Choose **Attach categories**. The dialog lists **only categories that are
   not already attached to this season** — archived ones are never offered.
   Each row carries a monospace line with the id, the length when there is
   one, and the type: `CAT-1008, 31–120 min, Film`.
2. Search if the list is long. **Select all** ticks everything currently
   matching your search, and says so ("Select all 6 matching"), so you never
   pick up rows you did not see.
3. Tick what you want. The count beside the checkbox keeps up, and **Clear**
   empties the selection.
4. Choose **Attach 6 categories**. They wait in an amber **Attach on save**
   strip above the table, each with **✕** to take it back, and join the table
   when you choose **Save categories**.

On a **paid** season the dialog's footer says what arrives with the category:
"Attached categories start at the library's default judge pay — which may
itself be $0.00. Set it before submissions open." On a **volunteer** season
there is no footer, because an attached category carries no money at all.

Three things worth knowing:

- **Attaching twice is harmless.** Anything already attached is skipped, so a
  double click or a dialog left open while somebody else attached the same
  record does not create duplicates.
- **Attaching also records that this festival offers the category**, which is
  what the library's "used by *N* festivals" note counts. Detaching from a
  season does not undo that.
- **Edit categories on the Submissions screen attaches too.** An owner or org
  admin changing which categories one submission competes in is offered the
  same library, and ticking a category the season is not yet running attaches
  it here — at the library's default judge pay, like any attach — on the way
  to the submission. It then appears on this tab as an ordinary row. See
  [Editing a submission's categories](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#editing-a-submissions-categories).

When there is nothing to offer, the dialog says which of two things is true:

| The dialog says | Why |
| --- | --- |
| "Your library has no categories yet." | Your library holds no active categories at all — a new organization, typically. An owner gets an **Import from default list** link beneath it, which opens the library with the import dialog already open. See [Importing from the default list](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md). |
| "Every category in the library is already attached." | Your library has categories, and this season runs every active one of them. |

**This dialog never imports, and nothing imports and attaches in one go.**
Importing from the default list puts categories in your library; attaching them
here is always the second step. When you reach the library from this season —
its Welcome page or its dashboard's **Set up categories** button — the line
confirming an import links straight back to this tab. See
[Coming from a season](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md#coming-from-a-season).

**The DEFAULT tag in the library has nothing to say here.** It decides what a
*new festival* is born with; this dialog offers every active category
regardless.

### Detaching categories

Detaching removes the category from **this season only**. The library keeps
it, every other season keeps it, and you can attach it again. Its category
award goes with it — an empty one, since a category can only be detached once
it holds no submissions.

- **One row:** its row menu → **Detach from season**.
- **Several:** hover the number at the left of a row and it becomes a
  checkbox. Tick rows and a bar appears at the bottom of the list with
  **Detach from season** in it.

Either way the rows leave the table at once and are listed in an amber
**Detach on save** strip above it, each with **✕** to keep it. Nothing is
detached until you choose **Save categories**; **Discard** brings them all
back.

**Detaching and attaching again loses the season's tuned numbers.** The
category comes back at the library's default judge pay, not at whatever you
had set here.

### A category with submissions cannot be detached

This is a data rule, not a permissions one: while any submission in this
season competes in a category, that category stays.

- The row menu has **no Detach item** at all, and the row itself says why:
  "*3* submissions belong to this category. Detach is unavailable while any
  exist."
- In a mixed selection the bulk bar shows an amber note — "**1 of 2 can be
  detached**" — and detaching takes only the ones that can go. The note is
  left out when everything selected is free.
- If everything you picked is locked, the button is disabled.

If you really need the category gone, first take it off the submissions that
hold it — **Edit categories** on the
[Submissions](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#editing-a-submissions-categories) screen, one
submission at a time — or withdraw them. A submission has to keep at least one
category, so a submission in this category and nothing else must be given
another one before this one can go. Withdrawn submissions still count here.

### Row menu

- **Open in library** — the organization's category library.
- **View submissions** — this season's Submissions screen, filtered to that
  category.
- **Detach from season** — only when the category holds no submissions.

### Judge pay

Above the toolbar sits **JUDGE PAY THIS SEASON** with two buttons, **Paid** and
**Volunteer**, and a line saying what the current choice means. It decides
whether the two pay columns exist at all.

