This is what I found about the Rising Star award from the AVA Section of the Awards part of the manual. I do not believe there is any qualifying for the Championship involved with the AVA awards.
“Rising Star” (Rookie) winner: The “Rising Star” award will not be awarded on a regional level. For the purposes of this award, the “Rookie” designation is given to any school that has not submitted for the Autodesk Visualization Award previously. Teams submitting with a “Rookie” designation (R plus team number) will also be part of the Autodesk Visualization Awards being judged at the regional level if they have met all the qualifications and pass the prescreen process. Schools that have submitted previously but have been disqualified do not qualify as “Rookie” teams under these Guidelines. Should a “Rookie” team win the 2005 Championship Award, there will be no ”Rising Star” Award presented. Winners’ names will be posted on the
www.autodesk.com/first website along with the winning animations.