Inspire Award
This formally judged award is given to the team that truly embodied the ‘challenge’ of the FTC program. The team that receives this award is chosen by the judges as having best represented a ‘role-model‘ FTC Team. This team is a top contender for all other judging categories and is a strong competitor on the field. The Inspire Award Winner is an inspiration to other teams, acting with Gracious Professionalism™ both on and off the playing field. This team is able to communicate their experiences, enthusiasm and knowledge to other teams, sponsors, and the Judges. Working as a unit, this team will have demonstrated success in accomplishing the task of creating a working and competitive robot.
In past seasons, the winner of the Inspire Award at each tournament level has received an automatic invitation to the next tournament level. Once a team has won an Inspire Award at a Championship, they are no longer eligible to win the Inspire Award at additional championship tournaments they may attend. Similarly, once a team wins an Inspire Award at a Qualifying tournament, they are no longer eligible to win the Inspire Award at subsequent Qualification tournaments within the same region.
Guidelines for the Inspire Award:
In past seasons, the winner of the Inspire Award at each tournament level has received an automatic invitation to the next tournament level. Once a team has won an Inspire Award at a Championship, they are no longer eligible to win the Inspire Award at additional championship tournaments they may attend. Similarly, once a team wins an Inspire Award at a Qualifying tournament, they are no longer eligible to win the Inspire Award at subsequent Qualification tournaments within the same region.
Guidelines for the Inspire Award:
- Team must demonstrate respect and Gracious Professionalism both for team members and fellow teams
- Team is a strong contender for all Judged awards. The Inspire Award is based on the guidelines for all of the Judged Awards
- Engineering Notebook must be submitted, and must include an Engineering Section, a Team Section and a Business or Strategic Plan. The entire Engineering Notebook must impress the judges
- Team demonstrates and documents their work in their community spreading awareness of the team, FIRST, and FTC within the community
- Team displays good communication and teamwork skills within the team as well as with their alliance partners
- Team communicates clearly about their robot design and strategy to the judges
- Team presents themselves well in the judges’ interview
- Robot and team effectively competes in the game challenge and impresses the judges
- Team and robot consistently perform well during matches
Think Award
This judged award is given to the Team that best reflects the journey the Team took as they experienced the engineering design process during the build season. The Engineering section of the notebook is the key reference for judges to help identify the most deserving Team. The Team’s Engineering section must focus on the design and build stage of the Team’s Robot. Journal entries must include descriptions of the underlying science and mathematics of the Robot design and game strategies, the designs, redesigns, successes, and opportunities for improvement. A Team is not a candidate for this award if they have not completed the Engineering section of the Engineering Notebook.
Required criteria for the Think Award:
Required criteria for the Think Award:
- Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event.
- Team must submit an Engineering Notebook. The Engineering Notebook must have an Engineering section that includes entries describing underlying science, mathematics, and game strategies.
- The Engineering Notebook must show that the Team has a clear understanding of the engineering design process, with pictures or drawings and details documenting all stages of Robot design.
- Notebook must recount the Team’s journey, experience and lessons learned throughout the season.
- Engineering Notebook must be organized and follow the formatting guidelines provided by FIRST and include a Summary Page. Note: Teams should review the Engineering Notebook resources published in the Team Management section of the FIRST website.
Connect Award
This judged award is given to the team that most connected with their local community and the engineering community. A true FIRST team is more than a sum of its parts, and recognizes that its schools and communities play an essential part to their success. The recipient of this award is recognized for helping the community understand FIRST, the FTC, and the team itself. The team that wins this award is aggressively seeking engineers and exploring the opportunities available in the world of engineering, science and technology. In addition, this team has a clear Business or Strategic Plan and has identified steps to achieve their goals.
Guidelines for the Connect Award:
Guidelines for the Connect Award:
- Team demonstrates respect and Gracious Professionalism to all
- An Engineering Notebook must be submitted and must include a Business or Strategic plan.
- Team provides clear examples of outreach to community
- Team has worked to develop an in-person or a virtual connection with the engineering, science or technology community
- Team has a business or strategic plan that identifies their future goals and the steps they will take to reach those goals. The plan could include fundraising goals, sustainability goals, timelines, outreach and community service goals.
Rockwell Collins Innovate Award
The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award celebrates a team that not only thinks outside the box, but also has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. This judged award is given to the team that has the most innovative and creative robot design solution to any or all specific field elements or components in the FTC game. Elements of this award include elegant design, robustness, and ‘out of the box’ thinking related to design. This award may address the design of the whole robot, or of a sub-assembly attached to the robot. The creative component must work consistently, but a robot does not have to work all the time during matches to be considered for this award. The team’s Engineering Notebook should be marked with journal entries to show the design of the component(s) and the team’s robot in order to be eligible for this award, and entries should describe succinctly how the team arrived at that solution.
Guidelines for the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award:
Guidelines for the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award:
- Team demonstrates respect and Gracious Professionalism to all
- Robot or robot sub-assembly must be elegant and unique in its design
- Creative component must work reliably
- Team must submit an Engineering Notebook with an Engineering Section
- Robot is stable, robust and controllable
- Robot design is efficient and consistent with team plan and strategy
Design Award
Industrial design at its best. This judged award recognizes design elements of the Robot that are both functional and aesthetic. The Design Award is presented to Teams that incorporate industrial design elements into their solution. These design elements could simplify the Robot’s appearance by giving it a clean look, be decorative in nature, or otherwise express the creativity of the Team. The winning design should not compromise the practical operation of the Robot but complement its purpose.
