[vhcook]

Rookie All-star is a way to recognize new teams that really get the culture of FIRST. A strong candidate for the award would manage, while still brand new, to not just build a robot, but also start to explore the entrepreneurship, business plan, community outreach, and other aspects of the program. A Rookie All-star winner has made a good start on the sustained effort it takes to win Chairman's.

I think the current judging process for this award is working well. Other than teams that have actively mentored them, most of the teams at a regional (particularly visitors for whom this is not the home region) are not going to be that aware of what a rookie has done in their community. It's largely the same reason Chairmans is selected entirely by judge's panel. It's easy to see at a regional whose robots are working well - it's all out there on the field. Seeing who is doing the other parts of the culture of FIRST well really takes a different kind of attention, and those other parts of the culture are what the award is about.