How case competitions are judged.

Students often reverse-engineer the wrong thing. They copy a slide style from a consulting brochure and miss the criteria a judge actually uses. Across university case competitions, youth programmes, and training institutes, the scorecard is more stable than the branding.

Insight.

Did the team find the binding constraint? A fare case that talks only about brand colours has no insight. A people case that talks only about quarterly revenue has no insight. Insight is a non-obvious, useful claim that survives a follow-up question.

Structure.

Can a stranger follow the logic? Issue tree, criteria, options, recommendation. Judges notice when analysis arrives in random order, or when the recommendation does not follow from the analysis.

Quantification.

Numbers should be relevant, sourced, and sensitive to the assumption that matters. A wall of unexplained percentages is worse than one transparent calculation. Units, time, and geography must be visible.

Practicality.

Could the organisation actually do this? Capability, capital, labour, regulation, and politics belong in the plan. “Hire McKinsey” is not a plan. “Launch in 40 cities next quarter” is not a plan if the case has shown a strained operating core.

Communication.

Time discipline, voice, slide titles, and the ability to be silent while a chart speaks. Teams lose points by reading paragraphs. They gain points by answering the question in the first minute and using the remaining minutes as proof.

Q&A.

This is often the real exam. Judges test whether the team understands its own model, whether dissent inside the team was resolved, and whether the recommendation still stands if one assumption fails. Assign a primary answerer per topic. The rest of the team should add, not compete.

The Case Competition archive does not publish invented winner lists. Use the previous cases as rehearsal material and score yourselves against this sheet. Schools hosting a contest can print the same criteria so students are not guessing.

Coaches can pair this page with coach guidance and team roles.