Now that the voting for the online challenges has closed, does anyone know when the list of finalists (including RECF choices) will be published? Also, is there any set date for the announcement of the winners?
They don’t usually release the date. The only thing you can rely on is patience 
While patience is definitely a virtue, we can provide a little more information than “wait patiently.”
The public voting closed yesterday and the ballots will be given to our first-round judges this weekend. The first-round judges will have a week or so to do their voting, we will tally up those results and announce the finalists here, on our website and Facebook page, and on the Online Challenge page as soon as they are confirmed.
The larger panel of finalists judges has a couple of weeks to make their judgements after the finalist are announced. We will announce the winners right after the last weekend of official tournaments, on Tuesday, March 5.
We know the entrants would like to find out the winners today, but we engage a lot of people from all over the world as judges, and it takes a while to give them time to vote and to collect and analyze the results. We appreciate your patience.
Some fun facts: last year there were 141 non-essay entries. That number this year is more than 210 – a 50+% increase in one year. If you include the essay entries, our judges will evaluate over 375 entries. We have nearly 60 entries in the VRC Promote Award category alone! Having looked at all the non-essay entries this week, I can also tell you that the average quality is way up. Judging is going to be fun and very competitive. We want to be as conscientious in reviewing your entries as you were in creating them.
Thanks! _
In some challenges, winners can qualify for world championship. How will these teams be able to register, since the registration deadline is March 4?
According to the 2013 World Championship Qualifying Criteria, teams qualifying for World Championship after March 1 have one week to register and pay. This applies to both teams that qualify at tournaments and the Online Challenges.
Finalist results now available! http://forum.robotevents.com/design/