Honorable Mention

[Lil' Lavery]

At the championship event they have long given out honorable mentions (or finalists as they used to be called) for the Chairman's Award. They did this also at the NASA/VCU Regional, and possibly others. Do you think that they should do this at all regional events?

[Billfred]

I'd say go for it--but make sure that it doesn't preclude them from another award that they also deserve (case in point: MOE in Atlanta receiving both EI and the honorable mention).

[anna~marie]

It's great to encourage the teams and let them know that they are still doing great things that are being recongized

[Tristan Lall]

Do you think that they should do this at all regional events?All regionals? Not necessarily. I'd be in favour of them being given out on the basis that multiple teams can't share the award—but simply giving them out for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place, irrespective of actual calibre, could well diminish the prestige accorded the honourable mention. I'd have to say that only in the event of a truly difficult decision (and not the cliché "it was hard to choose from among so many deserving teams") should honourable mentions be distributed.

Consider, however, that my impression of the purpose of an honourable mention may not be consistent with that of the judges and the judge advisors—it is possible that they desire to recognize the numerical rank of the teams' submissions, and not the specific merits of their submission (as measured against some arbitrary standard).

So, that's a "no" to necessarily giving them out at all regionals, but a "yes" to giving them out at the discretion of the judges (as is usual for me, there's more to it than a simple binary response can convey).

[Steve W]

I can't believe that I agree with Tristan. I voted no because there are regionals that get only a few submissions. I have no issue if the Judges want to mention a particularly great submission that barely got beat out.

[Rich Kressly]

The Championship Chairman's Honorable Mentions have been given out for 3 years now.

[Lil' Lavery]

yes, but in the days before the Regional Chairman's Award they did give out Chairman's finalists awards