Judging the Year 9 Competition
You are a Year 12 student asked to help judge a Year 9 kapa haka competition. Six teams perform. The marks are te reo 25, kori 25, wairua 25, kaupapa 25. Team A has the sharpest choreography and loudest haka, but mispronounces a key vowel and drops a final consonant in one line. Team B has simple actions, correct reo and strong wairua. Team C performs a haka from another region and uses a hand action specific to a different iwi; the team says their tutor taught it. Team D has strong soloists but the group falls apart in the poi. Team E is your cousin's team. Team F is first-time entrants and clearly nervous. The head judge asks you to rank the top three and give written feedback.
1. How should you handle judging Team E? What does the conflict of interest require?
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Declare the conflict to the head judge before any marks are discussed. Do not mark Team E. Either abstain from that team or have another judge mark them, and make sure your abstention is recorded. If the format requires all judges to mark all teams, ask for your marks for Team E to be removed or moderated.
Do not overcompensate by marking them harshly; that is still bias. Judge them as you would any other team only if the head judge explicitly decides your marks will be moderated, and say so openly.
The principle is transparency. A competition is fair when the process is visible, not when everyone pretends there is no relationship. The same rule applies if you have taught one of the teams.
2. Rank the top three using the criteria and justify the trade-offs. Explain how pronunciation and regional action errors affect marks.
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On the evidence, I would place Team B first. It is the most balanced: correct reo, strong wairua and adequate kori. The criteria weight all four areas equally, so balance beats one spectacular element.
Team A second: its kori is the strongest, but the pronunciation errors cost te reo marks. A dropped consonant and a shortened vowel change meaning, so this is not a small style point. Team D third: strong soloists cannot carry a group item when the poi collapses; kori and wairua both suffer.
Team C is the hard call. The regional action is not just a kori error; it is a kaupapa and tikanga issue because actions carry meaning. I would mark it down and explain why, but I would first ask the team about their source. If the tutor genuinely taught it, the error is still real, but the feedback should be about learning, not blame. I would record the reasoning so the ranking is defensible.
3. Write feedback for Team C that is honest about the regional action without embarrassing them.
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Give the feedback in writing or quietly to the tutor, not over the microphone. Start with what worked: their energy, commitment and group focus. Then be specific: 'The hand action you used in the haka is associated with another region. Actions can carry meaning, so using it here may misrepresent the haka. Can you tell us who taught it and what it means?'
Explain that the issue is not that they are bad, but that kapa haka has regional specificity. Recommend they check with their tutor or a kaumātua from the haka's source before the next performance. Offer a workshop or a contact.
Avoid public shaming, sarcasm or comparing them to another team. The aim is to keep them in kapa haka. Honest feedback delivered with respect protects their mana and the integrity of the art form.