The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders.

This award celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit and recognizes a team which has developed a comprehensive business plan in order to define, manage, and achieve the team’s ongoing objectives. This team displays entrepreneurial enthusiasm as well as demonstrates the vital planning and business skills to ensure a self-sustaining program.

The 2020 Safety Animation Award theme is ‘Sustainability on the RISE’.  This season presents a unique opportunity for us to RISE together to transform world sustainability.  Your animation should focus on the theme of sustainability giving consideration to the concepts:

• sustainable cities and communities
• responsible consumption and production. 

Animations must:

• Be no more than 40 seconds long, including opening and credits
• Be animated. Any kind of animation, including stop-motion, is allowed. Live video is allowed provided it is accompanied by virtual/augmented animated elements. Live video of people is not allowed.  

Celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization and community.

• Extent and inventiveness of the team’s efforts to recruit students to engineering with particular emphasis on the most recent year’s efforts. Measurable success of those efforts.
• Extent and effectiveness of the team’s community outreach efforts with particular emphasis on the most recent year’s efforts. Measurable success of those efforts.
• A commitment to science and technology education among the team, school, and community.
• Achievement of the FIRST mission and ability to communicate that at the competition and aw

• A team spokesperson must be able to identify and describe the controls innovation and can trace its conception, design, manufacturing/assembly, or deployment.
• The control system is innovative and unique. It is integrated with the machine, human players, strategy, etc. in concept and execution.
• The innovation is practical; it addresses the game’s challenge. It is not just a cute idea and is reliable under the stress of competition. 

Celebrates the team that has demonstrated consistent, reliable, high-performance robot operation during autonomously managed actions. Evaluation is based on the robot’s ability to sense its surroundings, position itself or onboard mechanisms appropriately, and execute tasks.

The award is based on the performance of the robot’s autonomous (non-operator guided) operations during matches

• Consistent and reliable operation is weighted more heavily than the ability to score maximum points during any specific autonomously managed actions
• A team spokesperson must be able to explain:
  • How the robot understands its surroundings, navigates on the field or positions onboard mechanisms and then executes tasks.
  • The factors the teams considered that could interfere with success during autonomously managed actions.
  • The design, development, and testing that was done for the robot’s autonomously managed actions.

Celebrates an innovative control system or application of control components – electrical, mechanical or software – to provide unique machine functions.

• A team spokesperson must be able to identify and describe the controls innovation and can trace its conception, design, manufacturing/assembly, or deployment.
• The control system is innovative and unique. It is integrated with the machine, human players, strategy, etc. in concept and execution.
• The innovation is practical; it addresses the game’s challenge. It is not just a cute idea and is reliable under the stress of competition. 

Celebrates extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit through exceptional partnership and teamwork furthering the objectives of FIRST.

• Spirit is consistent both throughout the team and also throughout the contest in attitude, appearance, originality, and depth.
• The team displays obvious enthusiasm – in supporting teams, appearance, interactions with teams/Judges, etc. – at the competition.
• Spirit is part of the team and is apparent in all they do, including at their school, in their community, with sponsors and other teams, etc.
• They demonstrate spirit as a unified team.

Celebrates the team that progresses beyond safety fundamentals by using innovative ways to eliminate or protect against hazards for themselves and others.

• Judges and/or Safety Advisors will focus on team safety behaviors and safe physical conditions included in their safety plans (See Safety Manual) along with their safety outreach to other teams
• The team exemplifies safety in everything they do and has a plan for operating safely before, during, and after the season.
• A team spokesperson must be able to explain:
  • How their safety culture within their team environment exists so that safety is a top priority. 
  • How they train team members on basic safety practices as well as tool & machine safety
  • How they integrate safety into their everyday activities including:
    • Personal protective equipment (PPE) – wearing required and providing for others at outreach opportunities (e.g. Safety glasses, closed toed shoes, etc.)
    • Safe physical conditions – workspace, condition of hand tools and power tools, power cords, safe handling of batteries and charging equipment
    • Help establish a culture of safety throughout the FIRST community

Criteria for selection of the FIRST Dean’s List Award shall include, but not be limited to a student’s:

• Demonstrated leadership and commitment to the FIRST Core Values
• Effectiveness at increasing awareness of FIRST in the school and community
• Interest in and passion for a long-term commitment to FIRST
• Overall individual contribution to their team
• Technical expertise and passion
• Entrepreneurship and creativity
• Ability to motivate and lead fellow team members

Although a single mentor must submit the nomination, the team as a whole must verify the accuracy of the submission. FIRST is relying upon the team for the veracity and accuracy of the submission data.

This award recognizes an individual who has done an outstanding job of motivation through communication while also challenging the students to be clear and succinct in their communications. As such, it is very important that this be a student-led effort and a student decision. One student will act as the nominator. Lead Mentors/Coaches should direct 1 or 2 students to the online entry site and let the high school students decide whom to nominate. Adults can help edit and should check the essay and the submission information for accuracy, but this must be a student-led effort. The author(s) of the 3,000-character (max.) essay must be clearly identified as high school students in the online submission.