The official Jury Manual, which explains voting procedures in detail, is available here for download in English. The scoring and ranking system, specially devised by Ernest Enns, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Calgary, with mathematician Moses Renert, ensures results that give equal weight to the opinions of each individual juror.

The Honens juries include those in the musical world, other than pianists, who play a role in a
concert artist’s career. While pianists remain central to their make-up, jury members may also
include an artist manager, a collaborative musician, concert and festival presenters and producers, a conductor, and a record executive. All jurors have extensive knowledge of the piano literature and are in tune with the qualities an artist must possess in order to build and sustain a career in today’s musical world.

The President & Artistic Director of the Honens Competition acts as Jury Facilitator. He has the right at any time to remind juries of the Competition’s criteria for the choice of pianists and prizewinners in order to maintain the integrity of the process and of the Competition. He may invite discussion at any time, but may not vote.

The Official Mathematicians monitor and regulate the voting process and scoring procedures to
ensure absolute fairness. They do not vote and are not invited to discuss musicians with juries. The Jury Facilitator may ask the Official Mathematicians to lead discussions on topics of scoring, voting procedures or when scores or rankings indecipherable between pianists.

Jurors score each performance and interview separately. Scores are weighted and converted to
rankings. Scores are not carried forward from the Quarterfinals to the Semifinals. Scores in the
Semifinals and Finals are combined for a cumulative ranking.

There will be no communication of any kind between jury members and Competition pianists until the announcement of the Laureate. Should any jury member have or have had previously a professional or personal relationship with an artist whose recorded performance he or she is judging, he or she must notify his or her colleagues during an official jury meeting. It will be the responsibility of the Jury Facilitator to rule whether the member should or should not vote on that artist’s performance.