Rules: Brewers must reside in the midwest, enter at least 4 competitions and 10 categories. The Net Score is calculated by multiplying a brewer's winning percentage by his raw score.

Net Score = (Raw Points) x (Winning Percentage)

A brewer earns Raw Points by submitting an entry that places 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in one of the twenty-eight BJCP categories at a participating competition. If a brewer has more than one entry that places in a category, only the highest-point entry contributes Raw Points to the category. For instance, if a brewer earns 6.2 Raw Points for a 1st place medal in category 12 (Porter) at the Midwinter Homebrew Competition and later earns 3.2 Raw Points for a 2nd place medal in category 12 at the Hoppy Halloween Challenge, the brewer only receives 6.2 Raw Points for category 12. Points within a category are not cumulative.

The Raw Points awarded for an entry are calculated using a two-step process. First, Base Points are computed for the Place of the entry at its competition table. Then, these Base Points are multiplied by the competition's Competitiveness Factor to obtain Raw Points. So Raw Points = Base Points x the competition's Competitiveness Factor.

Base Points are computed as follows:

• 1st Place = 8 Base Points
• 2nd Place = 4 Base Points
• 3rd Place = 2 Base Points
• Honorable Mention or no place = 0 Base Points

A competition's Competitiveness Factor is calculated using the formula (1 - M / E), where

• M = Total number of Medals awarded at the competition in all 28 BJCP categories
• E = Total number of Entries at the competition in all 28 BJCP categories

So, for example, if a competition has 200 entries and awards 50 medals, its Competitiveness Factor is 0.75, calculated as:

• (1 - (50 / 200)) = 0.75

The complete formula for calculating an entry's Raw Points is therefore:

• Raw Points = Base Points x (1 - (Medals Awarded / Entries in Competition))

To illustrate, suppose that the brewer Bob Biermann enters a 10A American Pale Ale and a 10C American Brown Ale at the Drunk Monk Challenge. Suppose also that the Drunk Monk Challenge has divided the American Ale category into two tables, American Pales and American Amber/Brown Ales. Bob's 10A American Pale Ale wins 1st place at the American Pales table and his 10C American Brown wins 2nd at the American Amber/Brown Ales table. Bob therefore obtains 8 Base Points for his 10A and 4 Base Points for his 10C. Suppose that there were a total of 750 entries at the Drunk Monk Challenge, and 90 medals were awarded. The Competitiveness Factor for this competition is therefore 0.88 (calculated as 1 - (90 / 750)). Multiplying Bob's Base Points by the competition's Competitiveness Factor, he receives 7.04 Raw Points for his 10A entry and 3.53 Raw Points for his 10C entry. However, since 10A and 10C are in the same BJCP category, Bob receives a total of 7.04 Raw Points in the 10 American Ale category. Now let's assume that Bob enter his 10C American Brown in the FOAM Cup and wins 1st place. The FOAM cup has 875 entries and awards 93 medals, giving it a Competitiveness Factor of 0.89. Bob therefore received 8 x 0.89 = 7.12 Raw Points for his medal at the FOAM Cup. His Raw Points in the 10 American Ale category now increase from 7.04 to 7.12.

Winning Percentage = Medals / Entries

More specifically, a brewer's winning percentage is calculated as the total number of his entries that placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any MWHBOY competition, divided by the total number of entries that he submitted to these competitions.

So if Bob Biermann submits 3 entries to the Dunk Monk Challenge and 4 entries to the FOAM Cup, he has a total of 7 entries. If he wins a 1st place medal and a 2nd place medal at the Drunk Monk Challenge, and a 1st place medal at the FOAM Cup, he has a total of 3 medals. His winning percentage is therefore 42.9% (calculated as 3/7 = 0.42857).

Medals won in the same category still contribute to a brewer's winning percentage. So if all of Bob's 7 entries and 3 medals were in the 10 American Ale category, his winning percentage would still be 42.9%.

If a competition allows entrants to specify a "primary" brewer and "co-brewers" for each entry, then MWHBOY points will be assigned only to the primary brewer. If an entrant lists multiple brewers as the "primary" brewer, then all of those brewers will be treated as a team, and the team will accumulate points independently of the individual brewers that are part of the team. Teams are eligible for the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year title, as long as all of the constituent brewers reside in the thirteen eligible Midwestern states. If a competition does not allow entrants to specify a "primary" brewer and "co-brewers", then all the brewers listed on the entry will be treated as a team.

For example, suppose that Bob Biermann and his wife Jane Biermann frequently brew together. Bob enters a German Pilsner with the primary brewer listed as "Bob Biermann" and no co-brewers, as he was the sole brewer of this beer. Jane enters an American Stout with the primary brewer of "Jane Biermann" and no co-brewers, since she was the sole brewer of this beer. However, they also enter an English Barleywine with the primary brewer of "Bob and Jane Biermann", since each brewer contributed an equal share of work to the brew. Finally, Bob Biermann enters a Belgian Dark Strong with the primary brewer listed as "Bob Biermann" and the co-brewer of "Jane Biermann", since he brewed this beer mostly on his own, but Jane helped bottle and watched the kettle to make sure there were no boil-overs while Bob was indisposed. In this case, Bob would accumulate points for the German Pilsner and the Belgian Dark Strong, Jane would accumulate points for the American Stout, and the team "Bob and Jane Biermann" would accumulate points for the English Barleywine. Each of these entities would be listed separately in the MWHBOY standings. Therefore, when submitting an entry, brewers must carefully decide upon the name(s) under which the entry is submitted. If two or more brewers contributed a significant share of work to the brewing process, then all brewers should be listed as primary brewers; i.e. as a "team". If one brewer contributed the majority of the work to a beer, then the additional brewers can be listed as "co-brewers" and the primary brewer can still receive MWHBOY points in his own name for the entry.