A multi-round review in Dapple is a review process split across several stages — for example a longlist sift, a shortlist round and a final jury. Give each stage its own Review Round, with its own guidance, scoring and reviewers. Assign reviewers for each round, use the scores to decide who goes through, then move the successful submissions to the next stage, where the next round begins. Every round's feedback stays attached to the submission, so your final judges can see how it got there.
How do I set up multiple review rounds in Dapple?
Create a stage for each round in Workflow & Reviews — for example Longlist, Shortlist and Final — and map each to In Progress.
Add a Review Round to each stage with + Add review round. Name each by its purpose, such as "Round 1 Sift" or "Final Jury".
Set the guidance, deadlines and scoring for each round.
Choose how each round gets its submissions: assigned by you, or sent automatically to a reviewer pool.
To score every round the same way, set up the first round, then use Copy from when creating the others. See How to Duplicate a Review Round in Dapple.
How do submissions get to each round's reviewers?
Each Review Round decides this on its own Reviewers step:
Approach | How it works | Good for |
Assign reviewers yourself | Automatic sending off. Assign reviewers to submissions from the submissions list or Stages board. | Final rounds, where you want to choose exactly who judges what |
Send automatically | Every submission that reaches the stage goes to the round's reviewer pool — to everyone, or shared out. | Early rounds with large volumes |
Assigning a reviewer to a Review Round also moves the submission into that round's stage, so you can progress a submission and hand it to the next round's judges in one step.
Can I use the same reviewers in more than one round?
Yes. Reviewers are assigned per round, so you can mix and match:
Scenario | What to do |
Same reviewers in every round | Assign the same people in each round, or add them to each round's reviewer pool |
Different reviewers per round | Assign a different group in each round. Earlier reviewers don't see later rounds unless you assign them. |
Partial overlap | Assign whoever you need in each round — a round can include people from earlier rounds and new ones |
How do I use the results of a round?
What you see | Where to find it | How to use it |
Average score | Submissions list and the submission's Reviews tab | Rank submissions and spot outliers |
Votes | Submissions list and the submission's Reviews tab | See the split, e.g. Shortlist vs Pass |
Comments | The submission's Reviews tab | Read each reviewer's reasoning on close calls |
Dapple doesn't decide for you — you choose who goes through. See How do admins view and manage reviews in Dapple?.
How do I move successful submissions to the next round?
A submission's reviews must be marked complete before it can move stage — a blue dot shows reviews are still open. See How to Mark Reviews as Complete. Then move submissions in any of these ways:
Open the submission and change its stage in the right-hand panel.
Drag the submission to the next stage on the Stages board.
Sort the submissions list by score, select the ones going through and bulk move them.
Assign them a reviewer in the next round's Review Round, which moves them into that stage.
If the next round sends automatically, its reviewers receive the submissions as soon as they arrive. Feedback from earlier rounds stays on each submission.
Best practice for multi-round reviews
Name stages and rounds so they pair up, e.g. the Shortlist stage with "Shortlist Review".
Use automatic sending for high-volume early rounds and assign reviewers yourself for the final round.
Keep scoring consistent across rounds with Copy from, so scores are comparable.
Set a due date on every round.
Wait until enough reviews are in before deciding who goes through.
Use bulk moves to progress large groups at once.