Every EMMA competitor walks away from an event with two separate results, and a lot of first-timers only ever look at one of them. There's your class placing — where you finished against whoever else entered your class that day — and there's your medal, a Bronze, Silver or Gold rating based purely on the score you achieved. They are not the same thing, and mixing them up leads to some confusing conversations in the pits afterwards.
Two different questions, two different answers
Your class placing answers "how did I do against today's field?" If three cars enter your class, someone finishes 1st, someone 2nd, someone 3rd — simple ranking, decided purely by total points on the day.
Your medal answers a completely different question: "how did I do against the standard?" EMMA judges score both Sound Quality and Install Quality against a fixed set of criteria on the official scoresheet, and your total converts to a percentage of the maximum possible points. Clear that bar and you earn the corresponding medal tier — regardless of how many cars you beat, or how many entered at all.
Why EMMA runs it this way
Class sizes at any single event can be tiny — sometimes it's just you and one other car in Master. Winning that class outright doesn't tell anyone much about how good your system actually is. The medal system fixes that by giving every competitor, at every event, an absolute benchmark that doesn't depend on who else showed up that weekend. It's also why you'll see installers and competitors quote "EMMA Gold" or "EMMA Silver" results in their own marketing — a medal travels with the build, a class placing only means something in the context of that one event's entry list.
What this means in practice
A few things follow directly from having two separate systems running at once:
- You can win your class and still miss out on a medal, if the field was small and your absolute score didn't clear the threshold.
- You can finish 2nd or 3rd in a stacked class and still take home Gold, because your score cleared the bar even though someone else scored higher on the day.
- Medal tiers give you something to chase event to event even when the class you're in barely changes size — the goal becomes beating your own score, not just whoever turns up.
- Because IQ and SQ are scored on separate sheets, it's entirely possible to medal in one and not the other on the same day.
Where the exact numbers come from
I'm deliberately not quoting specific percentage cut-offs here, because the exact thresholds sit in the current year's official judgebook and can be revised between editions and can vary by class. Your judge will be working from the current scoresheet on the day and can tell you exactly where your score landed relative to each tier — it's worth asking, especially if you're close to a boundary. The EMMA Value Database and the official rulebook linked at the top of this section are the places to check for the current year's published figures rather than relying on last year's numbers or something you half-remember from a mate.
How to use this if you're new
If you're heading into your first event, don't fixate purely on the trophy table. Ask to see your scoresheet afterwards, work out where you sat relative to each medal band, and use that — not just the class result — as your benchmark for the next event. It's a far more honest measure of progress than a placing that depends entirely on who else decided to enter that day. If you're still working out which class to enter in the first place, our breakdown of Master vs Entry classes is a good place to start.
Got a question about your own scoresheet or medal result? Get in touch — happy to talk it through.
Written by Pete — Integrated Audio
Pete is the founder of Integrated Audio and a Certified International EMMA Head Judge, judging EMMA Sound Quality and Installation competitions in Australia and internationally. He writes from the judging side of the table, drawing on hands-on experience building and installing HELIX, MATCH and BRAX car audio systems.