Pre-2002 Chairman's
 

The current "Regional Chairman's Award" structure began in 2002.

Does anyone know what the process was prior to 2002?

Did teams present a paper and then some got to do an interview?
Did everyone interview?
Were there interviews at all?

It looks like some years there were "honorable mentions" also.

Re: Pre-2002 Chairman's
 

I'm sure teams like the XCats & Buzz could answer better, but I remember working on chairmans submissions back in 97 & 98. At that time, I believe the submission was mostly video based, and I think we had to submit a 5 minute video, and possibly some sort of short writeup to accompany it (nothing like the current essay). I remember throwing our video together in my friend's basement! There were no formal interviews in those two years, though I do believe the judges would come do "interviews" in the pits much like they do now for the other awards. They did not have to go to every team, though much like now, I don't think you ever knew exactly who the Chairman's judges were vs. the other judges.

My recollection from at least 97-00, was that each year the championship event gave out one Championship Chairmans award and I believe 3 honorable mentions (it may have been 5). I want to say Buzz won 5 HM before finally winning Championship Chairmans... or something like that :) If I recall correctly, there was no concept of a Regional Chairman's award, it was only submitted at Championships.

Re: Pre-2002 Chairman's
 

The HOT Team started in 1997. The first year we submitted a CA was 1998. That year you could submit anything, and I mean anything, to FIRST for judging. As I remember, there were no limits to size or items. We submitted (sent to FIRST) boxes with items that we had collected from our outreach, and we always included a video. In 1998 and 1999 we were a honorable mention for the Championship Chairman's Award. In those years, FIRST would list the top five teams and then announce the winner out of those five. I remember that FIRST Team 16, the Bomb Squad, was an honorable mention for four or five years before winning the CCA.

After several years, FIRST decided that method was getting out of hand and too much stuff was being sent to them each year. So the rule was changed. At that time teams had to submit a video, up to 10 minutes in length.

After several years of that, FIRST again changed the rules so that an essay of 10,000 characters was the entry method.

As to the interview, it has been in place since 1997. Just a note about that...The rules say that you may send in three team members, adults or students. One year we sent in an adult mentor. We were marked down with the comment from the judges, "we just want to see your students." So I would recommend using only students.

I hope this gives you some of the background on how the Chairman's submission has changed over the years that I have been involved. I would like to hear from the X-Cats on how it was from 1992 to 1996.