Should Chairman's Winners Be Required to Publicly Post Essays?

[Marc P.]

Originally Posted by LeelandS

My biggest fear is that, by releasing the winning essays, teams will be compelled to mimic the team's actions. Maybe not by building a special demo robot that they can use to make balloon animals or by designing a smartphone app, but I fear it will become a game of who can mimic 1114's or 67's or 254's (etc.) submission the best.

This is precisely what the Chairman's award is about! From the description of the award we hear every year as the winners are announced:

Originally Posted by Chairman's Award Description, The Manual

The Chairman’s Award represents the spirit of FIRST. It honors the team that, in the judges’ estimation, best represents a model for other teams to emulate, and which embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST. It remains FIRST’s most prestigious award.

(emphasis mine)

Chairman's award winning teams set the standard for all FIRST teams, on and off the field. Whether or not they share the essay is relatively unimportant. How they impact their community and promote the goals and purpose of FIRST is. I would hope a winning team has a strong enough community presence where an essay isn't the only way to know what they do. Marketing and publicity are just as important as anything else a team does- accomplishments should be listed on the team's website, in local media, displayed in their pit, and spoken of through casual conversation. I can't imagine a winning team keeping the FIRST community in the dark as to what they've been up to outside of competition.