East Super-Regional Championship

The Compass Award recognizes an adult coach or mentor who provided outstanding guidance and support for a FIRST Tech Challenge Team throughout the year. The winner of the Compass Award is determined from candidates nominated by FIRST Tech Challenge student Team members, via a 40-60 second video submission, highlighting how their mentor has helped them become an outstanding Team and truly demonstrated what it means to be a Gracious Professional.

The Promote Award is given to the Team that is most successful in creating a compelling message for the public designed to change our culture and celebrate science, technology, engineering and math. The FIRST Tech Challenge Public Service Announcement Video was evaluated by the Judges to determine the winner of this Award. Teams must present a thoughtful and high-quality video which appeals to the general public and best exhibits this year's topic of "This is how I plan to pay FIRST forward..."

The Control Award is given to the Team that demonstrates innovative thinking in the control system to solve Game challenges such as Autonomous Operation, enhancing mechanical systems with intelligent control, or using sensors to achieve better results on the Field.

Here is what the judges had to say about the winner:

This team wowed the field by consistently scoring multiple glyphs in autonomous. Their open CV cipherbox detection made them one standard deviation above the rest. Their pan-and-tilt camera grabbed the attention of the judges, leading to better than 6-sigma performance.

This Judged Award celebrates the Team that exemplifies the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition and embraces the culture of FIRST while making a collective effort to make FIRST known throughout their school, and community and sparks others to embrace the culture of FIRST.

Here is what the judges had to say about the winner:

This team jump started numerous FTC teams in their region. They are sprinting towards the increased involvement of women in STEM. This team turns up the heat from the Big Apple to the Caribbean.

The intent of the Design Award is to expand on the challenge, inspiring Teams to incorporate industrial design into their robots. These elements can be shown in the simplicity of the design as it applies to the tasks, the look and feel of the robot, and how the design allows us to think of robots in new ways. The Design aspect must serve a function - but they should also differentiate the robot in a unique fashion.

Here is what the judges had to say about the winner:

This team was on a straight path to building a great robot. Neither rain, sleet, nor snow would stop this robot from collecting glyphs. Their well designed and built robot allowed this team to storm through the competition.

The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award celebrates a Team that the Judges feel has the most Innovative and Creative Robot design solution to the FIRST Tech Challenge. Elements of this Award include elegant design, robustness and 'out of the box' thinking with regard to design. This Award may address the design of the whole robot or some sub-assembly component of the robot. The creative component needs to work consistently, but a robot does not have to work all of the time during Matches to be considered for this Award.

Here is what the judges had to say about the winner:

The judges all agreed that this was a very innovative design. It not only swept the judge's decision, it easily vacuumed up this award.

The Connect Award is presented to the Team that the Judges' feel most connected with their local community, FIRST and the business world. The best Team is more than the sum of its parts, and recognizes that their schools and communities play an essential part to their success. The recipient of this Award is recognized for helping the community understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the Team itself. In addition, the Team that wins this Award is aggressively seeking engineers and exploring the opportunities available in the world of engineering, science and technology.

Here is what the judges had to say about the winner:

This team connected with mentors and sponsors through their multiple outreach events. They go an extra mile when promoting STEM, whether at school or at a library. They are in a LEAGUE of their own when it comes to using the best of their resources.

This judged award is given to the Team that best reflects the journey the Team took as they experienced the engineering design process during the build season. The Engineering Notebook is the key reference for judges to help identify the most deserving Team. This Team's Engineering Notebook focused on the design and build stages of the Team's robot and exemplified their journey as a team and engineers.

Here is what the judges had to say about the winner:

This team wowed the judges with their detailed iterative process. Among all the others, their notebook swam to the top. They may be the second letter of the alphabet, but their notebook was number one.

The Inspire Award is given to the Team that the Judges felt truly embodied the 'challenge' of the FIRST Tech Challenge program. The Team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and works to promote FIRST and make it loud in their community. The Team that receives this Award has performed well in all Judging categories and was chosen by the Judges as a model FIRST Tech Challenge Team on and off the playing field. The Judges used Match performance, observations made during interviews and in the pit area, the Team's Engineering Notebook, and performance on the playing field in determining the winner.

Here is what the judges had to say about the winner:

The signs were clear to the judges that this team is committed to their community. This team's robot spun its way through the competition. It's not magic the way this team executes the values of FIRST.