New Submission Format for Chairman's Award

[Andy Baker]

The Chairman's award is not about how well a team produces a video or how well they write an essay... it's the content, people!!

For example...
One team writes a very eloquent essay, possilby in poetic form, telling their story on how they mentored 2 First Lego League teams and how they participated in the July 4th parade. This essay has very good pictures and is professionally printed on glossy paper.

Another team simply puts an outline together describing that they did these things, and they write their entry simply, at a 6th grade reading level:
... turned their previous year's robot into a wheelchair for a disabled student
... gave up 1/2 of their sponsorship money to a rookie team
... implemented a science-based cirriculum based on FIRST robotics and FLL
... hosts 2 FIRST workshops per year, helping out area FIRST teams
... gives over 40 presentations per year to elementary schools, nursing homes, and local Kiwanas clubs.
... student team members partner with local Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization to provide science-related workshops for children

My experience tells me that the second team would win out for the Chairman's Award if it comes down to these two teams.

It's not about the award entry... it's about what a team does the rest of the year. For Pete's sake, don't concentrate on the entry itself... concentrate on what your team is doing to make an impact in your community.

Buzz got the Chairman's Award last year because they worked hard all year long to make an impact on the people around them, not because they had a good video. The entry exists to simply tell the story... it just needs to get the message across concisely and clearly.

Andy B.