Just wondering, is anyone else disappointed in the trophies/awards that FIRST is giving out this season? After searching the web for about 10 minutes, I found exactly where to get these“amazing” awards.
Long story short, after 6 weeks of build, and all the craziness that is a FIRST tournament, your hard efforts is worth a whopping $5.95. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always about getting awards, but at least give me something that I want to display in our trophy case and give to our sponsors. What was wrong with the trophies from last year?
Which event did you go to? Was it a district event? If so they may have different trophies than the regionals because ours all looked like the normal trophies from past years (you know the one with the black base and acrylic pillars and the first logo on top).
When we got our Innovation in Control award I jokingly said to other team members that they keep getting smaller every year!
On the bright side though once you have so many trophies lying around you don’t know what to do with them all so the smaller they are they easier they are to make room for!
For those wondering here is what they actually look like:
It’s pretty bad when the trophy can fit in your pocket.
I am very disappointed in them this year. Frankly, I think that they’re kind of embarrassing to offer to sponsors: “You donated $10,000 to our team and this is what we won for you. You can use it as a paperweight. …oh wait, it’s too light for that?”
…sorry, I’m kind of in a snarky mode.
But seriously, we have off-season event trophies that are nicer than these (IGVC? MARC?). We have trophies and plaques in our shop that other teams made for us that are better than these.
There’s been some discussion of the new awards in private and there has been no positive response. I have to wholeheartedly agree with the criticisms. If teams are going to receive awards, at least make the awards presentable and representative of the work that went in to receive them. Blue banners do this really well - they’re huge and impressive - but these awards don’t even come close. I understand cost-cutting, but, as Jared said, frankly, they’re embarrassing.
Basel, you make a great point:
I don’t think anyone is upset about cost-cutting. Hey, we’re all about doing things on our teams that doesn’t spend excess money. We’re in FIRST, we know how to budge, right?
But. BUT. We still try to look good doing it. It’s like the saying, “Dress for success”, because how you appear is how other people judge you. These awards say, “What you do is not all that important. Anyone can order an award like this and plop a sticker on it, so you’re really not all that unique.” and that is sad.
Yes, Blue Banners are amazing. But you only get a Blue Banner for certain awards. And you only get one.
Is there any rule that says the districts can’t give out their own amazing trophies? Some of the best trophies I’ve seen in FIRST have been at off-season events. I’m thinking you could really have some fun with this.
I wonder how open FIRST is to award designs by other companies. We have made some of the coolest awards for off-seasons and Lego. I wonder if they would take a look at an award design that TPD comes up with. I better get to the drawing board!
We have already had two out of our four Winner Trophies crack in exactly the same spot in two separate weeks. Obviously some design flaw.
Since we plan to give the intact trophies to our sponsors, this leaves the team with two cracked trophies as lasting momentos. Not cool.
Ok so here is a question, if you win at districts and get “these” trophies, could you order the “traditional” ones from FIRST like you could to add to or replace broken one’s in years past?
I like the old ones, and they did indeed give out the nice old heavy kind at normal regional events. Also, the medals we got for our EI award are exceedingly nice. I hope FIRST doesn’t skimp on stuff like this in the future.
