Pokémon Contests (Japanese: ポケモンコンテスト Pokémon Contest) are a type of competition often contrasted with Pokémon battles and held in Contest Halls. Pokémon are judged on their condition and moves in two rounds, to determine which one is the best of its category.

A Coordinator enters a Pokémon in one of five categories: Coolness, Beauty, Cuteness, Cleverness, or Toughness and compete against three other Coordinators in two rounds.

xxxxPrimary Judgingxxxxx

In the first round, the four Pokémon are rated based on their condition. The audience votes on the Pokémon that looks the coolest, most beautiful, cutest, most clever, or toughest, depending on the category of the contest. Attributes that are liked by the audience and the Pokémon's overall luster also beneficially influence the votes. To raise a Pokémon's condition, Coordinators prepare Pokéblocks of specific colors and feed them to their Pokémon. How well a Pokémon does in this phase is shown by the number of hearts that appear over the audience members' heads. This portion is known as the Introduction Round in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

xxxxSecondary Judgingxxxxx

In the secondary judging, the four Pokémon take turns appealing (i.e. using certain moves in front of an appointed judge). They are able to affect the performances of each other. Effects on other Pokémon include reducing their number of hearts, making them nervous, and so forth.
Move combinations score extra hearts. Moves that are of the same category as the contest the user is competing in may excite the audience, and if the audience becomes extremely excited, the Pokémon scores extra hearts.

xxxxAfter Judgingxxxxx

After the second round, the four Pokémon's results are shown. Here, stars represent how well the Pokémon did in the primary judging, while hearts indicate how well the Pokémon did in the secondary judging; both fill up the four Pokémon's meters. Each star represents 63 points obtained in the primary judging (rounded up to the nearest star), while each heart represents 40 points (four appeal hearts) obtained in the secondary judging.
The Pokémon whose meter becomes the highest (has the highest cumulative score, formed from the points obtained in the first round and double the value of the points obtained in the second round) is announced as the winner of the competition. In Pokémon Contests, the winning Pokémon is awarded a Ribbon for each of the four different ranks.

A small portrait of the winner is painted and placed in the Contest Hall. Additionally, an artist will paint a large painting if the winner of a Master Rank contest wins with at least 800 point