To my understanding, the animation is submitted at Regional level and then Championships, and the Inventor Model of the robot is submitted at only Championship level. Because they are both competing for the same award, under different catagories, does that mean that we are only allowed to submit one or the other at Championships?
I sure hope not…but since they’re different categories they should be seperate right?
they fall under the same award but are under two different categories.
so if you submit both you could win both at the national level
at least that is my understanding
Does anybody know where to submit the awards? the rules just say autodesk.com/first and thats not very helpful at all…
Indeed. If anyone knows more detailed instructions for submission, it would be greatly appreciated…
You can enter both.
Let me see if I can shed some light:
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Excellence in Design Award has two categories: 3D Design & 3D Animation.
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All entries are submitted through the Autodesk Education Community Website @ www.autodesk.com/first - submission areas typically don’t open up until getting closer to deadline.
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The 3D Design submission (CAD/Prototyping/design/etc.) - is due March 3rd
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The 3D Animation submission is due February 15th
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The 3D Design submissions will only be judged at the Championship level with five finalists announced prior to the Championship Event in St. Louis, where an Autodesk Representative will announce the winner during the awards ceremony.
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The 3D animation submissions will be judged at both the regional level & the Championship level. Regional winners are selected at each regional even by entrant peers. The Championship animations are selected (five finalists) and judged and awarded at the Championship event.
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Regional animation winners are not automatically advanced to Championship … in fact it’s two separate competitions.
If none of this makes sense: http://students.autodesk.com/ama/orig/FIRST2011AutodeskAward.pdf
Enjoy!!
For anyone else who was looking for the submission place, we emailed autodesk and they said that it would be up sometime today.
soooo with autodesks timing you should expect it sometime next week 
So I want to throw another wrench in this…
Did anyone else catch this clause in the rules?
- Eligibility This Contest is open to entrants 18 and over or over the age of majority in their jurisdiction or residence, whichever is older, in the United States and Canada, but excluding residents of Florida, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and the Province of Quebec. Entrants who are residents of a country, state, province or jurisdiction that (1) prohibits any aspect of this Contest or (2) prohibits unregistered contests or (3) requires the contest sponsor to post a bond, are ineligible.
We wrote to Autodesk to ask what it meant, and they came back saying that yes, as residents of NY State, we were ineligible for EITHER of the awards. I said but last year a NY team won the Animation portion of the award at the Finger Lakes Regional… In asking why I got these statements…
I am sorry, but the rules haven’t changed year-over-year. If NY teams were allowed to participate in the past, it was an oversight on Autodesk’s part.
…
New York and Florida have registration and bonding requirements that may apply and we’re not in a position to determine whether those requirements apply, unfortunately. I am not on the legal side of things, so I apologize for my vague response.
I don’t ever remember seeing this before, and we have in fact submitted for both of the awards in the past, and never been told we couldn’t or were ineligible. Our students learn Autodesk Inventor in their Project Lead the Way Classes, and this is a strong reason for me to want to push them towards PTC’s ProE since they are not (or are no longer) eligible to win anything for their designs.
I have asked Autodesk to put us in touch with someone in Legal who can point us to the reason, just so we can understand what is going on.
Has anyone else ever seen this before?
And I’m sorry for the teams in FL, RI, NY, PR & Quebec!
what??? thats ridiculous!!! why wouldnt those states/areas get to participate?? best of luck with getting that straightened out…
also, does this mean that a mentor or team member over the age of 18 has to be the one to submit the teams entry?
Regional winners do not receive any monetary awards, just the recognition and the trophy. National winners do, prizes, merchandise, etc. But since the Design category is only being judged at the national level this year, it seems this rule cuts out participants in those states from participating in the Design award at all. Not cool.
So you mean to tell me. I spent the last three years making an animation in hopes of making it to nationals. And Ive never f***ing been eligible? Wow. Just wow Autodesk. Thanks for ruining my hopes the day before I send in my animation.
PS. scuze my language.
I think we should try to understand this a little better before “blaming” Autodesk for this.
If there are laws in specific states that limit / restrict contests, or put very difficult / expensive procedures in place, then Autodesk may not have many affordable options if they want to be open in those states.
