NE Awards Week 2021

May 14, 2021

2021 was a unique year in the history of FRC, with all-remote challenges for teams to take on from home:

The GAME DESIGN CHALLENGE is an opportunity for teams to design a FIRST Robotics Competition game and compete against other teams for a chance to pitch their game to the FIRST Robotics Competition Game Design Team. Winning games, or their elements, may inspire or be used as a future official FIRST Robotics Competition game!
In the FIRST INNOVATION CHALLENGE presented by Qualcomm, teams identify a real-world problem related to this season’s theme: FIRST GAME CHANGERS, powered by Star Wars: Force for Change. They then design a solution to the problem, build a business model, and deliver a pitch to compete with other FRC teams for judged awards and a chance to be 1 of 20 Finalist teams invited to the FIRST Global Innovation Awards powered by Star Wars: Force for Change, a multi-day experience where students showcase their innovations, participate in workshops, and receive mentorship from experts.
INFINITE RECHARGE @ HOME brings events to teams in two ways:
1. Judged Awards: Teams describe their robot’s technical qualities by sharing information with judges remotely to compete for traditional machine awards. While access to a team’s INFINITE RECHARGE robot is not required, access to pictures, videos, or other representation is.
2. Skills Competition: Teams demonstrate what their robots and drivers can do in a Skills Competition inspired by the INFINITE RECHARGE game.

New England teams rose to the occasion, taking home 21 Game Design Challenge awards, 3 Innovation Challenge finalist nominations, and 15 Infinite Recharge at Home awards, in addition to 4 teams being named Skills Challenge winners and 4 becoming finalists.

All of this, plus 20 Deans' List Award semi-finalists became 5 Finalists, 38 Woodie Flowers Finalist Award nominees became 1 WFFA winner, and 10 Chairman's Award winners at the district level became 3 district championship level Chairman's winners, all representing our district in the very best light.

Needless to say, the impact of our New England District on the FRC program is far-reaching and game-changing!