In championship, dancers are scored in the same way they are in grades. Judges individually determine a mark for the dancer for each round. Theoretically, each judge would give each dancer the same mark. However different judges do not see the same things and judges use different methods to keep track of dancers' performances. This means that only the marks from the same judge can be compared.

Example Distribution of Marks

Calculating the final ranks of the dancer appears complicated, but it can be done in five simple steps.

• Sum the marks given to each dancer by judge.
• Use the summed marks to determine the ranking of each dancer by judge.
• Convert the ranks to the corresponding Irish points value.
• Sum the Irish points awarded to the dancer from every judge.
• Use the total Irish points earned to determine the final ranking.

Now to calculate the final ranks for dancers in a championship style, two or three round, three judge competition using Irish points.

The first step is to sum the marks given in each round by judge. The sample marks provided below will be used throughout all steps of this calculation.

Starting with dancer 1008, summing the marks given by each judge will give the total marks for this dancer.

Performing the same action with the rest of the competitors gives the following total marks.

The next step is to determine the rank each competitor received by each judge. This is simply done by ordering the competitors by their total marks.

Performing the same action with the rest of the judges gives the following ranks.

Notice that there are two set of ties from Judge B.

• Competitors 1025 and 1578 tied for 2nd.
• Competitors 1531 and 1093 tied for 8th.

This will affect the Irish points awarded to each dancer in the next step.

The next step is to convert the ranks from each judge into the corresponding Irish point value. The number of Irish points each rank receives is predetermined for places 1-50. All dancers beyond 50th place receive 0 points.

For the most part, the conversion of rank into Irish points is straightforward. Each rank has one corresponding point value, the only complication is ties. Just like with most competitions, ties cause ranks to be skipped. This can be seen with the ranks awarded by Judge B. There is a two way tie for 2nd, which causes 3rd place to be skipped and there is a two way tie for 8th, which causes 9th place to be skipped.

However the points for the skipped places are still awarded. The points for the tied place and all skipped places are summed and divided equally amongst the dancers that have tied.

Calculating the number of Irish points the dancers in 2nd and 8th receive:

Converting the rest of the ranks into Irish points:

The fourth step is to sum the Irish points awarded to each dancer from every judge. This will produce the value that will determine the final ranking.

Adding up all of the Irish points awarded by the judges gives the following totals.

The easiest step is determining the final ranking. Sort all the dancers by the number of Irish points they received. The dancer with the most points wins.

This is the final ranking of the dancers that will be awarded at the competition.

Hopefully this guide has helped you understand the Irish point system. It appears complicated at first glance, but it can be reduced to a few simple steps that are easy to wrap your head around once you know what they are. Please share this guide with any new championship family to help them understand their dancers' marks and ranking. If you have any questions or any suggestion to better this guide, please reach out through Planxti's contact page.

Feiseanna will usually award round medals before awarding the overall winners of a championship competition. Round medals are usually awarded by selecting a random judge from each round and using their ranking to award the medals. With this method it's possible that a dancer could win two or three round medals and not make it into the top three of the final ranking. While rare, it's also possible that they could win a medal in each round but not place in the top half.