**What it is not is a rule about every judge.** It is a **ceiling**: on a Paid
season a coordinator may take one judge on as a volunteer, and a judge may
apply to an open call as one, so a paid season can hold a mixture. A Volunteer
season admits volunteers only.

**It locks to Paid while a paid record is open or already agreed** — a paid
invitation still out, a paid open-call application still open, or a judge who
has accepted paid terms. Volunteer places and volunteer applications never lock
it. The padlocked row names the count.

That control, its lock, the two rate columns, the `$0.00` warning and the
**Reset pay to library** button all have a guide of their own:
**[Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md)**.

## Awards

The Awards tab works the same way, with different columns and one extra idea.
Judge pay is not part of it — awards have no rates.

**Category awards are not on this tab.** It lists the awards attached from
your library — the ones with an `AWD-` id and an add-on price. A category's own
award has neither, cannot be attached or detached on its own, and lives on the
[Awards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/awards.md) screen beside these; see
[Every category is also an award](#every-category-is-also-an-award).

Above the table sits a line counting what the pools can draw on: "**73
submission categories are attached this season.** Only work in those
categories can enter a pool." — with a button that jumps to the Categories
tab. With no categories attached it reads "No submission categories are
attached this season, so no pool can fill."

| Column | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Award** | The award's name over its permanent short id and the kinds of work it reaches — `AWD-2003, film and screenplay`. |
| **Eligible categories** | How many of the award's eligible categories are attached to this season, out of how many exist in the library — `4 of 11 attached`. |
| **Add-on price** | An editable amount — see [Setting fees and prices](#setting-fees-and-prices). |
| **Entries** | How many entrants are in this award's pool this season. |

The footer counts the same way as Categories: "9 attached of 14 in the
library. Sorted by award, ascending." Search matches the name and the
monospace line; there is no Type filter here, and no column on this tab sorts.

A submission may enter an award's pool when **any one** of its categories is
eligible for that award, and it enters once however many of them qualify — see
[What makes a submission eligible](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-pools.md#what-makes-a-submission-eligible).

**A new festival's first season starts with awards already on this tab** — the
ones in your library's default set, each at `$0.00`. Every season after it
starts with whatever the season before it was running. See
[Where a season's line-up comes from before you touch it](#where-a-seasons-line-up-comes-from-before-you-touch-it).

### "None attached" is a warning

When **none** of an award's eligible categories are attached to this season,
the Eligible categories cell shows an amber **None attached** pill instead of
a count. That award's pool can never fill: no submission in this season is
allowed to enter it. Either attach one of its categories on the Categories
tab, or widen the award's eligible list in the library.

The attach dialog shows the same figure before you commit — an award with
nothing eligible attached has an amber meta line there too.

**A first season can arrive with one of these already showing.** An award in
the default set is given to a new festival whether or not anything can enter
it; check this tab before submissions open.

### Attaching and detaching awards

Identical to categories: only unattached, non-archived awards are listed;
select-all is scoped to your search; each award arrives at **$0.00**;
attaching twice is harmless.

With nothing to offer, the dialog reads **"Your library has no awards yet."**
— with the owner's **Import from default list** link beneath it, opening the
import dialog on its Awards tab — or, when every active award is already on
this season, "Every award in the library is already attached."

Detaching closes that award's pool for this season and takes it off the list.
The library keeps the award, and so does every other season. As on Categories,
both wait in the amber strip until you choose **Save awards**.

**An award with entrants in its pool cannot be detached.** The row says
"*4* entries are in the pool. Detach is unavailable while any exist.", its
menu has no Detach item, and a mixed selection behaves exactly as it does on
the Categories tab. Empty the pool from the award's own pool screen first —
see [Award pools](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-pools.md).

**Nothing here touches a decision.** Winners and honorable mentions are
changed only on the awards screens; detaching an award never edits or clears
a result.

### Row menu

- **Open in library** — that award's page in the library.
- **Open the pool** — this season's pool for that award.
- **Detach from season** — only when the pool is empty.

## Selecting in one table clears the other

The two tables share one selection bar, so ticking a row on Awards drops
whatever you had ticked on Categories, and the other way round. The bar can
only ever be about one list.

