Code of Ethics

Safety

In judging beauty pageants for children, safety is of the utmost importance. Safety is characterized as protection from harm, whether it be physical or emotional. It is the duty of the pageant judge to be fair and civil, promoting healthy competition and self-esteem.

Fairness

Described as making decisions based on unbiased opinions, free from discrimination, fairness is a vital part of being a beauty pageant judge. The children that choose to participate in our pageants deserve to be treated honestly and the American Child Pageant Judges Association will stand by our contestants in this right.

Nepotism

When judging pageants, remember that if you find there is any relation between yourself and a contestant or their family, the pageant director is to be notified immediately. When an instance of this occurs, nepotism becomes a possible problem. It is important that the outcome of the pageant not be slanted in a certain direction because of a relationship with a contestant.

Conflict of Interest

Conflict of interest occurs when a judge has the potential of benefitting in some way from a contestant’s success. A judge needs to be completely impartial when making the decisions in a beauty pageant and if there is monetary or material gain, it creates a conflict of interest.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of a beauty pageant judge includes but is not limited to:

• Speak with event coordinators to ensure understanding of the rules and judging criteria.
• Arrive early in order to set up and get organized to ensure you are comfortable and ready to judge the pageant.
• Setting the pace of the pageant, such as how often contestants are to come out.
• Creating and asking questions to contestants for the interview portion of the competition.
• Maintain a scorecard for each of the contestants and keep organized record of each contestant and category.
• Judging the contestants in areas such as: congeniality, health and fitness, evening wear, casual wear, spirit, service, photogenic, interview, etiquette, modeling, and public speaking.

Thank you for reading over the Code of Ethics for Beauty Pageant Judges – created by ACPJA