budget-and-notoriety-ranking.md

Budget and notoriety ranking

Read this when fitting programs to the budget and estimating notoriety in Step 3. Every number below is a tunable default. Adjust it to the category, record the change, and keep it the same across all programs in a run so the ranking can be explained.

Budget inputs

total entry spend for the cycle;
a cap per entry;
the most entries the team can handle;
optionally, a ceiling on effort per entry (low, medium, high).

What counts toward cost

Add up everything the program discloses: the entry fee, fees per extra category, finalist or winner fees, licensing fees for the badge or trophy, required event tickets and any mandatory sponsorship tier. Record the fee that applies on the date checked, and note the date it rises if there is an early rate. Staff time is not counted as spend, but record an effort level for each program.

Fitting programs to the budget

Rank programs by fit tier from the screening rubric, then notoriety score, then lower cost.
Walk down the ranked list. Add a program when its cost fits both the per-entry cap and the remaining total, and update the running spend.
If a program does not fit, move it to the over-budget list and continue down the list.
Stop when the most entries is reached or the budget is used.
Treat free programs like any other: no bonus and no penalty for being free.
If a cost cannot be found, mark it unverified. Keep it out of the running spend until confirmed, and say that the total may rise.
In the over-budget list, show cost, notoriety and what the budget would need to be to include each one.

Notoriety score

Notoriety is an estimate of how visible and recognized a program is among buyers. Score each signal, record the value, the source and the date, and add the points.

Signal	Points	How to measure	Default bands
Website strength	0 to 25	A domain strength score for the program's site, from one SEO tool used for every program in the run. Name the tool and the date	Under 30: 5. 30 to 59: 15. 60 and above: 25
Winner amplification	0 to 25	Count companies buyers in the category would recognize that posted or published about their win in the latest cycle. Search the program name with "winner," "proud to announce" and "named." Keep links to examples	0 to 2: 5. 3 to 9: 15. 10 or more: 25
Followers of the program's page	0 to 20	Followers of the program's own page on the main professional social network, and whether it posted in the latest cycle	Under 1,000: 5. 1,000 to 9,999: 12. 10,000 and above: 20. Drop one band if the page is inactive or shows almost no engagement
Years running	0 to 15	The first cycle year to the current one, from the program's history page or its oldest winners list	Under 3: 3. 3 to 7: 9. 8 or more: 15
Independent coverage	0 to 15	Mentions by publications, analysts or buyer-facing sources not run by the organizer, and whether the program appears in the citation check	None: 0. Some: 8. Regular or cited: 15

Tiers: 70 to 100 high, 40 to 69 medium, under 40 low.

Data rules

Use one tool for website strength across the whole run. Scores from different tools are not comparable.
A website that sits on a large publisher's domain inherits the publisher's score. Score it, then check the winners page separately and note the difference.
A signal that cannot be read is unverified. Do not score it zero and do not estimate it. If two or more signals are unverified, show the partial score and the label "insufficient data" instead of a tier.
Follower counts and post counts can be inflated. Check recency and engagement before awarding the points.
Label every score an estimate in the output.

Detail table

Include this for each shortlisted and over-budget program:

Reading the result

Notoriety shows how visible a program is. It does not show whether the program is credible. A pay-to-play program can score high, so the red-flag check from the screening rubric still applies and the flag stays visible beside the score. When two programs tie, prefer the one with the more transparent judging, then the lower cost.