A fair jury process requires handling conflicts of interest transparently. A conflict exists when a juror has a personal, professional, or financial relationship with an artist that could bias their evaluation. Crafted Call provides tools to declare, track, and manage conflicts, keeping your jury process ethical and credible.
What Is a Conflict of Interest?
In the context of jury review, a conflict of interest (COI) arises when a juror:
Personally knows the artist: Friend, family member, or close acquaintance
Has professional ties: Colleague, collaborator, or business partner
Has financial interest: The juror stands to gain or lose based on the outcome (e.g., a gallery owner who competes with the artist)
Has prior relationship: Former teacher/student, mentor/mentee, or employer/employee
Has judged the artist before: Previously accepted or rejected their work in a way that could bias this evaluation
Has exhibited with the artist: Shared show, collective, or publication
Conflicts don't mean jurors are dishonest—they're human. A juror might unconsciously favor a friend's work or overcompensate by being extra critical. COI declarations remove this risk by excluding biased evaluations.
How Jurors Declare Conflicts
When a conflict is declared:
Jurors access the jury interface and review the list of submissions assigned to them. If they recognize an artist they have a conflict with, they click Declare Conflict on that submission.
The COI dialog appears with fields for:
Artist name: Auto-filled (e.g., "Jane Smith")
Nature of conflict: Checkbox options
Personal relationship
Professional relationship
Financial interest
Prior jury decision
Other (text field for explanation)
Jurors provide details: They describe the relationship in their own words. Example: "Jane is a close friend; we've exhibited together. I want to recuse myself."
Confirmation: Jurors click Declare Conflict. The system immediately:
Hides that submission from the juror's evaluation queue
Flags the submission in the admin view
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Logs the conflict in the audit trail with timestamp and juror name
The juror sees: "Conflict declared. This submission has been removed from your evaluation queue."
What Happens After a Conflict Is Declared
For the Juror
That submission no longer appears in their evaluation queue
They don't score it, and their absence from scoring is noted
Other submissions (without conflicts) remain for them to evaluate
They can un-declare a conflict if they made a mistake, but it's logged in audit history
For the Submission
Flagged with a "Conflict of Interest" badge in the admin submissions view
Still evaluated by other jurors (if using "all jurors see all" mode)
If using distributed mode, reassigned to a different juror without a conflict
In the final jury results, it's noted that one juror had a conflict and didn't score
For Your Gallery
You maintain an audit trail of all COI declarations
You can see which jurors have conflicts with which artists
You can flag potential patterns (e.g., one juror has conflicts with many submissions)
The Admin View: Seeing All Declared Conflicts
Navigate to Calls → [Your Call] → Jury → Conflicts. You'll see a table of all COI declarations:
Juror
Artist
Nature of Conflict
Date Declared
Status
Sarah Chen
Maria Garcia
Personal relationship
Feb 15, 2:30 PM
Active
David Kim
Alex Rodriguez
Professional (ex-colleague)
Feb 16, 10:15 AM
Active
Sarah Chen
James Liu
Prior jury (accepted 2024)
Feb 16, 1:45 PM
Active
You can:
View conflict details: Click any row to see the full description
Filter by juror: Show all conflicts declared by one juror
Filter by artist: Show all conflicts affecting one submission
Export report: Download COI summary for your records
Best practice: Review conflicts daily during jury period. If a juror declares many conflicts (e.g., more than 10% of submissions), ask them directly—they may know artists in a tight-knit community and that's normal, or there may be an issue with jury selection.
Admin Flagging COIs
Sometimes you know of a conflict before a juror does. You can proactively flag a COI.
Step 1: Identify the conflict
You know that juror Sarah and artist Jane are friends, but Jane hasn't submitted yet.
Step 2: Flag the conflict
Go to Jury → Conflicts → Flag New Conflict. Enter:
Juror: Sarah Chen
Artist: Jane Doe
Nature: Personal relationship
Description: "Sarah and Jane are friends; discussed their friendship at a recent event"
Status: Active or "Pending juror confirmation"
Step 3: Notify the juror (optional)
Send a message: "We're aware you know Jane Doe. Please declare this conflict if her work is submitted."
Why flag in advance?
Ensures fair process even if juror forgets
Documents that you took precautions
Protects your gallery's credibility if the outcome is questioned later
Undeclaring or Resolving Conflicts
A juror may declare a conflict and then change their mind—or you may realize a declared conflict wasn't real.
