Best Practices for Announcing Jury Results

When your jury process is complete and you're ready to share results with artists, it's important to understand how EntryThingy handles status visibility so you can control the timing of your announcement.

How Status Visibility Works

Entry statuses are visible to artists as soon as you change them. When you update an entry to "Accepted," "Not Accepted," or "Partially Accepted," the artist can see that status immediately on their Applications page — even before you send a notification email.

This means:

If you update entries one at a time over the course of a few days, early decisions may be visible to artists before you've finished reviewing all submissions
Artists who check their Applications page frequently may see their results before you've had a chance to send a formal announcement

Piece statuses are not directly visible to artists. Changing an individual piece to "Accepted" or "Not Accepted" does not change what the artist sees — they only see the overall entry status. However, bulk piece updates can automatically change the entry status (e.g., all pieces accepted → entry becomes "Accepted"), which is visible to the artist.

What Artists See

Artists check their results on the Applications page (app.entrythingy.com/artist/applications/). Each entry shows a status badge:

Submitted — Shown for entries with status Submitted, Show to Jury, Fee Paid, or Waitlist
Accepted — Shown for entries with status Accepted, Partially Accepted, or Group A-E
Not Accepted — Shown for entries with status Not Accepted

Important: The "Show to Jury" status does not appear as "Show to Jury" to the artist — it appears as "Submitted." This means you can safely move entries to "Show to Jury" without artists knowing the jury process has begun.

What Artists Don't See

These statuses all appear as "Submitted" to artists — they don't reveal any decision:

Show to Jury — Appears as "Submitted"
Fee Paid — Appears as "Submitted"
Waitlist — Appears as "Submitted"

These statuses are safe to use during your internal review process without affecting what artists see.

Note about Group statuses: Group A through Group E appear as "Accepted" to artists. If you're using groups for internal organization, be aware this may inadvertently signal acceptance.

Recommended Workflow for Announcing Results

To control the timing of your announcement, follow this workflow:

Step 1: Complete All Jury Decisions Internally

Before changing any entry statuses, finalize all your decisions. You can:

Use jury scoring and review the results
Use entry notes to mark your decisions internally
Create a spreadsheet or document with your final list

Step 2: Update All Statuses at Once

When you're ready to reveal results, update all entry statuses in a single session using bulk updates:

Go to your Entries page
Filter by "Show to Jury" (or "Submitted")
Select the entries you want to accept → bulk update to "Accepted"
Select the remaining entries → bulk update to "Not Accepted"
Set any waitlisted entries to "Waitlist" (this appears as "Submitted" to artists, so it won't reveal a decision)

This minimizes the window between the first and last status change. See How do I bulk update entry statuses? for detailed instructions.

Step 3: Send Notification Emails

After all statuses are updated, send notification emails to your artists:

Go to Emails → New Email
Select your exhibition
Filter by "Accepted" status → compose and send your acceptance email
Filter by "Not Accepted" status → compose and send your rejection email
Filter by "Waitlist" status → compose and send your waitlist email (if applicable)

See How do I send emails to the entrants? for detailed instructions on composing and sending emails.

Tips for a Smooth Announcement

Do it all in one sitting. The faster you update all statuses and send emails, the less chance an artist sees their result before the formal announcement.
Use bulk updates. Updating entries one by one takes longer and increases the chance of early visibility. Bulk updates let you change many entries at once.
Send emails promptly. After updating statuses, send notification emails right away so artists hear from you directly rather than discovering results on their own.
Set expectations. If your call description or post-submission instructions mention a results announcement date, try to stick to that timeline.
Consider timing. Update statuses and send emails during off-peak hours (early morning or late evening) to minimize the chance of artists checking the site during the brief window between status updates and email delivery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change statuses without artists knowing? Artists cannot see the "Show to Jury" status — it appears as "Submitted" to them. So you can move entries from "Submitted" to "Show to Jury" without any visibility change. However, once you change to "Accepted," "Not Accepted," or "Partially Accepted," artists can see the result immediately.

What if I need to change my mind after updating a status? You can change an entry's status at any time. If you accidentally set an entry to "Accepted" and want to change it back, simply update the status. Keep in mind the artist may have already seen the previous status.

Do artists get notified automatically when I change a status? No. EntryThingy does not send automatic emails when you change an entry status. Artists only see the change if they check their Applications page. You control when to send notification emails through the Emails feature.

Can I announce results for some entries but not others? Yes, but keep in mind that all status changes are visible immediately. If you accept 10 entries today and plan to accept 10 more tomorrow, the first group of artists may see their results before the second group.