Concursus (Latin concursus - clash, coincidence) is a competition, the competition of several persons in the field of art, sciences and other things, in order to select the most outstanding (or outstanding) contestant-contender for victory.

The competition can be held in several stages (as a rule: qualifying, main and final).

A competition is the process of determining the best contender for victory (contestant), or the best contenders for victory (contestants), in accordance with the rules defined before the start of the process. The winners are determined by "qualitative research" (expertise) or "quantitative research" (voting), several qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined.

In qualitative research, the contestants are evaluated by an appointed expert jury, a panel of judges, a group or groups of specially authorized persons who are able to professionally and objectively assess the qualitative characteristics of the contestants, according to the criteria defined by the rules of the competition. The winners are determined by summing up the scores that were given to the contestants from each member of the jury, and identifying the contestant or contestants who received the highest marks. Examples of competitions with qualitative research: Oscar, Grammy, Green Awards

In quantitative research, contestants are selected by public voting, in which voters express their sympathy for the contestants, using subjective motives, and any ordinary person can take part in the vote (in some cases, a person who meets certain criteria, for example, has reached a certain age). This is a vox populi (voice of the people), a referendum, a plebiscite. The determination of the winners becomes possible due to the summation of the votes given to the contestants during the research period, and the construction of a rating of all contestants, where the winner is the contestant who received the largest number of votes and took first place in the rating. Examples of competitions with quantitative research: "Eurovision" (contest), show "Ukraine has talent", state constitutional elections

There are also comprehensive evaluation methods, where the winners are simultaneously determined by one or more expert juries, together with a quantitative public opinion poll. Moreover, each of the respondent groups has a certain priority, which is important for building an integral comprehensive rating of contestants. An example of a contest with comprehensive research is Eurovision (selection, 50/50% opinion of experts and sympathy of viewers).

The concept of "competition" also corresponds to special prizes, awards that are awarded based on the results of the competitive selection of the laureate among a number of nominees for the award. In addition to the winning laureates, diploma winners can be awarded for special achievements.

Events that do not correspond to the concept of "competition"
Competitions are not any actions and events in which participants are not evaluated by an expert commission or in relation to which a voting procedure is not carried out. For example, contests do not include:

awards and prizes awarded out of competitive selection (without examination and voting) or without the participation of independent judicial commissions, by decision of the founders of the award alone or persons authorized to present the award, as well as prizes awarded to the only possible nominee;
ratings of any indicators that are not based on the results of an independent examination or public voting;
prize draws in which you need to perform a certain sequence of actions to win, or the winners are eventually selected randomly;
competitions with unambiguously defined conditions in which the winner is the person or team that received the best result (the participation of referee commissions is allowed or even provided for in the competition, however, in these events, the judges play the role of controlling persons, auditors who monitor the adherence of the participants to certain rules by the participants of the competition, and confirm or deny the results obtained by the participants of the competition);
quizzes and prize draws, where the final winners, who have completed a certain necessary sequence of actions, are selected randomly or by the decision of the organizers of the event;
Lottery;
auctions.