Many of the judges are invited, and are former Stevie® Award winners. Other professionals apply to judge online and, if accepted, are assigned categories by Stevie Awards staff, based on their industry, function, and experience.

All entries are first reviewed by Stevie Awards staff to ensure that eligibility requirements are met, that entries are properly formatted for judging, and that entries have been submitted in appropriate categories.

Determination of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Winners

Judging of entries is conducted in one round to determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners. Judges are recruited worldwide, apply to judge on the International Business Awards® website, and are assigned to juries by Stevie Awards staff based on their industry, function, and experience.

Each entry is reviewed and rated by no fewer than five (5) volunteer judges who have been approved as qualified (by Stevie Awards staff) to judge those entries. All entries are viewed and rated at the judges' convenience online. Rating is done on a scale of 1-10.

All entries that receive an average score of at least 8.0 out of a possible 10, regardless of category, are automatically conferred Stevie Award status. Entries with average scores of 7.75 – 7.99 may be conferred awards status at the discretion of Stevie Awards administration, but are not guaranteed awards placement.

Every category that has at least one qualifying entry (with a final average score of at least 8.0/10) will have at least one Gold Stevie Award winner. The qualifying entry with the highest average score in a category will be awarded the Gold Stevie Award. The top 45% of other qualifying entries will be accorded Silver Stevie status. The remaining 55% of qualifying entries will be accorded Bronze Stevie Award status.

The veracity of claims made in Finalist entries may be audited. Any entry found to contain false or misleading information will be disqualified. Gold Stevie-winning entries will be published on the International Business Awards website, after winners have had the opportunity to redact non-public information from them.