There may even be rules regarding contests targeted to high school students. I don’t know, but lets find out some details.
Did a little online research and it seems Florida, New York and Rhode Island are often excluded from national sweepstakes because each of these states has special laws outlining the requirements of sweepstakes (i.e. the organization running the contest has to meet certain registration criteria including, in some cases, the posting of bonds with the state equal to the monetary amount of the prize). So, the question is, is the Excellence in Design contest a “sweepstakes”. Obviously, there are some lawyers who think it is.
Makes no sense to me, clearly this is different than some Publishers’ Clearing House give-away (no offense to Publishers’ Clearing House).
Interestingly, by the rules, it seems to me that no one can win the animation contest in a regional event. Immediate family members of judges are prohibited from winning the contest – and, at the regionals, the contest is judged by entrants, therefore…
Yes, I know it’s not correct in blaming someone. But I am entitled to some ranting. Im literally in the midst of rendering when i just found this thread. It’s very disappointing and frustrating when you’ve finished something to be told you can’t ‘sorry’. Yet again it is my fault for not reading between the lines. I know Autodesk can only do what they’re allowed. Can’t yell the dog without yelling at the owner who trained him.
This is exactly what I have been trying to do. I have been emailing back and forth with Autodesk for the last week, and have no solid answers. I have asked (nicely) to talk to their legal department just so that we can better understand these restrictions, but the process has been slow. I was told I would get a call last Thursday, but instead got an apologetic email saying they would call Friday. No call on Friday, and no call since. I got an email telling me the winners I had noted were actually from California… clearly they didnt understand my email where I mentioned that team 1507 from Lockport NY had won the animation contest at the local level, and that no one I had spoken with could remember these legal terms in the past.
I am still attempting to get an answer, even if it is not the one that we want. I feel it is only fair for us to fully understand why these rules are in place.
i don’t see a submission area!!! where is it please!? autodesk has a horrible website, we had the same trouble finding the submission area last year -_-
If you go their site (firstbase.autodesk. com), then Click on “Awards”, then click the second link ("New! … toolkit… "). Then you will see the Update box, which contains a link on the word ‘here’. Click that and then register and submit.
Sorry, but for some reason every time I posted a link, my post disappears…
with spaces, the link is http:// autodesk-firstanimation. skild. com/ Register.jsp
P.S. Their upload thing is buggy. My luck:
IE on XP x32: Flash froze
Chrome and FF on XP x32: Flash crashed
Chrome and FF on Win7 x64: Flash crashed
IE on Win7 x64: no 64-bit Flash
IE on Win7 x64 (running in 32-bit mode): worked after some tries…
I would recommend starting your upload early 
Update: I finally heard back from Autodesk with a solid confirmation that those states/provinces are INELIGIBLE for ALL Autodesk awards at the Regional or Championship level this year.
- Eligibility This Contest is open to entrants 18 and over or over the age of majority in their jurisdiction or residence, whichever is older, in the United States and Canada, but excluding residents of Florida, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and the Province of Quebec. Entrants who are residents of a country, state, province or jurisdiction that (1) prohibits any aspect of this Contest or (2) prohibits unregistered contests or (3) requires the contest sponsor to post a bond, are ineligible. Autodesk expressly disclaims any responsibility or liability for any entrant who enters when it is illegal for them to do so.
While it may be fun and a great education to put these submissions together, don’t stress about them or presume you have a shot at winning them at any level if you are from those states/provinces. Ultimately it shouldnt be about the awards, but I’ve seen some great work come out of those locations and really feel everyone should have equal opportunity.
However, the good thing is that the lady I spoke with at Autodesk said that they were going to re-evaluate these criteria for next year to see if there is some way those states can be included.
I asked her to send us the legal references that cause these restrictions so that we as FIRST teams can possibly push our state reps/govts for changes to these laws (especially in light of the recent STEM push). If you are from one of these states and submitted or planned to submit, please let me know, as I plan on compiling a list so we can keep in touch and see what we can do to get this changed. PM or email me if you want to join for change.