Scoring

Have you ever wondered how the judge's marks are transcribed into the placings and results at the end of a competition?

The judges mark each dancer out of 100 with first place going to the dancer(s) with the highest score, and so on down the line.

Aggregate winners are determined by adding up the combined scores over the day, but rather than use the judge's scores, points are assigned according to placement.

All competitions run under the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing use the same schedule of points, keeping the job of scoring consistent from one competition to another.

Points Guidelines

Here's a breakdown of the points for aggregate awards:

1st place 88 points
2nd place 56 points
3rd place 38 points
4th place 25 points
5th place 16 points
6th place 10 points

Award Placing Guidelines

The number of placings are half the number of dancers plus one.

3 dancers 2 placings
4-5 dancers 3 placings
6-7 dancers 4 placings
8-9 dancers 5 placings
10-ll dancers 6 placings
12-l3 dancers 7 placings
14-l5 dancers 8 placings
16-l7 dancers 9 placings
18-l9 dancers 10 placings
20-21 dancers 11 placings