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Judging Panel and Assessment Criteria - Victoria RESCA

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How the Victoria RESCA judging works
An independent panel of Rotary, representatives carefully review every eligible nomination to ensure finalists and award recipients are selected fairly, consistently and transparently.
From nomination to award recipient

The Victoria RESCA judging process is designed to be thorough, independent and consistent from year to year.

  1. Nominations received – Nominations are submitted online by community members, colleagues, Rotary clubs and organisations during the nomination period.
  2. Eligibility and completeness check – Rotary coordinators review each nomination to confirm that the nominee and nominator meet the eligibility criteria and that the submission is complete.
  3. Initial screening – Where necessary, obviously incomplete, ineligible or duplicate nominations are removed to ensure only valid nominations proceed.
  4. Probity Checks - All nominees are checked with their agencies for suitability for submission
  5. Panel deliberation – Judges individually score shortlisted nominations against the criteria.
  6. Approval and confirmation – Recommended finalists and recipients are confirmed by the Rotary coordinating committee, ensuring governance requirements are met.
  7. Notification – Finalists are contacted confidentially before any public announcement and invited to the awards ceremony.
  8. Announcement at the ceremony – Award recipients are formally recognised at the Victoria RESCA ceremony, with all finalists acknowledged for their outstanding service.

Throughout this process, judges are required to declare any conflicts of interest and to maintain strict confidentiality.

Judges use a balanced rubric to ensure consistent, evidence-based decisions. Summary of criteria and typical weightings:
  • Service Above Self (40%) — What has the person you are nominating done within their ESA role that demonstrates Service Above Self (i.e. above and beyond their normal paid or unpaid role within their Agency)
  • Community Service (50%) — Their Community Service, include how long they have demonstrated Service Above Self (unselfish volunteer service).
  • Normal Duties (10%) — What are the normal/usual duties of the person you are nominating as an Emergency Service Member?
Our commitment to fairness and privacy

The integrity of the Victoria RESCA program depends on managing conflicts of interest and handling all information with care.

  • Conflict of interest declarations – Judges must declare any personal, professional or organisational connection with a nominee or nominating organisation as soon as they become aware of it.
  • Recusal from decisions – Where a conflict exists, the judge will not participate in scoring or decisions related to that nominee
  • Confidential handling of information – All nomination materials, scores and deliberations are treated as confidential and are not shared outside the judging process and relevant Rotary coordinators.
  • Respect for nominees and nominators – Sensitive personal or operational information is handled respectfully and only used for the purposes of assessing the nomination.
  • Record-keeping – Rotary maintains appropriate records of conflict declarations and key decisions to support transparency and good governance.

These safeguards help ensure that every nomination is considered fairly and that nominees can be confident their information is protected.

Judging FAQs

No. To protect the independence of the process, nominators and nominees cannot contact judges directly. All questions must be directed to the Rotary Victoria RESCA Cahir via the Contact page.

Where practical, general feedback on the strength of a nomination may be provided if requested by the Victorian RESCA Chair, but detailed judging scores and individual panel discussions are not shared.

Yes. Judges assess nominations from across Victoria and from all eligible emergency services, using the same published assessment criteria for every category.

In many cases, yes, provided the nominee and nomination meet the current eligibility criteria. Repeat nominations should clearly highlight new or ongoing contributions beyond any previous recognition.
A Winner of these Awards previously as a Volunteer of the Year and/or Officer in Paid Capacity is ineligible to be nominated.
A Finalist in these Awards, is ineligible to be nominated again within a period of 5 years.
Prepare and submit a nomination
Common questions about nominations
Understand categories and eligibility
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