Questions, Questions:
If a NASA grant rookie team that won a Rookie All-Star Award at a regional goes to the Championship Event, then do they do Chairman’s interviews at the CMP like they did at a regional ?
How are rookie teams evaluated at the Championship ? By the Chairman’s judges or by the floor judges ?
No, they are not eligible for the chairmans award. Our team won the rookie all star award last year (though did not get a NASA grant, we had another source of funding) and were eligible for the Championship Rookie All-Star Award, but were not eligible for the Championship Chairman’s Award.
Clarification: Rookie teams, regardless of whether they are a NASA grant team, are not evaluated by a Chairman’s Interview at the regionals. Judging for Rookie All-Star happens in the pits.
Rookie NASA-grant teams do need to prepare a Chairman’s Award submission and need to send this to the designated person, and are welcome to hand to the judges in the pits. See Section 5.4.2 in the manual. Non-NASA grant rookie teams can also prepare a Chairman’s Award submission or any other documentation and hand to the judges in the pits.
Some regionals in the past have allowed rookies to “practice” with a Chairman’s Interview, but with the growing number of entries for non-rookies (there are some regionals that may have 20+ entries!) this practice is discouraged.
Hope this helps.
thanks, very much.