VTK Photo Competition System v8.2

A resource-efficient, secure and mobile-friendly system designed for digital judging of photo competitions. The system is built on a modern file-based architecture, which means it works quickly and stably without the need for external databases.

Core Logic & Stability

The system design is optimized for multi-user environments . To ensure data security during simultaneous voting, strict file locking is used. This prevents data corruption if multiple judges submit their scores at exactly the same time.

Functional Components

Technical Specifications

• Logic: PHP-based engine with a focus on security and high performance.
• Design: CSS3 with Flexbox/Grid layout and optimization for printing in A4 format.
• Weighted Judging: The system supports dynamic weights for criteria such as Idea, Composition and Technique.
• Security: Built-in protection against malware through strict sanitization of all entered data and session control for logged-in users.

Documentation: Image Contest Module (v2.0)

Last updated: 2026-02-21

1. File Structure & System Architecture

File name	Purpose and Function
bild-judge.php	Main interface for referees. Includes session validation that clears old sessions without names, real-time saving of voice data, and a progress bar for overview.
bild-adm-portal.php	Secretariat control panel. Shows competition status and how many images each judge has marked as complete.
bild-adm-results.php	Result control. Calculates average score (weighted) and shows ranking before publication.
bild-admin-vote-editor.php	Admin editor. Allows manual correction of votes for specific judges.
bild-public-results.php	Final result. Public page activated upon status published. Handles weighting and tie-breakers.

2. Logic for Points & Sorting

• Weighting: The categories Idea, Composition, Technique and Originality can be given different weights. The system multiplies the judge's score by each weight before calculating the average.
• Tie-breaker (Knockout rule): If two entries have identical average score (weighted), the Total Raw Score(I+K+T+O) to distinguish them. The contribution with the highest total is placed at the top.
• Security: If a user is logged in via another module but lacksjudge_name, the system forces a new login to ensure data integrity.

3. Technical configuration: registry.json

For the weights to work in the calculations, the competition must be defined with a weights-object. Here is an example of a correct configuration:

{
  "tavling_id_1": {
    "name": "Monthly competition February",
    "folder": "feb_2026",
    "status": "active",
    "weights": {
      "I": 3,
      "K": 2,
      "T": 1,
      "O": 1
    }
  }
}

If weights are missing, the default value 1 is used for all categories.

4. File format: votes.txt

Data is stored in rows with pipe separation (|) to be easy to read and quick to parse:

Judge|Image Index|I|K|T|O|Competition ID|Status

• Status R: Ready - Counted in results.
• Status D: Draft (Draft/Not ready) - Only shown to the referee.

5. Version history