2025 Garden State Awards Judging Information

Thank you for agreeing to judge our 2025 Garden State Awards!

NJAA greatly appreciates your commitment to the success of the Garden State Awards on November 12th at the Palace at Somerset Park.

Judging will take place now through August 15, 2025. We ask that you reach out to schedule your interviews NOW, given that time off may make it challenging to schedule for some. 

We are conducting judging virtually via Award Force to make judging easier and more streamlined for you. 

Individual Awards

With respect to judging individual awards, we have very clear criteria that the nominee needs to meet as well as specific required items to be provided. The scorecard will ask questions regarding your interview with the nominee.  Since you will be reviewing the deliverables required prior to your interview and filling out a questionnaire, the interview time will be decreased significantly. Please take a moment to read the job description of the person you are evaluating since what a Property Manager is responsible for at one company could vary from what is expected at your company.

Property Awards

For judging property awards, please keep in mind that you will likely be judging properties of various classes, (A, B, C, and Affordable.) It is important that when reviewing each property, you keep in mind the class and evaluate it appropriately. Please download the classification notes to reference when judging here. 

Class A Properties: Built 2015 - Present

• Typically have the largest budgets; therefore, will have a higher level of maintenance and finishes.
• Will most likely have outside professional landscaping consultants and irrigation systems, as opposed to in-house landscaping completed by property staff.
• Will have more amenities, most likely to have a clubhouse, and usually will have new signage.
• Townships where the properties are located may be more apt to have regulations such as requiring dumpster covers, as opposed to B/C/Affordable properties that may have open dumpsters.
• Will have larger teams onsite than B/C/Affordable properties.
• Usually have visible security systems around the perimeter of the property.
• Will typically be constructed with higher end building material, i.e. planking, stone, etc.

Class B Properties: Built 1990 - 2014

• Renovations and cosmetic enhancements may have created visible inconsistencies across the property.  
• You may notice recently added amenities, (dog parks, playgrounds, enhanced landscaping, etc.) that were not originally part of the community.
• Community will typically be constructed with building materials such as brick and vinyl.
• Services such as landscaping, trash removal, etc. may have a smaller budget than a Class A property so the level of service may be visibly lower.

Class C Properties: Built prior to 1990

• Dumpsters may be visible and uncovered.
• Do not have renovated apartments or have older finishes.
• Limited amenities available.
• Properties may be older, but should be handling basic upkeep and doing the most with limited resources, i.e., pulling weeds; mowing lawns, blowing sidewalks; spraying parking lot lines themselves, etc.

Affordable Properties:

• There are a variety of types of affordable housing including: 55 and older communities; new construction low-income housing; and existing affordable housing that may be several decades old.
• Keep in mind that there are large variances between these types of affordable housing when judging.

All property classes should be judged on the following: 

• Is the property safe? Are you seeing well maintained and safe communities, (i.e. no broken walkways, etc.)?
• Are they completing basic upkeep, including pulling weeds, painting, cleaning, etc. For example, C class properties should not be penalized for having an older entrance sign but should be marked down if weeds are so high they are covering the sign.
• Also, please be aware for all properties grass may not be green given hot weather, drought conditions, etc.
• Always keep in mind that the onsite teams are at the mercy of the funds/budgets the property can sustain so judge accordingly.
• The key to judging fairly is to ensure there is pride of ownership.  If a Class A property has beautiful landscaping, finishes and amenities but it is evident the team doesn’t maintain it properly than they should be scored on that basis.  On the flip side, if a Class C property has limited amenities and older finishes but there isn’t a piece of trash on the grounds, that should be considered as it indicates the team is very prideful of their property and takes their responsibility to their residents and ownership very seriously.

To review your assigned nominations and begin the judging process, please click the image below to take you to the Award Force Judging Portal!  

Award Force Platform Instructions:

• On the toolbar at the top, click "Judge" to see your judging assignments.
• Click on the "ID number" or the "Nomination" name to open the nomination form.
• The submitted information and uploaded materials will be on top for you to review. Websites, Videos, and Documents are active links for viewing the materials.
• The judging scorecard section will start with the header, "Judging Scorecard Form"
• Select the button that is applicable to the question and provide a comment/explanation for your selected score.
• At the bottom, click "Save + Close" if you are finished judging for the day OR "Save + Next" to move on to your next judging assignment. 
• Scrolling up to the top of the page, you will see the "Close" button.  That will take you back to your Judging Nominations dashboard
• Review the "Status" of each assignment to ensure they are all completed by August 15th. 
  • If the nomination is listed as "In Progress", the judging process is not complete and the nomination has not been submitted for consideration.
  • If the nomination is listed as "Submitted", the judging process for that nomination is complete.

If you have any questions before or while judging, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our NJAA team. 

Thank you for taking the time to contribute to the success of the Garden State Awards and for helping us celebrate the best of the best in our industry.