FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

 

 

It was just like this

With 2021 being such an unusual season, how did we determine the number of Chairman’s, Dean’s List, and Woodie Flowers Finalists Awards to give out in each area?

We did all the math, then remathed, twice. We mathed all day.

Actually, in the end, it was pretty simple.

Regions

Non-District areas have been broken into Regions, as described in this blog. Last week, we totaled the number of registered and paid teams in each of these Regions. We then multiplied that total by 1.5, the average number of events Regional teams had planned to attend each in the regular 2020 season. This gave us the number of event slots each Region would have needed, assuming every team was average and did not leave its Region for events. We then divided by 47, the average planned Regional event size in 2020 across all non-District areas.

This figure was then rounded up, giving the number of theoretical events a Region would have had in 2021 if all Regions were average. This rounded-up number is the number of Chairman’s Awards a Region will be giving out in 2021. Multiplying that number by two gives the number of Dean’s List Finalists each Region will be awarding.

In addition, the Woodie Flowers Award group, made up of past Woodie Flowers Award winners at the Championship level, have decided to give each Region one Woodie Flowers Finalist Award.

Districts

District areas follow a similar pattern. We again used the team count snapshot from last week, but in this case, we multiplied the team count by two, as each District team gets two events. We then divided by 34, which is the average size of District events across all Districts.

This figure was rounded up, and the resultant number is the number of Chairman’s Awards that will be given out at the initial judging level, equivalent to the District event level in prior years. Multiplying this figure times two gives the maximum number of District Championship (DCMP) Dean’s List Semi-Finalists that can be identified at that level. Both the Chairman’s Award winners and DCMP Dean’s List Semi-Finalists move on for a second round of interviews at the next level of judging, equivalent to the DCMP level in prior years.

Both these Chairman’s Award totals and maximum number of DCMP Dean’s List Semi-Finalist totals are then divided by four and rounded up. This is the total number of DCMP Chairman’s Awards and DCMP Dean’s List Finalist awards that will be presented by the District at the final level of District judging.

Also, the Woodie Flowers Award group will continue to select a single Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winner for each District.

What’s all this mean for you? Here are the outcomes:

For folks celebrating the Christmas holiday this week, I hope you have a great one!

Frank