Record Number of EI Award Wins

[Squillo]

We won EI in 2010, our third year. I think we won because we had done something fairly innovative (and absolutely necessary on our rural island) - brought students from all 4 high schools together to form a team, when the two individual teams were folding (or at risk of folding) due to various issues. We managed to find a solution that enabled our students to continued to be inspired, and we also brought a basic understanding of what engineering is and what degree and career paths there are in the STEM fields to many students who really had no idea.

That is why I think we won it. Our robot was OK, but we finished middle of the pack on Newton so definitely not world-class.

[Basel A]

There are distinct things being discussed here.

The ways it is judged
Varies by event. I've seen it judged as:

• Chairman's Award Runners-Up
• A regular award on the level of Imagery, etc., for the "Culture Change" subset of Chairman's
• An award similar to and on or near the level of CA, given to a team that didn't compete for CA (happens at MSC pretty often, e.g. 27 last year)

I believe that rsisk said above about the near-term/long-term is true... simply because I trust him. Some judges may see it that way as well.

The way it should judged
I'm totally fine with either the 2nd or 3rd interpretations above, but it's pretty obviously inconsistently judged which is not good. It should NOT be a CA Runners-Up Award. Frankly, that cheapens what is a great award in its own right.


As for who's won it the most, 141 now has 11, since they earned an additional one after "10" was stated above (according to FIRST).

[SoulianPride]

After being involved in the FIRST community for a good 8 or 9 years, I've seen judging of the award go either way. While EI is often seen as the runner up to Chairman's, it has different judging criteria. From what I've seen, EI has to do solely with how you do with STEM Education, careers, and how you promote FIRST while Chairman's has to do with how you give back to the community, how you support yourself and other teams and how you are a role model as well as all of the EI criteria. Our team has only won EI twice. Both in 2013 when we got it at FIM Grand Blanc and FIM State Championship

[Koko Ed]

I was informed by Jason Reese this weekend in conversation about the award that FIRST does not issue Blue Banners for winning EI. I was wondering why that is since it is a golden ticket to the championships like the Chairman's award. Should it not be treated with similar respect?

[Trey178]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I was informed by Jason Reese this weekend in conversation about the award that FIRST does not issue Blue Banners for winning EI. I was wondering why that is since it is a golden ticket to the championships like the Chairman's award. Should it not be treated with similar respect?

They do hand out a banner for those who win the EIA at CMP. We accomplished that in 2007. You can actually order banners for any award but then you have to factor in what could possibly be worth the cost. For example, Team 178 is ordering banners for our 2013 Regional WFA Finalist.

[kristinweiss]

I was talking to one of my team's other mentors about EI because he judges at the Peachtree Regional every year. He said that EI is given to the team that best promotes engineering in their team, school, and community. He said that EI judges are not allowed to take into consideration anything presented to chairmans judges. I took this to mean that EI is specifically for engineering and is more at the community level whereas RCA is all aspects of STEM and FIRST and is focused more towards a state, national, and international level.

[jprince58]

To anyone who is still concerned, here are the notables:

141: 11 times
75: 10 times
1305, 27: 8 times
178: 7 times
337, 812, 2500: 6 times

[Jardanium]

This thread made me finally register for CD. Our eight year old team has won six EI awards, two of which were earned this year

The Chairman's Award tends to be a lot more about efforts to expand FIRST specifically. (especially since last year's changes to the judging process) At the four regional events I've attended as a member of 2500, the teams that have won the Chairman's Award are ones that have made notable and tremendous efforts toward making more people able to be apart of the FIRST program. By starting and sustaining teams, the Chairman's winners support the growth of FIRST.

Engineering Inspiration on the other hand tends to be more of efforts to expand and strengthen STEM, and inspire people of all ages to see engineering as an opportunity. This award is judged by the pit judges who ask about what your team's outreach and school programs. We've discovered that fast and impacting facts about your team are a good way to share your strengths. Our team specifically shares about the impact that we've had on our school's engineering programs, as well as our community.

A possible reason why EI could be considered as a runner up to Chairman's is because expanding FIRST is at the same time expanding and creating recognition for STEM. While the criteria and judging process are different, they honor similar efforts.