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Championship Scoring
[This explanation assumes you already know what an Irish dancing championship is, and how it operates.]
The scoring system for Irish dancing championships is more complicated than simply adding up the marks awarded to each dancer by a panel of adjudicators, and dancers new to championships are often puzzled about how it all works. We hope this page will help to clarify things.
We will go through the process of scoring a fictitious championship involving six dancers doing a heavy jig and a reel, followed by an open set for those who are 'recalled'. We have a panel of two adjudicators (unusual, but easier to demonstrate). To make life simpler, we refer to the dancers as 'she' or 'her' -- there is no sexist intent in this.
Work your way through this page, checking the Glossary for unfamiliar words. If there are things you still don't understand when you've finished, please email us -- we'll get back to you when we have time, and your question might help us to improve this explanation.
NOTE that this is perhaps the most common form of championship, but there are many others. For instance, you may see only one round plus recall, or three rounds plus recall. You will certainly see different percentages of dancers recalled, depending on time available and other circumstances. You may see the same adjudicators marking all rounds, or a different set for each round. You may see a single adjudicator's marks used to award solo medals for one or more rounds, or you may see a separate adjudicator sitting to one side and awarding solo marks. The only certainty is that, just when you think you've seen them all, along will come something new!
'Raw' marks
After the first round of dances (ie, after each competitors has danced, for example, a heavy jig), the marks awarded to each dancer might look like this:
| Dancer No. | Adjudicator A | Adjudicator B |
| Round 1, 'raw' marks | Round 1, 'raw' marks | |
| 290 | 85 | 70 |
| 301 | 90 | 80 |
| 289 | 76 | 67 |
| 207 | 87 | 77 |
| 320 | 87.5 | 78 |
| 256 | 85 | 68 |
It looks simple enough, but let's have a closer look. First, notice that Adjudicator A's marks are consistently higher than those given by Adjudicator B. Does this mean that Adjudicator A likes all of the dancers more?
Well, no. The adjudicator's job is not to give 'absolute' marks. It is to put the dancers into what they consider to be the 'correct order' according to how well they danced. One adjudicator might give marks ranging from 65 to 80, whereas another might give marks from 75 to 95. What matters is where each dancer is placed for each individual adjudicator -- first, second, third ... fourteenth, thirty-first, etc.
It might also be understandable if dancer 301 glanced across the rows and thought "Adj. A obviously likes me more -- he has given me 90 and Adj. B has only given me 80." However, if we look down the columns instead of across the rows we can see that, far from disliking her, both adjudicators have given her their highest mark for round one.
When the dancers have finished their first two rounds, the marks are usually sent to a team of scorers in a back room. The scorers will process the marks through a system called 'grid marking'.
Grid marks
The grid mark system does two useful things. First, it doesn't matter if one adjudicator awards marks from 65-75, and another from 75-90 -- it only matters where the dancers are placed by each adjudicator. Secondly, applying grid marks lessens the chance of tied competitions.
Grid marks are awarded from the table below, according to each dancers' position:
| Position | Grid mark |
| 1st | 100 |
| 2nd | 75 |
| 3rd | 65 |
| 4th | 60 |
| 5th | 56 |
| 6th | 53 |
| 7th | 50 |
| 8th | 47 |
| 9th | 45 |
| 10th | 43 |
| 11th | 41 |
| 12th | 39 |
| 13th ... 50th | 38, 37, 36, 35 ... 1 |
| 51st and below | 0 |
To make understanding simpler, we've taken the 'raw' marks awarded to the competitors for their round one dancers, and allocated grid marks. Looking down the raw mark column for Adj. A, it is clear that dancer 301 has the highest mark (90). She is therefore allocated the 100 grid mark. Dancer 320 is next with 87.5 points, and gets the 75 grid mark, and so on (see below for tied places). If we follow the process for Adj. B, we can see who should be allocated which grid marks.
[This is not how it is done in practice. In a "two rounds + recall" championship, grid marks would be calculated at two different stages. First, the adjudicators' raw marks for the first two rounds are added together and grid marks allocated. This determines which dancers should be recalled. Later, the adjudicators raw marks for all three rounds (recalled dancers only) are added together and grid marks allocated to determine winners.]
| Dancer No | Adjudicator A, Round 1 | Adjudicator B, Round 1 | ||||
| Raw mark | Position | Grid mark | Raw mark | Position | Grid mark | |
| 290 | 85 | 4th= | 58 | 70 | 4th | 60 |
| 301 | 90 | 1st | 100 | 80 | 1st | 100 |
| 289 | 76 | 6th | 53 | 67 | 6th | 53 |
| 207 | 87 | 3rd | 65 | 77 | 3rd | 65 |
| 320 | 87.5 | 2nd | 75 | 78 | 2nd | 75 |
| 256 | 85 | 4th= | 58 | 68 | 5th | 56 |
It is worth mentioning that both adjudicators agreed about the top three dancers in this competition. This is by no means always the case.
Tied places
So far, so good, but Adj. A gave dancers 290 and 256 the same raw marks -- how are grid marks allocated for tied scores?
