Judged Awards at this year's FTC league and regional championships
San Diego Region FTC Teams,
Hope all is well with you all! It was fantastic seeing many of you during the meets earlier this month! With the great COVID protocols in place we are now happy that we can also move the judging process for this season to in-person. Yipee! I and the rest of the judging crew are excited to be able to see you and your robots for real again. Through the extraordinary experience of the last two years we hope that we can all come out wiser as we gradually move back to more in person interaction in general.
The judges look forward to meeting you at the league championship tournaments on February 26 and March 5, followed by the regional championship on March 26. These tournaments will have judged awards and incorporate judging interviews. The schedule for the competitions for both the League and Regional Championships will be shared separately. Award descriptions are here. Promote and Compass awards will only be given out at the Regional.
Judging will start around 7:30am - detailed schedules to be shared for each tournament separately.
Our Judges will be using a rubric developed for the SD Region from the judging guidance provided by FIRST. The goal of this rubric is to provide additional guidance to the teams and ensure a consistent judging process. While the intention is to bring additional rigor to the judged awards, teams should also remember that FTC judged awards are subjective in nature and, per FTC rules, "scored" rubrics and all judging notes cannot be returned to teams. Teams may also want to use the FTC Team Judging Self-Reflection Sheet . These are useful tools for practice, and a useful exercise after the tournament.
Thank you and good luck in the championships this year! We look forward to seeing you all in person again!
Ulf Sundberg - SDFTC Judging Advisor
San Diego Region FTC Teams,
Hope all is well with you all! It was fantastic seeing many of you during the meets earlier this month! With the great COVID protocols in place we are now happy that we can also move the judging process for this season to in-person. Yipee! I and the rest of the judging crew are excited to be able to see you and your robots for real again. Through the extraordinary experience of the last two years we hope that we can all come out wiser as we gradually move back to more in person interaction in general.
The judges look forward to meeting you at the league championship tournaments on February 26 and March 5, followed by the regional championship on March 26. These tournaments will have judged awards and incorporate judging interviews. The schedule for the competitions for both the League and Regional Championships will be shared separately. Award descriptions are here. Promote and Compass awards will only be given out at the Regional.
- Award Definitions / Terms to be used - Check Game Manual Part 1, Appendix F 'Award Definitions'
- FIRST have provided a lot of information on terms to be used in award submissions and judge interviews, particularly related to Motivate Award.
- For the league championships please do not worry too much about the language as such, but be aware that our judges may ask you to explain details around the different outreach and initiatives that you refer to in your interviews and Engineering Portfolio.
- Judges will be forgiving on the linguistic part of this during the league championships and evaluate the overall effort from the teams for the different awards like we have in previous years. We may pay more attention to the linguistics used during the Regional Championship so it is good to get familiar with it.
- Think Award - Note some of the changes in the gaming manual from FIRST regarding this Award:
- Section 9.2.2 – Engineering notebook is not a requirement
- Section 9.3.4 –
- Cover sheet required for portfolio
- Engineering portfolio required for award consideration
- Judges will not read past 15 pages of portfolio
- Section 9.3.6 – Updated language in engineering portfolio
- INTERACTIVE 15 MINUTE INTERVIEW / Q&A:
- Time presentations to around 5 minutes to allow 10 minutes for a good interactive Q&A where a panel of 2-3 judges ask questions and teams engage by giving their answers.
- Judges will be prepared to facilitate the entire session for teams that have no presentation prepared.
- The teams should have the robot available during the interview
- Mentors (maximum 2) are welcome to be present at the judges' interviews but cannot take part in the interviews
- Total time for each team is 15 minutes
- FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS/INTERVIEWS will take place at your pits when judges will continue to interact with the teams.
Judging will start around 7:30am - detailed schedules to be shared for each tournament separately.
Our Judges will be using a rubric developed for the SD Region from the judging guidance provided by FIRST. The goal of this rubric is to provide additional guidance to the teams and ensure a consistent judging process. While the intention is to bring additional rigor to the judged awards, teams should also remember that FTC judged awards are subjective in nature and, per FTC rules, "scored" rubrics and all judging notes cannot be returned to teams. Teams may also want to use the FTC Team Judging Self-Reflection Sheet . These are useful tools for practice, and a useful exercise after the tournament.
Thank you and good luck in the championships this year! We look forward to seeing you all in person again!
Ulf Sundberg - SDFTC Judging Advisor