After numerous years of participating in FIRST, you tend to find the things about the program that mean the most to you. These things are different for everyone, based on their interests, goals and the way their mentors guide them.
For me, after ten years in the program, the part of FIRST I am the most passionate about is the Chairman’s Award.
But this year it seems that there are more and more stories of teams being disappointed in the feedback they receive about their Chairman’s Award submissions. These issues are vast, and seem to not be regional-specific. These issues are frustrating and do not have clear solutions. I’m not generating this thread to talk about the specific issues or even possible solutions. If someone else would like to create a different thread for that reason, that’s fine by me.
The purposes of this thread:- To generate discussion about WHY the Chairman’s Award is important to FIRST.
- To share reasons, beyond winning a blue banner, to create a Chairman’s Award.
- To give teams hope and regenerate their belief that the Chairman’s Award *is* important.
- To recognize the Spirit of FIRST.
- To share stories of teams who won the Chairman's Award, and why other teams agree they deserve that recognition.
- To share stories of teams who did not win the Chairman's Award but have a great attitude about why they submitted and what they got out of it.
When we learn physics, we almost always "ignore friction". The real world never does... - Mike Betts [more] 
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