Juror undeclares:
A juror can remove their own conflict declaration, but:
The change is logged in the audit trail
You're notified (optional alert)
The submission is added back to their queue if there's time before deadline
Admin resolves:
You can mark a conflict as resolved (after investigation or clarification). Resolutions are logged but the original declaration remains visible in audit history.
Warning: Don't pressure jurors to undeclare conflicts. If they felt conflicted, respect that. Better to have extra jurors and fewer scores than to risk bias.
Multi-Juror Impact: How COI Affects Scoring
The impact of a COI depends on your scoring mode:
All Jurors See All Submissions
Submission has 5 jurors, 1 declares conflict → 4 scores count for that submission
Average is calculated from 4 scores, not 5
Submission is flagged in results with "1 of 5 jurors recused"
Distributed Evaluation
Submission assigned to 1 juror who declares conflict → Reassigned to backup juror
That juror scores it instead
Audit trail shows the reassignment
Per-Image Scoring
Conflict declaration applies to the entire submission (all images hidden)
Juror doesn't score any image of that work
Best Practices for COI Management
1. Establish Clear COI Policy
In your jury invitation, include:
Definition of conflict of interest
How and when to declare conflicts
Timeline (before scoring starts or during)
What happens after a declaration
Your gallery's commitment to fairness
Example language:
"If you have any personal, professional, or financial relationship with an artist, please declare it immediately. We'll exclude that submission from your evaluation to ensure a fair process."
2. Start COI Early
Include COI questions in the juror invitation form itself
"Are you familiar with any of the artists in this call? Please list them."
This catches conflicts before evaluation begins
3. Use Blind Review + COI Together
Blind review hides identity, but COI declarations provide a backup. A juror might recognize an artist's style even if the name is hidden. COI lets them declare it anyway.
4. Audit Trail Transparency
Keep detailed records. If an artist later questions the process, you can show:
Who was on the jury
Which jurors had conflicts
How many jurors scored each submission
Full COI timeline
5. Consider Community Size
In small art communities, many artists know each other. This is normal. Don't be alarmed if jurors declare multiple conflicts. Just ensure:
No single juror has conflicts with more than ~20% of submissions (they wouldn't have enough to score)
Conflicts are genuine, not pretextual excuses to avoid scoring
6. Communicate to Artists
After the call closes, you can optionally share your COI policy with artists:
"Our jury process includes blind review and conflict of interest declarations to ensure fairness."
This builds confidence in your outcomes
Audit Trail & Documentation
Crafted Call maintains a complete COI audit trail:
Event
Date/Time
User
Details
COI Declared
Feb 16, 10:15 AM
Sarah Chen (juror)
"Jane Smith - personal friend"
Conflict Flagged
Feb 16, 2:00 PM
You (admin)
"David Kim has prior jury relationship with Alex Rodriguez"
Submission Scored
Feb 17, 3:45 PM
Sarah Chen
"Marina Lopez - 4.5/5 (no conflict)"
You can export this trail for your records or if a dispute arises.
Best practice: Download your COI audit trail at the end of each call and archive it. If an artist challenges the result years later, you have proof of fair process.
Handling Disputes or Concerns
If an artist questions whether bias affected the outcome:
Step 1: Review the audit trail
How many jurors scored their submission?
Were there any undeclared COIs?
Did score distribution seem fair?
Step 2: Communicate honestly
Share your COI policy and declarations (with juror names redacted if needed)
Show that you use blind review and multiple jurors
Acknowledge that jury decisions are subjective, but process was fair
Step 3: Consider re-evaluation
If you find evidence of actual bias (e.g., a juror scored a friend's work despite declared conflict, which shouldn't happen), you can:
Remove that juror's score and recalculate
Re-run the round with new jurors
Offer the artist a spot based on corrected scores
This rarely happens, but transparency here builds trust.
Summary: COI Checklist
Before launching jury evaluation, ensure:
COI policy is written and shared with jurors
Jurors are asked about conflicts during invitation
Blind review is enabled (if applicable)
Backup jurors are assigned in case of conflicts
You've reviewed the submission list for known conflicts
Conflict declarations are monitored daily
COI audit trail is exported and archived after the call
Conclusion: A robust COI process demonstrates that your gallery takes fairness seriously. Artists will trust your outcomes, and your jury will feel confident in their decisions. Invest time upfront in clear communication and you'll avoid problems later.
Next step: After jury setup and evaluation, manage submissions and notify artists in "Accepting, Rejecting & Waitlisting Submissions."
