Award Eligibility and Judging

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

Alex,
I think what we're seeing here is something that is very real. In the thread I started, many people were willing to dismiss the claim entirely based on their experience and that makes sense - the claim that a Friday award disqualifies for a Saturday one is based on your (and my) personal experience. Maybe, however, it is different at different regional's; here is where the problem lies.

I have never been told by a judge that we were made ineligible for a Saturday award because of a Friday one.

My personal theory however, is that at some regional's, the Judges will take the philosophy of 'these are the teams deserving of awards, how do we fit them into the awards we can give them.'

And it may just be coincidence that they turn out this way. However, I think standardizing judging procedures (and telling teams what these procedures are) would be a step in the right direction for transparency.

I agree wholeheartedly. Thank you for your insight and agreement! The comment you made in your thread about kids getting "disappointed" about Friday awards is very real and I have seen it first-hand.

According to the judge I mentioned above, FIRST has "recommended" the mindset that Friday awards and Saturday qualifying awards should NOT be separated, and that teams SHOULDN'T win both. However, I think many people disagree with that mindset.

I have to say though, that I apologize for not doing a forum search before I started this thread, or I would have posted this in your thread.

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I'm.. doubtful. But if that IS happening, it's something that should be addressed with the Regional Director and Judge Advisor, because it almost certainly isn't how things are supposed to work. Or, at least, I don't think it is, and I'm fairly confident most teams would agree that a Friday Tech award shouldn't take you out of the running of a Saturday qualifying award. And the regional should certainly take into account the opinions of the teams that are attending it.

Ultimately the judges will hand out awards however they deem to, but the RD and JA have a fair bit of influence in the process, if not the final decisions. I would hope the RD would listen if enough teams point out the silliness of disqualifying an excellent team from EI simply because they won a tech award on Friday.

I hate to break it to you, but at least in some of the events I have attended, this is exactly what is going on. Everything you have mentioned here is happening, unfortunately, and that is what Grim Tuesday and I feel needs to change.