If an adjudicator gives two dancers the same score, the next two grid marks are added together and the dancers are given half each. For example, if there is a tie for 2nd place, the grid marks for 2nd and 3rd place are added together (75 + 65 = 140) and both dancers get a grid mark of 70. This works no matter how many dancers tie, and for whichever positions they tie. If four dancers tied for 3rd place, the relevant grid marks would be added together (65 + 60 + 56 + 53 = 234) and would be shared equally. Each dancer would thus receive a grid mark of 58.5.
The grid after two rounds
In practice, marks for rounds one and two are processed through the grid system in one go. The 'raw' marks for both rounds are added together for each adjudicator, and a grid mark for each adjudicator is allocated on the basis of the total. The separate grid marks are then totalled to give an overall total. We've invented a set of second round marks and allocated grid marks to them, below.
| Dancer No. | Adjudicator A | Adjudicator B | Total grid | ||||||
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Subtotal | Grid Adj. A | Round 1 | Round 2 | Subtotal | Grid Adj. B | ||
| 'Raw' | 'Raw' | 'Raw' | 'Raw' | ||||||
| 290 | 85 | 78 | 163 | 60 | 70 | 68 | 138 | 58 | 118 |
| 301 | 90 | 85 | 175 | 75 | 80 | 82 | 162 | 87.5 | 162.5 |
| 289 | 76 | 76 | 152 | 53 | 67 | 71 | 138 | 58 | 111 |
| 207 | 87 | 82 | 169 | 65 | 77 | 85 | 162 | 87.5 | 152.5 |
| 320 | 87.5 | 90 | 177.5 | 100 | 78 | 80 | 158 | 65 | 165 |
| 256 | 85 | 75 | 160 | 56 | 68 | 69 | 137 | 53 | 109 |
Incidentally, we can see from these marks that, although both adjudicators liked dancer 301 best for the first dance, they weren't so sure about her second round, each giving her second place. It is interesting to see that Adj. A gave top place in the second round to dancer 320, while Adj. B considered dancer 207 to be better. This has spread the marks around a bit, making it a much closer competition.
The recall
If our fictitious championship only consisted of two rounds, we could now say that dancer 320 had won with 165 grid marks, followed closely by dancer 301 with 162.5, dancer 207 with 152.5, and so on.
However, championships frequently include a 'recall', where the highest placed dancers are asked to perform another dance. This is often an 'open set', choreographed by the dance teacher especially for the dancer. For our example, we are going to be generous and recall 50% of our dancers -- ie, numbers 301, 320 and 207. (The dancers will not be aware who is leading, who is second, etc.)
And finally ...
Recalled dancers perform their third round dances and are again awarded 'raw' marks by the adjudicators. Grid marks are allocated as before, and finally the grid marks for all rounds (1, 2 and 3) are totalled to decide who won. A complete scoring table might look like the one below.
| Dancer No. | Adjudicator A | Adjudicator B | Grid total | ||||||||
| Round 1 'Raw' | Round 2 'Raw' | Round 3 'Raw' | 'Raw' total | Grid Adj. A | Round 1 'Raw' | Round 2 'Raw' | Round 3 'Raw' | 'Raw' total | Grid Adj. B | ||
| 290 | 85 | 78 | -- | -- | -- | 70 | 68 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 301 | 90 | 85 | 90 | 265 | 100 | 80 | 82 | 79 | 241 | 75 | 175 |
| 289 | 76 | 76 | -- | -- | -- | 67 | 71 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 207 | 87 | 82 | 85 | 254 | 65 | 77 | 85 | 80 | 242 | 100 | 165 |
| 320 | 87.5 | 90 | 80 | 257.5 | 75 | 78 | 80 | 77 | 235 | 65 | 140 |
| 256 | 85 | 75 | -- | -- | -- | 68 | 69 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
The total raw marks awarded to each dancer by each adjudicator is now shown. For some reason, Adj. A liked dancer 301 best, while Adj. B preferred dancer 207 better. Whatever, all the dancers are only a few marks apart, but the Grid total column on the far right gives the overall winner -- dancer 301 with 175 grid marks. Dancer 207 came second, with dancer 320 in third place. That's it -- championship over!
Non-recallers
We are often asked by non-recallers how they can find out where they finished in a championship. First, they can only find out if they are at a competition where full sets of marks are available (usually for a few pounds, euros or dollars). Having obtained a set of marks, look at the 'Recall Report' or 'Positions After Two Dances'. Although recallers may improve their position -- or slip up -- depending on their final round, the positions of non-recalling dancers does not change after the second round.
Zero grid marks?
There is one thing every 'new' championship dancer should know. If you are competing in an extra-large competition such as an oireachtas or a national championship, you might easily end up with no grid marks at all. This does not mean that the adjudicators disliked you so much that they didn't give you any marks -- it is simply that the grid system only gives marks to the top 50 dancers. Dancers placed below that, either for an individual adjudicator or overall, end up with a zero. However, if you can get hold of a Recall Report, you will see your overall position and the raw marks you obtained from each adjudicator.
We hope this page helps you to understand championship scoring, but please email us if you have any questions. We'll get back to you when we have time, and your question might help us to improve this explanation.
