The iFANN International Editorial Board

After public voting closes in a category, the five finalists are presented to the board. Each participating member independently ranks the finalists from first to fifth, guided by the official review criteria: impact during the award period, quality of work or performance, cultural influence, and professional achievement.

Public vote totals remain visible on iFANN, so members may see them like any other visitor. Members are required to set those results aside: they may not use the standings to guide, mirror, or strategically adjust their rankings, and must base every decision solely on their own professional judgment under the official review criteria. Members vote alone, without discussion or coordination, and submit their rankings through their own accounts on the platform. The commitment is deliberately light, typically one to two hours per month, so that working professionals can serve without conflict with their day jobs.

Members may not vote in any category where they have a conflict of interest, as defined in the Conflict of Interest Policy. They may not accept money, gifts, hospitality, or anything of value from nominees, their teams, studios, labels, or management companies. They may not disclose their individual ballots, campaign for nominees, or use their position to influence other members.

A member who breaches these rules is removed from the board. The full obligations are set out in the Editorial Code of Ethics, which every member accepts when joining.

Membership is by invitation. iFANN invites professionals with a verifiable track record: published work in recognized outlets, established criticism or research, professional awards evaluation experience, or recognized editorial roles in their market. The board is deliberately international because the awards are global. Expertise across Hollywood, the global music industry, Chinese entertainment, film, television, sports, football, digital culture, and regional creative industries is treated as a strength.

The board is being built in founding waves rather than all at once, and it grows over time. New members join as the awards expand into new industries and regions. Membership is never for sale, and no nominee, studio, label, or advertiser can place a member on the board.

Some members choose to serve publicly, and iFANN lists them with their name, photo, country, specialty, and years of experience. Others serve confidentially, a normal practice among working journalists whose employers restrict outside affiliations, or who prefer not to be exposed to fan campaign pressure. iFANN never publishes contact details for any member, public or confidential.

Whether or not every name is public, the numbers always are. iFANN publishes the real size and international composition of the board in its transparency reporting, and those figures are drawn directly from platform records, never estimated and never inflated.

Board members are independent of iFANN's operations. Platform staff run the awards but do not sit on the board and do not vote. No one at iFANN, including its leadership, can alter a board member's ballot or the aggregated editorial ranking. The organizer, Rock Digital LLC, has no vote in any category.

Individual ballots are permanently confidential. Only the aggregated board ranking for each category is published, which keeps every result explainable to the public while protecting members from targeted pressure.