East Super-Regional Championship

The Judges Award is given at the discretion of the Judges to a Team they have encountered whose unique efforts, performance or dynamics merit recognition, yet the Team does not fit into any of the existing Award categories.

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

This group of budding engineers came together to create opportunities for themselves to explore the world of technical challenges. They could have taken the easy way out and sat on the sidelines, but they were guided by their PASSION for Robotics that SPARKED them to create a new team. This team turned a negative into a POSITIVE. The Passion to Learn Award goes to team 10343, Positive Charge!

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's software was truly "out of this world". Their robot drew intricate paths around their competitors that impressed us both on the competition and practice fields. If we had to, we would rate them a solid 9.81 out of 10.

The Motivate Award celebrates the team that exemplifies the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition through team building, team spirit and exhibited enthusiasm. This team celebrates their team, their individuality and their spirit through team attire, and exhibits their outstanding team spirit. This teams enthusiasm and spirit motivates others to embrace the culture of the competition and FIRST. The team has also made a collective effort to make FIRST known throughout their school and community.

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

This team is truly an exciting ambassador for FIRST. They emphasized expanding STEM to girl scouts with Robotic lesson plans and a focused social media campaign. Their fuzzy heads hid the laser sharp focus this team had on spreading FIRST values internationally.

The intent of the PTC Design Award is to expand 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 not an easy task with a limited set of parts and game challenge.

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

Fabricating their parts in pieces so black. Creating a swith that gave them mastery in fact. Stemming fromBrains teeming with gems, congratulations to the Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM (Robotics Team).

The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award celebrates a Team that not only thinks outside the box, but also has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life.

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

This team impressed the judges with their well documented and thought out strategy, and their innovative design to accomplish this strategy. For this team, shooting particles in the right direction was a cinch. Although flywheels and kickers all do the job, this team dug a BIT deeper and found another solution which successfully THUMPED the particles into the vortex.

The Connect Award, is presented to the Team that the Judges feel most connected with their local community and the engineering community. 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 impressed the judges with the scope and breadth of their engineering outreach. This team used their Courage, Confidence, and Character to connect with the engineering community. All that this team accomplished will set tongues a WAGging.

The Think Award is given to the Team that the Judges feel best understood the role of the engineering notebook in the design process. The Engineering Notebook is the key reference for Judges to help them 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:

Let's start with 4 "h-words" - hosted, hopper, Howard, hinges. This team's book clearly demonstrated their commitment to document and photograph every stage of the design process and all their iterations. To outsiders, it might seam like a PARADOX for a home-schooled team to rise to the top of a high-tech competition, but that's what makes FIRST unique.

The Inspire Award is given to the Team that the Judges felt truly embodied the challenges of the FTC program. This Team serves as an inspiration to what this program, and the young minds involved, can accomplish. 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. 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:

This team could create a lesson plan on how to promote FIRST and motivate everyone to recognize the importance of STEM. They successfully engaged with their local tech community and university, as well as reaching out to their peers. The judges went googly eyed over this team's Gracious Professionalism. Match performance showed that this team came Geared to excel.