The international jury was composed of 7 members including Guy Castelain Perry, Chair from Zürich, Switzerland; Hardwin DeWever from Antwerp, Belgium; Justyna Anna Karakiewicz from Melbourne, Australia; Xiangming Ma from Guangzhou, China; Ric Stephens from Beaverton, OR, USA; Liang Wang from Hong Kong SAR and Malaysia; and Hongyang Wang from Nanjing, China. The jury was selected from professional ISOCARP members under the direction of Vice President Martin Dubbeling and Chinese experts by the City of Shantou. Parallel with the proceedings another juror, Kavas Kapadia from India, conducted an independent analysis of the proposals. Sebastien Goethals from Belgium and Ric Stephens assisted Martin Dubbeling with proposal analyses, criteria tabulation and documentation.

The jury was provided background information from the City of Shantou and competition submittal materials prior to the competition event via the password-protected project website. This enabled individual jurors to familiarize themselves with the project and review the proposed urban designs in advance of meeting as a jury. Upon arriving in Shantou, the jury was provided submittal books and taken on a site visit with officials to learn about the development location and progress. The second day of jury meetings focused on documentation, illustration boards and video presentations followed by intensive discussions of the individual project merits. The jury also scored, evaluated and modified a matrix of criteria that compared numerous specific proposal elements. The third day was devoted to design team interviews with the illustration boards. The jury had prepared a series of questions intended for the design teams to elaborate on their proposals and also to question aspects that needed clarification. In the event, the jury and design teams collectively visited the models, which allowed further discussion on specific urban design features. That night the jury deliberated until after midnight. The ultimate result was a clear, unanimous decision that best meets the expectations and needs of the City.