## Setting fees and prices

The money boxes on these tabs are the two judge pay rates on Categories.

1. Click into the box and type an amount in dollars — `45` or `45.50`. The
   `$` is part of the field, not something you type.
2. Press **Tab** or **Enter**, or click elsewhere. The amount tidies to two
   decimals, but it is **not saved yet**: the tab's amber dot lights and the
   footer shows **Discard** and **Save categories**.
3. Choose **Save categories** to write every rate you changed, or **Discard** to
   put them all back. **Escape** in a box puts just that box back.

Amounts run from **$0 to $10,000.00**, with at most two decimal places. A
figure with more than two decimals is refused rather than rounded — a price
you did not type is a price nobody can find again. Every amount is shown to two
decimals: `45.00`, never `45`.

**Clearing a box is a deliberate zero.** Empty it and leave it and it settles
to `0.00` — and Save writes that. It is not treated as a typing mistake. On a paid
season a judge rate at `$0.00` is saved *and* flagged in red; see
[$0.00 in a paid season is an error, not "free"](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md#000-in-a-paid-season-is-an-error-not-free).

If an amount is refused, a red line appears under the box and nothing is
written. If it is accepted but the save then fails, the box keeps what you
typed and shows the reason, and the footer says how many changes did not save
— choose **Save categories** again to retry them. Leaving the screen with rates
unsaved asks first, like any other unsaved change.

### Nothing charges anyone yet

Add-on prices and judge pay rates are **stored configuration**.
There is no checkout, no card, no payout and no invoice anywhere in FilmScorecard
today, and nothing on this screen tells a submitter what anything costs, or
tells a judge what they will be paid. Set them now so they are ready; do not
expect money to move.

## Messages

| The message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Enter an amount like 25 or 25.00. | A money box holds something that is not a plain amount, or has more than two decimals. |
| Enter an amount between $0 and $10,000.00. | The amount is outside the range. |
| A paid offer or application is still open on this season, or a judge has accepted paid terms, so it cannot become a volunteer season. | The Paid/Volunteer choice is locked at Paid. Revoke the open paid invitations, decline the open paid applications — and if somebody has already accepted paid terms, it stays paid for good. See [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md#volunteer-to-paid-is-always-allowed-paid-to-volunteer-is-not). |
| Every category already matches its library default. Nothing was changed. | **Reset pay to library** found nothing to do. |
| This season already has a category with that name. Rename it in the library first. (*Name*) | Attaching would give this season two categories with one name — usually because a leftover row from a deleted library record still holds it. |
| That record now holds submissions or pool entries and can no longer be detached. | Something landed in it between choosing Detach and saving, or everything you selected was locked. The row stays waiting in the strip; take it back with **✕**. |
| You do not have permission to change this festival's settings. | Your account is not an owner or staff member of this organization — or the address is not one you can reach. |
| Something in the form is not valid. Check the fields and try again. | The change was rejected before it reached the database. |
| The change could not be saved. Try again. | Anything else. Nothing partial is saved. |
| 2 of 5 changes could not be saved. Try again. | **Save** wrote some of what was waiting and not the rest. What did not save stays waiting — a rate keeps what you typed, with the reason under it. |

A change that is refused at Save stays waiting, with the message above the
footer, so you never lose it to an error.

## Related guides

- [Festival settings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/festival-settings.md) — the rest of the screen.
- [Judge pay](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judge-pay.md) — the Paid/Volunteer ceiling and its lock, the
  two rate columns, Reset pay to library, and what a filed scorecard records.
- [Categories and scorecards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/categories-and-scorecards.md) — writing and
  maintaining the categories these tabs attach.
- [Award categories](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-categories.md) — the same for awards, including
  which categories may enter each one.
- [Importing from the default list](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md) —
  filling an empty library from FilmScorecard's ready-made list.
- [What a new festival starts with](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/what-a-new-festival-starts-with.md) —
  which of them a brand-new festival's first season is born with.
- [Awards](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/awards.md) and [Award pools](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/award-pools.md) — what a season
  then does with its awards, category awards included.
- [Season and festival actions](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/season-actions.md) — carrying this line-up,
  prices and rates into next season.