chairmans awards and what they represent are nice and all, but i joined this program to build robots, not to spread peace and goodwill towards men. We play to win, and winning the UTC regional this past weekend made me happier than any mere award could have. it is a reflection of me as a driver, and of how hard our team has worked to build it. to me, time spent trying to make a chairman’s award submission is time that could have been better spent making the robot more competitive.
I’m not saying that the Chairman’s award is not important, cause it is. it just isn’t as interesting. kids don’t join a robotics team so that they can mentor another robotics team, they join the team cause they want to build a robot and build it better than everyone else. we learn as we go, and the learning is more fun because we know that the robot we make is a representation of us as a team, so we do the best that we possibly can.
personally the regional chairman’s award would make me happier, but it’s definately a close call
the CA means a little more to me because another girl and I are the authors and i know that we, along with the rest of the team put a lot of work into it all year long. i think the chairman’s award appeals more to the altruistic side of people and I think it honors the team on a more personal level.
but then again, if i was a driver i might say being a regional champion would make me happier, i guess it just depends on what you devote most of your time to on the team
I am in total agreement… Its such a great feeling to see 6 weeks worth your sweat blood and tears out there competing. Its just such a rush to see something YOU created up in the lime light, performing to perfection.
I really don’t think I could decide. I did the most work on my team’s chairman’s award submission, and I’m on the drive team. So either would be great. A lot of work is put into both the robot and the chairman’s award submission. There’s no way I could choose.
That is the best way to put it jake we worked so hard builgin a robot not writing an english paper! even tho chairmans does take lots of work winning a competition takes a great deal more.
WARNING: This post may be loaded with excessive amounts of rookie mentality, and is not necessarily the view of team 1293.
Personally, I’d have to side with regional champs. For starters, I helped build the robot this year more than anything else, and I’ve also been trying (and probably failing miserably, due to my lack of reading CD) to think up some strategies–and regional champions says that your combination of robot, driver, HP, and strategy was the best of the breed.
It’s also easier to explain to non-FIRST folks. (Yeah, I know it’s hard to believe that said people exist.) If I say my team won the Chairman’s Award, the reaction ranges from “Cool” to “Wuzzat?” The term champion, for whatever reason, just seems to be more well-understood.
I personally would prefer to win the Chairman’s Award. I’ve been on a team that has excelled on and off the field so I’ve already experienced both. This year, I personally headed up mentoring two teams 1031 and 1422. I also worked on the community service aspect of the team helping with a clothes drive and a bag lunch for day workers thing. I also worked on the presentation aspect, but this is only a minor part (even though I spent more time on it). One of the coolest things at Sacramento this year was having our mentor, Steve Kyramarios, win the Woodie Flowers Award, even though we won the regional. The second coolest thing (at least to me) was tying the national high score (at that time we thought we beat it.)
These are my experiences. I’m not sure about the rest of the team.
I would definately prefer chairmans. (and yes I know the opinon is a little tainted because we won a regional chairmans this year) The real reasons I feel wining chairman’s is better:
Chairmans is a true measure of your team, not a measure of your robot.
If even a small problem occurs in the finals it can cost you the championship (I know, our battery died in the final match last year).
Chairmans is awarded after the final match so you have something to hope for even if you lost champions.
Chairmans shows that you have made a difference to someone, somewhere… it really feels good.
Overall, I think it is great if you do well at regionals but I hold chairmans at a high level.
I would chose chairmen’s. 522 has won both regional championship and chairmen’s. I think that chairmen’s shows how well the actual team is and to me thats more important than having one of our girls win (Although I do love that to.) It shows how well the team works together and that were are a true FIRST team as Collin Fultz said. It’s everything FIRST is about. Gracious Professionalism and Cooperation.
I voted regional chairman’s, because our team has already won one regional championship. I’d love to see all our hard work rewarded on both ends of the deal.
I’m really one the fence with this one. We won both this season, and with the Chairman’s, it was really nice to be rewarded for all efforts to help bring FIRST to many different high schools.
