How to win Engineering Inspiration award???

[MrTechCenter]

The best way to win an award is to not try to win an award.

[H.A.L.]

Originally Posted by MrTechCenter

The best way to win an award is to not try to win an award.

This.
We won EI at our champs devision last year. We had never won EI at any regional ever and it wasn't on many of our radars.
This advice is also what most every Hall of Fame team says about the Championship Chairman's Award - though that advice is more specific to not doing outreach activities with the intent on them looking good on Chairman's submissions. Similarly, I would recommend not doing engineering related outreach/projects just for EI (of course that would be difficult to do anyway since I have heard differing opinions on what EI recognizes even from a number of judges - the manual is the only reliable tool).
I would recommend that, in your pit, you effectively pitch both your robot and, more importantly for this IMO, your teams outreach (STEM related in particular), since I have consistently been told it is an award decided by technical judges through pit conversations. This could include handouts and practiced talkers. I posted the documents we gave to judges last year here (the two middle links on the post): http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...48#post1391848

Edit: I meant to say non-technical judges in the pit (as opposed to Chairman's judges), not technical judges.
(I too have heard EI is considered by some to be a runner up for Chairman's or Chairman's judged by pit judges. I prefer to think of it as an award recognizing engineering outeach and impact on engineering. Though based on my observations at regionals it is often given to teams who were great Chairman's canidates, but then again it would make sense for such teams to be up for both awards.)

[Grim Tuesday]

EI is judged differently at every regional but there seem to be two main categories I've seen teams get EI for:

The first is a "runner up" Chairman's. The award is entirely about work with advancing respect for engineering in the community and has little to do with what happens on the field. I feel that sometimes the judges see this as (rightfully) similar to the Chairman's and give it to the team they think is the next best fit for Chairman's requirements.

The second way I've seen the EI given is as a "Advance Token to Championships" like the Monopoly card. Sometimes, through the combination of the interesting and effective robot and community outreach aspects of a team, judges will give EI to the team they think simply deserves to go to Champs.

I think the best way to win EI, if you're gunning for it, is to do everything you would do when trying to win Chairman's. If you're specifically trying for EI, push the aspects of your outreach program that advance respect for engineering in the community during your presentation to the team judges when they come by the pit.

[mounikab]

Specifically for EI over Chairman's is the emphasis that your team's mission is to inspire engineers and increase respect for engineering. While your Chairman's submission is judged on to what extent your team is a role model team in outreach, conduct, fundraising and really all aspects of your team, I think EI is more about how you use your team's resources to really go out and bring some STEM awareness to the community, so really you could win EI with a rookie outreach team, but you couldn't win Chairman's with one, since sustainability and history don't seem to be defining factors for EI vs. Chairman's.

Just my 2 cents