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Judge's Award
I have always enjoyed seeing what unique things teams came up with or went through to be selected for a judge's award.
This year I saw something slightly different at the Los Angeles Regional. Both judges Awards were presented the second day, which I had not seen before, I am not sure how each regional does it. Both of the awards went to great teams but the reason that the judges choose to merit recognition seemed oddly familiar to a very prestigious award...
The teams were specifically recognized with the judge's award for community involvement, fund raising, and team development. Does this seem familiar now? The judges seemed to have turned the judge's award into a mini chairman's award for the teams that were great but did not quite measure up to the chairman's winner.
Now I completely understand that these awards are at the judges discretion, but I do not believe that the award lived up to it's name in Los Angeles.
2 weeks before, I was at the San Diego Regional. This has become my favorite regional. There, the award lived up to it's name. In one particular case, a team lived through the closing of their school and still made it to the competition with a competitive robot.
These little inspirational stories and other achievements that are clearly not defined under any other award are what this award stands for. This award has always been very special and I am disappointed that the Los Angeles judges were unable to find something more special to reward.
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