What Awards would you like to see?

[JaneYoung]

Adding a thought here that I haven't seen posted.

If these suggestions are meant for future consideration, it might be a good idea to state that when you send your correspondence. For the upcoming season, 2010 - the budget monies are probably already allotted or close to being so.

At some point, if awards continued to grow and expand, that brings in the time aspects. The contracts in many venues likely give specifics on when the event will begin and when it will end, meaning everyone has left the building and the lights are out. Adding more awards eats up time unless, some awards were relegated to a separate space with the schedule reflecting when the awards would be announced. That could possibly incur more costs, asking for additional space. Some venues may not have additional space to be able to use. And then there's the judges - there would have to be more judges, more awards, more time - so keep all of that in mind as you draft your e-mails and letters. Suggesting change is one thing, implementing it is another.

Just an .02

[Pjohn1959]

Originally Posted by Cory

I'd like to see the absence of the safety award.

Agreed!

There is nothing more important than being safe minded. However, I would like to see a change of how teams are judged in their safety efforts. ie: I have seen some teams running though the pits at the regionals on opening day just so they can get their 'safety' information out first.

[Carol]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

At some point, if awards continued to grow and expand, that brings in the time aspects.

Good point. Do you really want to make the closing ceremonies longer??

It also adds to the number of judges needed (which adds some costs as well - shirts, food, etc.) Particularly at Atlanta, it is hard to judge so many teams in little time - I don't know this from personal experience, but Jane can tell you all about it!

[Tetraman]

Maybe it would be time to also consider how awards are given out and presented? Or it would be a good idea to expand the concepts of the current awards.

In addition, why do all awards have to take place during closing ceremonies? If there were "major" awards and "minor" awards, you could have a moment where the MC rattles off the Minor awards and their winners, and then the major awards where the team comes down to recieve the trophy. Consider the minors to be a kind of "honorable mention" award.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Carol

Particularly at Atlanta, it is hard to judge so many teams in little time - I don't know this from personal experience, but Jane can tell you all about it!

Just a little bit of clarification. I have not had the privilege of serving as judge in Atlanta. I have had the privilege of serving as an FTC judge in San Antonio, TX, an FLL judge in Austin, TX, and have judged FRC off seasons such as Mission Mayhem in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and IRI in Indianapolis, IN. This past IRI, I had the privilege (and it is a privilege, please believe me) of interviewing MOE and other amazing teams, such as Chief Delphi. I will never forget the 2009 IRI judging experience. I don't believe any of the IRI judges will.

That said, there are a lot of factors to consider when asking to increase the amount of awards and if anyone is seriously considering suggesting changes, such as a CAD award at regional level, please make sure you have all of your ducks lined up in a row. That means having your facts straight, your information clear, and your request specific and backed with sound reasoning. Keep it all succinct, polite, professional.

(I just recently sat in a meeting where the leader of the unit said that requests will be acknowledged much more quickly than demands. It provided food for thought.)

Thank you, Carol. Like your wig!
Jane

[Robert Cawthon]

The top seed award could be a simple trophy given to the person from that team who is brought out to make the selections of their alliance. It wouldn't take much time if done that way. Sure, there is a good chance that the first seeded team will make the finals, but not always and for those teams it would be a nice reward for being the best (or luckiest) during the qualification rounds.

[Tetraman]

I wouldn't like to see a Highest Overall Seed award. There are much more impressive On-field accomplishments that should be promoted with a trophy.

[Dantvman27]

You know, i just wanted to add to my own topic now that i think about it, but what about like a competitors choice award, where each team gets a vote on what they think is the best robot, with of course the rule you cannot vote for your own team, each whole team getting 1 vote

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by Dantvman27

You know, i just wanted to add to my own topic now that i think about it, but what about like a competitors choice award, where each team gets a vote on what they think is the best robot, with of course the rule you cannot vote for your own team, each whole team getting 1 vote

I'd actually limit this to Drivers. If you gave each Driver, and maybe the Human Player, a vote in this way to select a team that promotes teamwork and a GP competitive spirit...I think we'd have a really nice award.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

I'd actually limit this to Drivers. If you gave each Driver, and maybe the Human Player, a vote in this way to select a team that promotes teamwork and a GP competitive spirit...I think we'd have a really nice award.

"Best Scorer" seemed to work pretty well at IRI in this manner. I don't see why one should mandate the Drivers have to vote rather than a team (drivers don't see more than what they play against a lot of the time), but peer awards are not bad.

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

"Best Scorer" seemed to work pretty well at IRI in this manner. I don't see why one should mandate the Drivers have to vote rather than a team (drivers don't see more than what they play against a lot of the time), but peer awards are not bad.

My reasoning is that if you have an award that is given out based on teamwork on the field, then the ones who vote should be the ones that are involved on the field.

[Chexposito]

Originally Posted by ,4lex S.

Regional CAD award, not software specific. There is a lot of brilliant design work that goes relatively unrewarded on the local level.

I completely agree. There are not enough CAD awards. There are a lot of teams that do really good stuff and don't get recognized. A regional CAD award would get a lot more teams competitive about CAD. The Regional level could be peer judged.

I talked to one of the judges last year. The reason they want inventor is that they can see what was done with the CAD. The few teams that have the extra software can use that, but if you want national recognition, do everything in inventor. Everything not made in inventor is against you. He also said that every year they work on inventor they are striving for the same level as other softwares. Also they are changing some stuff this year. Project files are required if i remember right. They will make a file structure for the submission, so they can know where everything is at.

[Katie_UPS]

I love the idea of more chances to recieve a trophy from FIRST, but most of these awards are peer awards that teams give to eachother anyways. Like the "best scorer" and "best play of the day".

I do like, though, the idea for teams to send a representative down to recieve certain awards... I'm glad your team won it, but when your team tends to be over 30 people (ahem, 111), it can get long.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

I love the idea of more chances to recieve a trophy from FIRST, but most of these awards are peer awards that teams give to eachother anyways. Like the "best scorer" and "best play of the day".

I do like, though, the idea for teams to send a representative down to recieve certain awards... I'm glad your team won it, but when your team tends to be over 30 people (ahem, 111), it can get long.

or 20. I think there was about 70+ students who came down to the field.

I'm sure that FIRST could come out with some creative way to distribute awards if it got too big. Like just announcing the team name and number and then the trophy would be given to the team in the pits afterwords. This of course would only be for smaller/minorish awards.

[Meredith Novak]

Isn't there an award for #1 seed? We call it "first-pick-of-alliance-partners."