[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Madison

We've been told again and again that the judges do not view our videos.

There's nothing in the rules to suggest that video is judged; if FIRST's intent is for judge's to use the video in this way, I'd hope they'd codify that in the rules and, if it isn't their intent, I'd hope that judges would stop inventing criteria :/

Madison,
I see two important points brought up in this thread so far.

One is the point you make on whether or not the judges view the videos or not prior to awarding.
I have heard on more than 1 occasion from a CA judge that they do. Based on our experiences in recent seasons, I'm going to assume that each regional is different.....and like the many judges who determine winners (for all awards), they may or may not differ to some extent in declaring who the recipient(s) will be.
That is very evident when we got feedback from all the different judges at various regionals we attend.
Specifically, when we did the RCA's, our team entered at subsequent different regionals because of 1 comment made to our team in 2009 in Hawaii by an RCA judge. "Give another team a chance next season."
Last time I checked, I never saw such a rule.
My point is that while many of the rules are explicitly stated or not, why is there a required video?
Our team won the 2011 Championship Chairmans Award in St. Louis. Guess what? They NEVER showed our video.

Al said it best earlier. If you want the judges to see your video, incorporate it as part of your presentation.
In 2011, our entire 3 minute video was played during interviews with NO sound. The CA team did the narration live with the video in the background.

My only suggestion to FIRST would be to make it much clearer on exactly the when and how the video is to be used.

My $.02.

Glenn