[vhcook]

I think the interview component is probably going to make it easier to choose the right winners. On the other hand, we were in the habit of not telling our nominee(s) until after the event (much as our students don't tell the Woodie Flowers nominee until after the nominated event), so we're going to have to make some adjustments there.

On the grade thing, I can see why they're doing it, but I wish they were adding the interview this year and phasing in the new class limits next year so that candidates that might have gotten overlooked last year as Juniors might get another shot, and to make sure that teams that had nominated all Seniors had a chance to not skip a class. I don't see Sophomores as likely to be terribly competitive except in rare cases, though, since the award criteria are looking for a track record of leadership.

I really don't like that this is going to effectively disqualify D'Penguineers, and it seems like it would be in the spirit of this award being useful in college applications to have alternate eligibility rules for international teams in differently structured educational systems.