New Submission Format for Chairman's Award

[Madison]

Originally posted by Fran
But a picture says a thousands word....anyone can say they did an activity but unless FIRST is going to substantiate each statement, it easy to verbally enhance your activity. The proof is in the picture. It also provides another technical but not super technical area to interest and inspire students. It does use technology whereas just writing can be done in school and will not inspire a student in science or technology.

Fran

For as long as the teams in consideration for this award are charged with evaluating themselves - as they have done since the award's inception - there will be embellishment, reinterpretation, and outright deceipt. The only truly fair way of evaluating the recipient of these awards, in my mind, is to have a neutral third party directly evaluate the teams as the year progresses. Then, these third parties, using an agreed upon rubric, score each team, compare their scores, and decide upon a winner.

I have a lot of issues with the Chairman's Award. Particularly, I have trouble resolving the difference I see between what the Chairman's Award is meant to represent and what it has become.

By submitting a entry into this part of the competition, a team indicates its desire to win this award. For me, that calls into question everything that the team has done and plans to do. While the reality may be that a team's events have impacted their community in a positive way, their intention is just as important - again, in my mind.

A team that holds events and reaches out into the community - all with video camera in hand - is out there for the wrong reasons.

A team that does the same thing, but writes about it later - a second though...that's the team that deserves to win. The teams that do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing, and for believing in the message of FIRST deserve to be recognized. Teams that seek to win the Chairman's Award and line up activities to follow suit are shameful.

Again, this is all in my opinion. I don't like the Chairman's Award. I never have. I think it's fake. I think it encourages deceipt, manipulation, and dishonesty. I think by simplifying the submission format, it'll help to redeem the award.

Besides, nobody is saying that there cannot be photographs - or, similarly, that there needs to be more than a few words on these pages. You've been given a blank canvas to work with. Be creative. This doesn't need to end up looking like something from a medical journal.