Judging and Awards Criteria - Answers

[Administrator]

Answers to questions about Judging and Awards Criteria are found here.

[GDC Ring Leader]

In the game manual is states: "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."

Does this mean that at each "level" of championship or competition that a team may only win the Inspire Award one time, but can then still qualify to win at the next level?

For example: A team may win at Qualifier, State, and World but not more than once at each level.

Yes, a team can win the Inspire Award one time at each competition level (i.e. a single team can win the Inspire Award at one qualifying tournament, one Regional Championship and the World Championship).

[GDC Ring Leader]

Hello. My team would like to use a tablet and its built-in webcam to record short video clips associated with pictures of key elements of the robot as we work on them. I would like to know if the judges will allow us to submit the tablet with an app. prominently displayed on the opening screen that they would click to look at our notebook. The screen would be broken into two halves - the picture or a series of pictures and in the lower portion a short video clip where the students will explain the pictures that you are seeing. This format would not lend itself to being printed out and submitted, so we would need to submit the actual tablet, is this acceptable? If we do it correctly, I think it would make looking at our engineering notebook both easier and more personal.

Thanks.

Teams are required to submit a paper copy of their engineering notebook to the judging team in order to be considered for most of the judged awards. The format of the engineering notebook is described in section 5.3 of the Bowled Over! game manual. Electronic devices are not listed in section 5.3, and therefore are not allowed to be part of the engineering notebook that is turned in for judging.

Teams may use tablets and other electronic devices for their formal judging interview and during informal follow-up interviews. Teams should keep the electronic devices in their possession and not hand them over to judges for later review. We don't want Judges to be responsible for the security of a team's valuable equipment.

[GDC Ring Leader]

I am wondering about this rule -

6 . 2 – F I R S T T E C H C H A L L E N G E A W A R D S E L I G I B I L I T Y

To ensure fairness to all teams and to provide equal opportunity for all teams to win an award at a FIRST Tech
Challenge Championship tournament, teams are only eligible to win an award at the first three Championship
tournaments that they attend. Those teams who compete in more than three Championship tournaments do so
for the purpose of being involved in the fun and excitement of the tournament and not with the intention of
winning multiple awards.

Q1: Does this mean if you have NOT won any awards at your first two Championship tournaments, you could potentially compete in two more and be eligible for Awards?

Q2: What if you don't win any awards in your first three Championship tournaments - could you compete in another and be eligible for Awards?

Thanks.

A1: No.
A2: No.

Teams are eligible to win an award at the first three Championship tournaments attended in a season. Starting with the fourth Championship tournament attended during the season, the team is not eligible to win any awards.

Teams may win the Inspire Award at only one Championship tournament in a season.

[CZ_FTCStaff]

If a team competes at a fourth championship for fun and training, they are not eligible to win an award, but what happens if they are the captain of the winning alliance? Would the first pick of the winning alliance be considered the captain of the winning alliance, thus getting an invite to St. Louis, or would the invites go to the Inspire winner and second-place Inspire winners?

The next eligible team according to the advancement criteria would receive the invitation. In the scenario you describe, the Inspire Award Winner and the first runner up to the Inspire Award Winner would receive the invitation.