[petek]

As to the concern some teams may have about their work being pirated for the following year's submission, realize that they would be copying your now year-old template and strategy. Since the published part of CA only documents the work the team has done to promote the spirit of FIRST, it would be of limited value by itself. Also, as John Abele noted in his Chairmans address in Houston, the bar gets higher every year, so no one is likely to beat your work just by copying it.

Back to the subject of FIRST's spirit, isn't making your CA submission available to other teams a token of gracious professionalism? I say if you have work you feel is worth copying, put it out there to help less experienced teams see what kind of things your team has done.

One of the topics our NH breakout group recommended was having teams who are experienced in submitting for the award present a workshop on the CA on Thursdays at every regional. This would be an opportunity to help other teams and to get the 40% of the teams which don't participate get involved. Come to think of it, wouldn't helping to put on such a workshop be noteworthy in your team's CA submission?