It was said to be a short list of 10 finalists; but it turns out there are 25 submissions in finalists! Anyone has an idea what is going on? Does it impact how many teams can get awards and be qualified to World? Any word if middle school and high school teams are judged separately given the fact there are so many finalist teams?
Another question is about the rules. Multiple submissions in finalist list seem not meet the requirements set up on Online Challenge website. Such noncompliance can be as obvious as not having a “Credits” section at the end of the essay, but there are others. Will the 2nd round judging be strict on the requirements to determine winning teams?
For those that don’t know, I am an online challenge judge. The number of finalists does not change the number of winners. Each challenge is a little different, but in most cases there are three winners, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, where 1st place gets worlds qualification. There should be different challenges for IQ and VRC for the girl powered online challenge, so that means they are judged separately, but in terms of middle school and high school entries in the VRC challenge, they will be judged together.
Many submissions still make it to the finalists stage even with minor requirements not being met. There are criteria that must be met to continue to finalists stage, and if not, the submission will be DQ’d. There are other minor requirements such as a credits section that if not meant do not mean an automatic DQ, but they lose points towards their overall point score. I hope this helps clear up any confusion.