Selecting Challenge Winners

How to pick winners from the leaderboard and announce results after your challenge ends.

When Can You Select Winners?

Winner selection unlocks automatically once your challenge has ended. You'll know you're ready when:

• The challenge end date has passed
• Winners have not yet been announced
• A "Select Winners" panel appears above the leaderboard

If the challenge is still live, the leaderboard will continue to update and no selection controls will be shown yet.

The Winner Selection Panel

Once the challenge ends, a panel appears on the challenge page showing:

• A progress bar tracking how many winners you've picked (e.g. "1 of 3 winners selected")
• A pulsing amber callout: "Click on any influencer below to select them as a winner"
• A "Review & Announce Winners" button that stays disabled until every prize tier is filled

Step-by-Step: Picking Winners

Step 1: Open an Influencer from the Leaderboard

1. Scroll through the leaderboard to compare participants
2. Click any influencer row to open their submission details
3. Review their posts, view counts, and engagement before deciding

Step 2: Select as Challenge Winner

1. In the influencer modal, click "Select as Challenge Winner"
2. A "Select as Winner" dialog opens showing the influencer's stats and all available prize tiers (🥇 1st Place, 🥈 2nd Place, 🥉 3rd Place, and so on)
3. Pick the prize tier you want to assign
4. Click "Select as Winner" to confirm

Already-assigned prize tiers appear in a grayed-out "Already assigned" list so you can see at a glance which positions are still open.

Step 3: Repeat Until All Prizes Are Assigned

The progress bar updates as you go. Keep selecting influencers until every prize tier has a winner — only then does the "Review & Announce Winners" button become active.

Working with Draft Winners

Your selections are saved as drafts until you officially announce them. This means nothing is final yet and you're free to change your mind.

• Each selected influencer shows a draft winner badge on the leaderboard (with their placement emoji, prize amount, and a "(draft)" label)
• Click the X on any draft badge to remove that selection and free the prize tier back up
• You can reassign a prize by removing the current draft winner first, then selecting someone else

Reviewing & Announcing

When every prize is assigned, click "Review & Announce Winners" to open the final confirmation.

The "Confirm Winners" dialog shows:

• Every winner sorted by rank, with their avatar, placement, and prize amount
• The total prize pool being paid out
• A warning: "This action is final"
• A note that all participants will be emailed the results, and winners will receive a congratulations email with prize details

If anything looks wrong, click "Go Back" to return and adjust your selections. When you're ready, click "Announce Winners" to publish the results.

What Happens After You Announce

Once you click Announce Winners:

• Draft winners are locked in — selections can no longer be changed
• The challenge page publicly displays the official winners
• All participants receive an email with the challenge results
• Winners receive a congratulations email with their prize details
• Prize payments are sent to each winner's connected payout method (Stripe within a few business days, or the weekly PayPal payout run for winners in Stripe-unsupported countries)

Disqualifying a Submission

If an entry breaks your challenge rules, you can disqualify it. Open the influencer from the leaderboard and click Disqualify, then pick a reason.

What disqualifying does:

• Removes all of that creator's entries in this challenge from the leaderboard's prize eligibility — disqualification applies to the participant, not to one individual post
• Makes them ineligible to be selected as a winner
• Emails the creator to let them know, including the reason you picked

Choosing a reason is required. Pick the closest option from the list — "Song not used properly", "Spam or duplicate content", "Recycled content", "Dead link", "Photo post (video required)", "Fake engagement/views", and others. If none fit, choose Other and type your own.

Preset reasons are shown to the creator. Free text you type under "Other" is not — it's kept for our records only, and the creator is told simply that their entry didn't meet the challenge requirements. If you want them to know the specifics, pick the closest preset reason or message them directly.

The decision is entirely yours. SpaceLoud doesn't disqualify entries automatically, and our support team can't reverse your decision or reinstate an entry on a creator's behalf. If a creator appeals, it comes to you.

Changing your mind

Disqualification isn't permanent. Open the same influencer and click Re-qualify to restore their entries and make them eligible for prizes again.

If you suspect fake views or bots

Disqualify the entry with the Fake engagement/views reason if you're confident. If you want the account itself looked at, use the Report button on their profile so the team can review it — disqualifying only affects your own challenge.

Tips for Choosing Winners

When picking winners, consider:

• Creativity — Which posts are most unique and engaging?
• Quality — Who put the most effort into production?
• Volume — Some creators submit multiple posts, showing extra dedication
• Engagement — View, like, and comment counts on the actual posts
• Fit — Whose content best represents your song and brand?

Note: Leaderboard stats update every 24-48 hours, so give yourself a moment after the challenge ends to let final numbers settle before locking in winners.

Common Questions

Can I change a winner after announcing?

No. Announcing is final. Review your selections carefully in the confirmation dialog before clicking Announce Winners.

Do I have to select winners right when the challenge ends?

No — there's no hard deadline, but participants are waiting on results, so aim to announce within a few days of the challenge ending.

What if two influencers are tied?

Use the influencer modal to compare their posts side by side. The decision is yours — pick whichever submission best represents what you were looking for.

Can I assign the same influencer to multiple prize tiers?

No. Each influencer can hold only one prize tier. If you want to reassign them, remove their current draft first.