Awards and Advancement
- Michael Adam
In FIRST LEGO League, we recognize teams with highest achievement with trophies during closing ceremonies. FIRST LEGO League Judges at each tournament will deliberate almost all of the Core Awards.  Common exceptions are the Robot Performance Award and Volunteer Award.
Core Values and Deliberations
As stated in the Coach Agreement, all team members, coaches, and parents are expected to uphold the Core Values at all times on event day. Additionally, FIRST LEGO League is built on the fundamental idea that the kids do all the work.  Should the need arise at events, FIRST has defined a specific workflow when dealing with Core Values Concerns. For more information about how CVR handles Core Values Concerns, please see the process outlined in Appendix 1.
Awards at FIRST LEGO League events are determined through a deliberative process that is based around group discussions with every judge at an event.  To learn more, please see the process outlined in Appendix 2. Â
Award Structure
FIRST LEGO League Standards require that approximately 30% of teams receive an award at an event. Therefore, CVR reserves the right to alter the number of trophies given out at an event depending on the number of teams that check-in at an event.
Here is a legend for the list below:
* = 36 team capacity events or greater
** = 48 team capacity events
Core Awards
Award Name | Award Description | Places Given |
|---|---|---|
Champion’s Award | This award celebrates a team that embodies the FIRST LEGO League Challenge experience, by fully embracing our Core Values while achieving excellence and innovation in Robot Performance, Robot Design and the Innovation Project. |
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Robot Performance Award | This award celebrates a team that scores the most points during the Robot Game. Teams have a chance to compete in at least three 2.5-minute matches and their highest score counts. |
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Robot Design Award | This team uses outstanding programming principles and solid engineering practices to develop a robot that is mechanically sound, durable, efficient and highly capable of performing challenge missions. |
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Innovation Project Award | This team utilizes diverse resources for their Innovation Project to help them gain a comprehensive understanding of their problem, have a creative, well-researched solution and effectively communicate their findings to judges and the community. |
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Core Values Award | This team displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit, knows they can accomplish more together than they could as individuals, and shows each other and other teams respect at all times. |
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Coach/Mentor Award | The coach/mentor award is team nominated and the winner is selected by the judges during deliberation. |
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Other Awards
Award Name | Award Description | Trophies Given |
|---|---|---|
Judges Award | During the course of competition, the judges may encounter teams whose unique efforts, performance or dynamics merit recognition. Some teams have a story that sets them apart in a noteworthy way. Sometimes a team is so close to winning an award that the judges choose to give special recognition to the team. Judges Awards allow the freedom to recognize remarkable teams that stand out for reasons other than the Core Award categories. | 1 at 24 or 48 team events 2 at 36 team events |
Volunteer Award | The FIRST programs would not exist without its volunteers. This award honors an extraordinary volunteer whose dedication to the FIRST LEGO League Program has improved the experiences of team members and other volunteers at this event.  | 1 |
Advancement Policy
The official advancement policy for the FIRST LEGO League program can be found here.  The following is description of how Central Valley Robotics implements the policy in our area.
Overview of Advancement Rules
FIRST specifies policies that govern how teams advance between levels of FIRST LEGO League events:
Percentages:Â FIRST Â encourages all regions to target a 30% advancement percentage, with a recommended minimum of 10% and a maximum of 50%Â advancement.
Eligibility Requirements: Teams are eligible for advancement if they meet the following criteria as required by the FIRST  LEGO League Global Standards and Challenge document. Teams must:
Have between 2 and 10 members
Complete all required sections of the Project
Have no disqualifying (Red-level) Core Values behaviors
Be competing at their first official FIRST LEGO League event of each qualifying level during the season
Perform well in all three judged areas (Core Values, Project, and Robot Design) and Robot Game
Central Valley Robotics Advancement Process
Central Valley Robotics hosts a 36 team FIRST LEGO League Championship.  Our method for determining and distributing the advancement rate is detailed below:
Determine the initial advancement percentage by dividing 36 by the total number of teams registered for events.
For each qualifier event, multiply the the advancement rate by the number of teams to determine the number of teams advancing.  This is then posted on our website for teams to view.
The morning of every qualifier, CVR performs the following:
Once all teams have checked-in or have confirmed that they are not participating, CVR will perform a final calculation of advancement information (using the process above).
CVR will then inform the Judge Advisor of the final advancement number prior to the Final Coach Meeting the morning of the event.
The Judge Advisor will announce the total number of teams advancing during the Final Coaches Meeting.
Once the Judge Advisor makes the announcement, the number of teams advancing will not change during the course of the day.
In the event of extreme extenuating circumstances during the event day (IE: high disqualification rate), Central Valley Robotics will work with the Qualifier Judge Advisor to ensure that the event advances teams to Championship that meet the requirements of FIRST.  This could result in less teams advancing than previously announced.  If an event cannot provide enough teams to fill all of its advancement slots, Central Valley Robotics will choose teams from wait-lists at other qualifiers to fulfill the remaining slots at Championship.