An individual (SA member or HQ staff) researches the song (or songs for a medley) and submits the Song Assessment Tool (SAT) Form.
The submission is immediately listed in the Song Evaluation Database (SED) as In queue.
Parodies and lyrics-modification submissions are not added to the SED unless they are arrangements that are widely available to all.
An email confirmation is NOT sent to the submitter.
Songs are assigned to a Work Group Team (in the order in which they were received) for assessment. During busy periods (lead-up to regional and international contests), it may take a couple of weeks or more for your submission to be assigned.
Once assigned, Teams strive for a 2-week turnaround time, but the review process may take longer.
SAT Team Leader reports assessment result for each song assigned to their team.
The SAT Subcommittee Chair reviews all recommendations and identifies any that require broader input and consensus from across the SAT Team Leads and Subcommittee.
SAT Team Lead group discussion always occurs for songs that do not receive an unqualified YES recommendation (No, Yes: Note, Yes: Caution, Yes: Lyrics)
The chair facilitates those discussions via SAT TEAM LEAD Microsoft Teams group or Zoom interaction, distilling and summarizing the discussion until there is consensus.
If consensus is not reached, SAT Subcommittee members determine the rating.
Once a rating is determined, the chair composes "Reviewers' Notes" that appear at the top of the published research doc, providing the rationale for the assessment. Team Leads and/or Subcommittee review and provide any feedback before publication.
Once a song assessment rating is determined:
Chair adds the song rating and Research document (and Arrangement Notes document, if applicable) to the Song Evaluation Database (SED).
Research documents contain the contents of the SAT submission (minus submitter's identifying info and arrangement submitted), which may be edited for clarity, accuracy, and completeness.
The assessment results are emailed to the submitter.
Any member may request a reevaluation of an existing song assessment determination. They do so by selecting the appropriate option in the SAT form and providing their rationale and research supporting the evaluation they believe is more appropriate.
All reevaluation requests are considered by the Song Assessment Subcommittee and Team Leads.
If it is decided to change the assessment rating:
the member requesting the reevaluation is notified (whether or not the rating is changed)
the member(s) who submitted the song/arrangements for evaluation is/are notified
the new assessment rating and an updated research document are published in the SED, and the song is indicated as a reevaluation
Reevaluated songs are flagged with an obvious blue bar to the left of the listing in the SED. See Reevaluations for a list of songs that have been reevaluated. The reevaluation decision and related details are also reported for each song in the REEVALUATIONS page in the PRECEDENTS section.