Lead Senior Watson Selection Process

In order to become a Senior Watson, you must pass 2 criteria:

1. Compete in >=28 contest-days on Sherlock (contests where "USDC Only" is selected don't count)

2. Have at least 25% of the leaderboard points of the average of the Top 5 Senior Watsons. Example: If the top 5 Senior Watsons have 800, 700, 650, 600 and 500 points, then the average is 650 points which means you must have at least 25% of 650 points (162.5 points) in order to pass this criteria.

Senior Watsons have a pink crown next to their name on the leaderboard.

These Senior Watsons have the opportunity to signal their interest in being selected as the Lead Senior Watson in an upcoming audit contest. Senior Watsons will be included in a specific Discord channel where new audit opportunities will be posted. The Sherlock team will also DM all Senior Watsons to check out the Senior Watson channel in Discord anytime a new audit contest is posted.

Seniors Watsons have two options if they seek to be selected:

1. Indicate interest in being the Lead Senior Watson for the protocol and dates posted.

2. Indicate interest in being the Senior Watson, but propose alternative dates when you’re available.

After 72 hours, Sherlock will select and notify the highest ranked Senior Watson as the Lead Senior Watson for the audit. Unselected Senior Watsons can still compete for the prize pool. If the Senior Watson does not confirm their participation in those 72 hours, Sherlock will select and notify the next highest ranked Senior Watson (who indicated interest) to the Lead Senior Watson position.

If the audit was scheduled >72 hours in advance of the start date, then Sherlock will also contact the Senior Watson to re-confirm availability. We understand that life can sometimes get in the way of prior commitments, so Sherlock will reconfirm your participation to give us enough time to find an alternate Senior Watson to lead the audit contest if needed.

Lead Senior Watson Fixed Pay

Lead Senior Watsons have extra responsibilities compared to regular contest participants, such as conducting the fix review and helping with judging.

However, a big advantage of leading a contest is earning fixed pay just for committing to participate.

The amount of fixed pay a Senior Watson earns for a contest depends on the length of the contest. But it also depends on the relative ranking of that Senior Watson. Assuming a 1-week audit contest, here are the fixed pay breakdowns for Lead Senior Watsons:

Relative Position	Fixed Pay (per week)
Top 33% of Senior Watsons	12,500 USDC
Top 67% of Senior Watsons	10,000 USDC
Top 100% of Senior Watsons	7,500 USDC

For example, if there are 17 Senior Watsons in total and you are the 7th-ranked Senior Watson, then you are in the 41st percentile (7 divided by 17) of Senior Watsons. If you were selected to lead a contest, you would earn 10,000 USDC of fixed pay per week.