Guidelines for the Design Award:
Guidelines for the Design Award:
- Team demonstrates respect and Gracious Professionalism to all
- Team must submit an Engineering Notebook with an Engineering Section that includes detailed robot design drawings
- Robot differentiates itself from others
- Design is both aesthetic and functional
- Basis for the design is well considered (i.e. inspiration, function, etc.)
Motivate Award
This judged award celebrates the team that exemplifies the essence of the FTC competition through team building, team spirit and enthusiasm. They celebrate their team, their individuality and their spirit through costumes and fun outfits, a team cheer and their outstanding spirit. This team has also made a collective effort to make FIRST known throughout their school and community.
Guidelines for the Motivate Award:
Guidelines for the Motivate Award:
- Team demonstrates respect and Gracious Professionalism to all
- Team functions as a cohesive unit to discover the goals of the program
- Team can articulate the journey of becoming a team of individuals with different roles
- Team has formed and can articulate internal processes to assign roles and communicate between team members
- Team attitude of celebration and spirit is consistent throughout the team and the competition
- Team is enthusiastic
- Team functions well as a unit
- Team enthusiasm is evident in community outreach
Control Award
The Control Award celebrates a team that uses sensors and software to enhance the robot’s functionality on the field. This award is given to the team that demonstrates innovative thinking in the control system to solve game challenges such as autonomous operation, enhancing mechanical systems with intelligent control, or using sensors to achieve better results on the field. The control component should work consistently on the field. The team’s Engineering Notebook should contain details about the implementation of the software, sensors, and mechanical control. Please check with your local Affiliate Partner to find out if this award will be offered in your region.
Guidelines for the Control Award:
Guidelines for the Control Award:
- Team demonstrates respect and Gracious Professionalism to all
- Team must submit an Engineering Notebook with an Engineering Section
- Control Components must be documented in the Engineering Notebook
- Control Components must enhance the functionality of the robot on the field
- Control Components must work reliably
- Teams are encouraged to demonstrate control components to the Judges
- Advanced software techniques and algorithms are encouraged
- Prototyped sensors and custom hardware are encouraged
Promote Award
This judged award is optional and may not be given at all tournaments. Please contact your tournament organizer to determine if it will be given at an event you attend.
The Promote Award is given to the team that is most successful in creating a compelling video message for the public designed to change our culture and celebrate science, technology, engineering and math.
Guidelines for the Promote Award:
Team must submit a one-minute long public service announcement (PSA) video one full week prior to the event to be eligible for this award. Additional submissions are welcome but will not be eligible for awards. The submission process for this award may vary by tournament. Please check with your tournament’s organizer for details.
The Promote Award is given to the team that is most successful in creating a compelling video message for the public designed to change our culture and celebrate science, technology, engineering and math.
Guidelines for the Promote Award:
- Team must present a thoughtful and high-quality video which appeals to the general public.
- Strong production value is important, but the message and impact of the video are of greater weight for the judges.
- Creativity in interpreting the annually assigned theme is desired.
- Submissions for this award will be considered for the Inspire Award but are not required.
- Team must have rights to any music used in the video.
Team must submit a one-minute long public service announcement (PSA) video one full week prior to the event to be eligible for this award. Additional submissions are welcome but will not be eligible for awards. The submission process for this award may vary by tournament. Please check with your tournament’s organizer for details.
Compass Award
An FTC team is about more than building robots, and competing at tournaments, it is a journey to a destination through trial and error, success and failure, with challenging new technology and obstacles to navigate where no road maps are provided. How does a team find their way?
The Compass Award recognizes an adult Coach or Mentor who has provided outstanding guidance and support for a team throughout the year. The winner of the Compass Award will be determined from candidates nominated by FTC team members, via a 40-60 second video submission, highlighting how their Mentor has helped them become a champion team. We want to hear what sets the Mentor apart.
Guidelines for the Compass Award:
The Compass Award recognizes an adult Coach or Mentor who has provided outstanding guidance and support for a team throughout the year. The winner of the Compass Award will be determined from candidates nominated by FTC team members, via a 40-60 second video submission, highlighting how their Mentor has helped them become a champion team. We want to hear what sets the Mentor apart.
Guidelines for the Compass Award:
- Only one video submission per team will be considered. Teams may submit new or updated videos at each tournament.
- The video must be submitted at least one week prior to tournament day. Instructions for submitting videos may vary from tournament to tournament. Please check with your tournament’s organizer for details.
- Videos must not be longer than 60 seconds (including introduction and credits if you choose to use them).
- Videos must be submitted in AVI, WMV or MOV format. Remember that the winning video may be shown on a large screen during the awards ceremony. Use the best resolution you have available for your final version.
- Team must have rights to any music used on the video.
- Team must submit an Engineering Notebook.
Judges Award
During the course of the competition, the judging panel may encounter a team whose unique efforts, performance or dynamics merit recognition, yet doesn’t fit into any of the existing award categories. To recognize these unique teams, FIRST offers a “blank” judges award. The judging panel may select a team to be honored, as well as the name of the judges award.
Winning Alliance Award
This award will be given to the winning alliance represented in the final match of the competition, usually three teams.
Finalist Alliance Award
This award will be given to the finalist alliance represented in the final match of the competition, usually consisting of three teams.