1. Aerial Drone Competition
  2. Competitions
  3. Communication Mission

Guide to Judging Part 5: Awards

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Overview

The Qualifying Criteria contains charts that indicate which Awards will qualify teams from local events to a Championship event. The exact number of qualifying spots allocated to each event is determined by the REC Foundation Manager for that region, and can be found on that event’s information page on RobotEvents.com.

Qualifying Awards

There are two types of qualifying awards at REC Foundation-qualified competitions.

Performance Awards

Based on performance on the competition field in Teamwork Mission (Teamwork Champion, Second Place, etc.) and Skills Missions (Skills Missions Champion, Second Place, etc.). Performance Awards do not impact the eligibility of a team to earn a Judged Award.

Judged Awards

Based on the award criteria. Judges, in coordination with the Judge Advisor, determine Judged Awards using the REC Foundation judging process, award criteria, and rubrics. Event Partners who choose to include judging at their event may choose which awards are offered in accordance with the Qualifying Criteria.

The selection of Judged Awards may vary, but the All-Around Champion, Communication Champions, and Judges Award are required at all events. Teams must have completed an interview to receive a Judged Award. Single page award descriptions can be printed out for use in Judge Deliberations. A team may only earn one Judged award at an event. They may earn additional Performance Awards.

NOTE: Because the Aerial Drone Competition is a developing program, there may be rare cases where judges cannot identify a team that meets all of the key criteria for a specific award. If this occurs, the Judge Advisor should contact the RSM and will need to complete the REC Foundation Regional Support Request: Event Anomaly Log. Judges should then deliberate and use their best judgment to identify the team which best represents the intent of the award. 

Judged Award Descriptions

All-Around Champion

The All-Around Champion recognizes a team that excels in both the Judged Award and Performance Award categories. This team demonstrates outstanding competition performance, high quality written and verbal communications skills and exemplary team conduct, sportsmanship and professionalism. This team is committed to excellence in everything they do.

Key criteria of the All-Around Champion are:

  • Be at or near the top of Competition Logbook rubric rankings.
    • Submission of a Competition Logbook is required.
  • Be at or near the top of the Team Interview rubric rankings.
  • Be ranked in the top 50% of qualification rankings at the conclusion of qualifying teamwork matches.
  • Be ranked in the top 50% of skills rankings at the conclusion of autonomous flight and piloting skills matches.
    • Participation in both the Piloting Skills Mission and the Autonomous Flight Skills Mission is required, with a score of greater than 0 in each Mission.
  • Be a candidate in consideration for other judged awards.
  • Exhibit positive team conduct, good sportsmanship, and professionalism.

Additional notes:

  • All-Around Champion criteria, including performance metrics, are intended as a threshold for eligibility. Qualitative judgment on the part of judges is needed to determine an All-Around Champion from among eligible candidates.
  • Events that combine middle school and high school teams, and which meet certain conditions, may be eligible to award two All-Around Champions: one for a high school team and one for a middle school team. More information can be found in the Qualifying Criteria.
  • In the instance of two All-Around Champions being awarded at an event, teams are to be compared only among teams of the same grade level. For quantitative event data, determining the rankings by age group can be done by using the “Team List,” “Qualification Rankings,” and “Skills Challenge Rankings by Age Group” reports from the Reports tab in Tournament Manager at the event.

Communications Mission Champion

The Communications Mission Champion recognizes a team that demonstrates an organized, systematic, and professional approach to written and verbal communication, as demonstrated through their team interview and competition logbook.


Key criteria of the Communications Mission Champion are:

  • Be at or near the top of Team Interview rankings.
  • Exhibit a high-quality Team Interview.
  • Team interview demonstrates effective communication skills, teamwork, and professionalism.
  • Team Interview demonstrates students’ ability to explain their teamwork mission, autonomous flight mission, and piloting skills mission strategies.
  • Team Interview demonstrates students’ knowledge of drone safety and regulations.
  • Be at or near the top of Competition Logbook rankings.
  • Submission of a Competition Logbook is required.
  • Competition Logbook demonstrates clear, complete, and organized records.
  • Competition Logbook includes documentation of programming that includes multiple iterations.
  • Competition Logbook includes documentation of drone safety and regulations.
  • Competition Logbook and Team Interview demonstrate student-centered ethos.
  • Team demonstrates effective project and time management.

Judges Award

The Judges Award recognizes a team that the judges felt were deserving of special recognition.

Criteria to consider for the Judges Award are:

  • Exhibits a high-quality Team Interview.
  • Team displays special attributes, exemplary effort, and perseverance at the event.
  • Team overcomes an obstacle or challenge and achieves a goal or special accomplishment.
  • Team interview demonstrates effective communication skills, teamwork, professionalism, and student-centered ethos.

Coding Award

The Coding Award recognizes the team with the most effective and consistent use of coding techniques and programming design solutions used in the Autonomous Flight Mission. This award is earned by a team that demonstrates a solid understanding of programming concepts and documented multiple iterations to find programming solutions.

Key criteria of the Coding Award are:

  • Participation in the Autonomous Flight Skills Mission is required, with a score greater than 0.
  • Competition Logbook demonstrates a clear, complete, and organized record of the programming management process, including version history.
  • Programs are cleanly written, well annotated, and documented in the Competition Logbook.
  • Strategies are well documented from initial conception to execution.
  • Students demonstrate an understanding of programming concepts and can explain how they worked together to develop their drone’s programming.

Airmanship Award

The Airmanship Award is awarded to a team that consistently exhibits good judgment, demonstrates well-developed skills to accomplish mission objectives, and is dedicated to understanding and maintaining drone safety rules and regulations.

Key criteria of the Airmanship Award are:

  • Team demonstrates knowledge and understanding of all 4 Missions, their purpose and how they connect with one another.
  • Team demonstrates understanding and maintaining situational and safety awareness.
  • Team demonstrates effective leadership skills, communication skills, teamwork, and professionalism.
  • Team uses appropriate drone and/or aviation terminology where applicable.
  • Team members are aware of Drone Safety Rules and Regulations. This may include:
  • Team exhibits integrity and goodwill towards other teams, coaches, and spectators.
  • Team demonstrates student-centered ethos.

Additional Awards

Additionally, there may be two other types of non-qualifying awards presented at some events.

Individual Recognition Awards

Recognize the contributions of a volunteer, mentor, teacher, or sponsor, and are determined by the Event Partner. Judges do not determine individual award winners. Event Partners may create their own process for judging these awards if needed.

Custom Awards

While nearly all events choose to use standard awards, it is possible to give out custom awards using the Tournament Manager software. To prevent confusion, Event Partners should ensure that teams understand which awards being presented are custom awards specific to the event, and emphasize those awards will not factor into qualifications.

Continue to the next section, Guide to Judging Part 6: Award Deliberations