[Vikesrock]

The way I've looked at it to avoid driving myself crazy, is that FIRST could have waited until next year to roll out this award. While that would have given many of us a better first impression, it also would have meant that the benefits of the award from this year (recommendations, seminar, entry fee reduction, etc.) would have gone unused.

I would rather these benefits go to students rather than go to waste. While it is true that the time crunch and trouble with submissions may make it so that the most deserving students don't have the best, or even any, shot at winning, I am confidant that the students that do win will still be plenty deserving.

We can either sit around and complain about what could have been, or we can focus on the upside of what we have and move on.