Judge Performance Records
Records are kept for all championship judges to determine their Judge Rank Position (JRP). A judge's JRP number is the average of their rank positions within judging panels (1, 2, 3 etc.) based on their consolidated Ranking Index (RI) at each CIVA championship, with the JRP corrected to match the 'normal' CIVA Judging Panel size of seven (7) judges. Power Final Freestyles are judged on a different basis and must be excluded from this process. The numeric value of the RI itself is not used as this is affected by other local factors.
This JRP number is normally averaged over a rolling three-year period, or five years in 2022 due to the Covid situation. It is thus a fair measure of each judges' ability to rank pilots by comparison with the other judges in the final results, with lower JRP numbers indicating the least difference between the judge and the panel and thus a better standard of judging performance.
Judges who wish to apply but have no previous RI data from international events are asked to provide RI information based on their own Aero Club's Nationals, or from any other event run by another Aero Club where they may have officiated.
Judging data is presented in three categories:
- Power Unlimited and Advanced
- Power Intermediate (and Yak-52, discontinued)
- Gliding Unlimited and Advanced
This tabulated Judge Rank Position (JRP) data is maintained for open review on the CIVA Results website 
The current list of CIVA International Judges is available from the CIVA Document Store or the FAI/CIVA Documents page
The Judge selection process
Each year, after the CIVA plenary, the Judging Committee updates the lists of international judges with data provided by judges or delegates:
- The Current Judges list
- The Reserve Judges list
- A list of Judges of Honour
At the start of each season, invitations are sent out to all judges in the Current Judges list with a request that they indicate their availability for the coming years' contests.
SELECTION STAGE 1
The Judging Committee (JC) members check the suitability of each application, particularly regarding:
- RI data
- Confirmation of the experience of each judge and the contest circumstances
- Numbers of judges from the same NAC
- The past behavior of judges
SELECTION STAGE 2
The JC now collates and reviews the applications. Two (glider) and three (powered) sets of Judge applications are summarized and distributed to the JC members:
- Judges with a JRP <= 5
- Judges with a JRP > 5
- New judges must have an assistant from the current judges list with a JRP <= 5
The number of judges in each set depends on how many judges the organizer of each international contest offers to support. The minimum is five for Intermediate/YAK52, and seven for power Advanced/Unlimited and all glider events. Each member of the JC (five members plus the chairman) votes for judges in the different sets. Where a panel comprises more than seven judges, only one nation may be duplicated.
Delegates are also encouraged to propose additional judges (i.e. not financially supported by CIVA or the organizer) who have gained experience within their own country and, if approved by the JC, may become panel members alongside those with established CIVA championship RI history.
When the JC voting is complete, the resulting selection lists are sent to the CIVA Bureau for ratification.
Finally the results of the applications and voting are distributed to the CIVA delegates and published on this website.
The process has changed slightly in recent years as many judging panels have been reduced from ten to seven CIVA supported Judges and, accordingly, the supported members of championship panels have been restricted to one judge per National Aero Club (NAC).
Here are the 2024 International Judge and Assistant selections
