I was recently at a tournament where the Excellence Award was not awarded to any team. When the adjustment was made to include the 30% aspect of the award criteria, I understood that there would be tournaments where no team qualified for the award. That being said, given the teams at the tournament I attended, I was surprised that was the case here, but I digress.
However, it got me wondering…what happens to that states invitation that was reserved for Excellence? Does it go unawarded or is there some protocol for giving it to another team? Couldn’t find anything when I read through judging criteria, so I thought I’d try my hand here.
Note: This is not an attempt to jockey for an invite being sent elsewhere, and, no, my teams are not in line to earn any potential redirected invitation. This is strictly out of curiosity. Thanks.
I would think it would go to Skills at-the-tournament as if it were a “multiple qualification”, though this case may fall strictly outside of the workflow.
Otherwise, it would go to end-of-season Skills, I would think
To some extent, I’m a fan of making Excellence harder to get, but more balanced across all events. I think it makes teams to embrace the design process and work on programming more.
Just checked the RECF Qualifying Criteria page and found this in section 3b
"* Event Region Championship spots that have not been awarded are not lost. These remaining spots will be awarded using the following process.
The REC Foundation Manager will assess how many spots are remaining in each program and grade level after the conclusion of the Event Region Championship(s).
Any remaining spots from an Event Region Championship to the 2024 World Championship will come from the Robot Skills Challenge list at that specific Event Region Championship."
What about signature events? E.g. if an elementary excellence is not given out at a blended signature, where does the spot go? Skills (globally or event) or waitlist? I couldn’t find anything on the RECF Qualifying Criteria page
The RECF released an update to the Qualifying Criteria last week that clarifies what happens at Event Region Championships.
If an event has 3 or fewer spots to Worlds and the Excellence Award is not given out, the spot will be assigned to the Design Award winner at that World-qualifying event.
If an event has 4 or more spots to Worlds and the Excellence Award is not given out, the spot will go to the next highest skills team at that World-qualifying event.