However, when going out into your community, whether it’s for sponsorship or just to spread the word on your team, a championship always looks better in that sense. People outside of FIRST don’t really know what Chairman’s really is, and often, there is not enough time in your short, minute long sales pitch to explain it to them.
To me, winning the Chairman’s was a truly amazing experience because it not only rewarded work that we had done that season, but all the time and energy students from years before put into our team.
Day before yesterday, i was trying to convince a friend that Chairmans is more important than championship…well, now poll results speak for themselves.
Why Chairmans?
Chairmans is awarded to a team that shows good organizational structure while at the same time committed to spread the message of FIRST.
So, without an organizational structure there would be no robot.
What comes FIRST?
Organizational Structure… so the chairmans award.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but so far I’ve noted all the awesome Champion Robots backed by Chairman Winning Teams or Teams with strong organizational structure.
I have been on a team that has won The Championship, a few regionals, two Regional Chairman’s and the Championship Chairman’s. My choice is Chairman’s hands down.
Why?
A championship is nice at any level but, like it or not, it is the product of the teams that work on the robot itself, not the other teams that make up the program like marketing, video, etc.
Chairman’s is something that can be shared by everyone on a team, past and present. It doesn’t matter if you were on the team just to hand out buttons or had your hand inside the robot 24/7. Chairman’s is for more than your team members, it is for your mentors, alumni, school, community, and parents. It is for everyone that helped you on your way. I was proud to go in front of my old high school at our assembly and tell all 2000 or so people in those stands that they helped us win. I hope that everyone someday gets the experience of winning the Chairman’s Award, it is one of the best you will ever have.
I voted for regional chairman’s, based on the same reasoning already expressed by several previous posters.
My team has won a regional chairman’s award. We’ve never gotten past the semifinal round in elims, though.
Of course, a competitive robot has always been our goal during build season. And it will be again this year. I have a feeling this may be our year to set the right targets for robot capabilities, and get ourselves on a winning alliance.
But the chairman’s award will remain our yardstick; it’s the one that the great teams win.
I guess what it comes down to is do you like the excietment of winning a regional championship or the satisfaction of winning a Chairman’s. We’ve won both a couple times & sometimes the regional victory can feel either very excieting or a bit hollow. It really depends on your team’s role. You are part of an alliance. The Chairman’s is all about your team. If you’re a competitor you love the Championship, if you are a dedicated worker, you love the Chairman’s.
I had to say Regional Chairmans. I have experienced several regional championships and found that that feeling is amazing, to know that your robots combined to make the most powerful, potent, and formidible alliance at that regional. But that feeling only lasts for so long, that year you are considered more for nationals because of winning a regional. But the next year not many people care because your robot was great in LAST YEARS GAME!!! Last years performance does not affect the way teams look at you as much as a Chairmans award would. If you have won a Chairmans award you are sorta looked up to by the younger teams or teams that have not won one. They look to your team to see what the embodiment of FIRST is(my opinion is not a reflection of my team, although i think at least some of them agree with me).
I have to disagree with you one this one. Each year, I know for a fact that many people sit there in build season thinking “What will Beatty/Wildstang/Cheesy Poofs come up with this year?” Now, two of the teams I named in there are, in fact, National Chairman’s Award winners, but even before 111 won it this season, people were still thinking that same thing.
Beatty just won its first regional chairman’s this year, yet they are one of the most feared teams in FIRST.
418 spends time working with young students who have not had access to engineering concepts. We have been very fortunate to be welcomed into their communities and schools. At the end/beginning of each year (it really is the same) I always remember these children and their smiles when the light goes on. The first time their car clears the maze and pulls in to park because they programmed it to. That’s a very special moment. In my mind, that is part of what winning a Chairman’s would be about, those moments and sharing them with our communities.
Chairman’s award gets my vote because it goes beyond the build season. Of course regional champs would be a great reward for all that hard work, but Chairman’s give you a sense that not only have you helped yourself and others on your team, but you’ve made a difference in your community and beyond.
We’ve never gotten past the semifinal round in elims, though. 
