Chapter 3: The Rest of the Event Day
Lesson 3: The Awards Ceremony
Learning Objectives
- Distinguish between performance, judged, nominated, and recognition awards.
- Identify the optional awards an Event Partner may choose to offer at their event.
- Identify the personnel and materials required to run an awards ceremony.
The previous lesson covered judging, which is one category of awards you can hand out. This lesson covers the rest of these awards, and the Awards Ceremony that celebrates the event and all teams.
Celebrating the Event
Awards follow the last Finals Match, and typically take place while everyone is still gathered around the fields, and while the energy is high.
The Emcee reads the names. Teams come down out of the bleachers two at a time, cheering the whole way. Coaches hold phones over their heads to get photos. A rookie team wins something and celebrates wholeheartedly. Everyone is excited for more than just match play — this is the celebration of learning that brought teams to your event.
The teams called up are not only the ones who won matches. A team that finished thirteenth can win for the way they designed their robot. A team in its first season can win for how it treated everyone around them. That is the point of offering more than a couple of awards. The Awards Ceremony recognizes more than one kind of good day.
Preparing for the Awards Ceremony
The ceremony itself runs with a few people. The Emcee typically announces the awards, and you and/or your Head Referee present them. Everything else is preparation, and much of it can be done well before the event.
What you need on hand:
- The physical awards themselves
- The results, confirmed and in front of the person reading them
- A space where everyone can gather, usually around the competition fields where Finals concluded
- A way to be heard over a room full of excited students and spectators
By the time the ceremony starts, you will have been running an event all day, and some simple preparation can help you be present at the ceremony and enjoy the celebration along with the teams.
Some tips to help things run smoothly:
- Sort and stack the awards in presentation order before the event starts, so you’re not scrambling between the last match and the ceremony.
- Give your Emcee the list of award winners as early as you can, with team numbers and names written the way they should be said.
- If possible, use the same microphone setup you used for announcing match play to streamline your preparation.
- Keep the area in front of the fields clear so teams have somewhere to walk up to.
There are many things you can do to make your Awards Ceremony your own, and your Program Support Team can help you figure out what options will work best for your event.
Awards at Competition Events
Awards are not something you invent for your event. There is a published set to choose from, the same at every VEX Robotics Competition event, and it falls into four categories .
| Category | Offered At | Who Selects the Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Performance Awards | Every event | Match results and Robot Skills rankings |
| Judged Awards | Some are required if your event includes judging | Judges, guided by your Judge Advisor |
| Nominated Awards | Optional, at any event | Volunteers and judges, by nomination |
| Recognition Awards | Optional, at any event | The Event Partner |
Read both of the these articles to learn about all of the awards availably before you choose:
- Awards Offered at Competition Events gives you the overall picture — the categories, which awards are required, and what each category is there to do.
- Award Descriptions is the full catalog, with the criteria judges apply to each award, which is how you tell whether one suits the teams you expect.
One rule applies across all awards: each award is presented only once per event.
Physical Awards
Recognition is the part that matters. A printed certificate with a team's number and name, and the name of their award is a complete award. So is a medal, and so is a trophy, and none of them is more “official” than the others. Plenty of great first events hand out printed certificates, and the students holding them are just as pleased.
Every award you offer must have a tangible recognition for the team. However long your award lineup is, that is how many physical awards need to be waiting on the table when the Awards Ceremony begins.
Choose Awards with Your Program Support Team
Which awards you offer affects how teams from your event can advance to other competitions, and that varies by program, region, and season. It also shapes who registers, since awards are included in your event posting that teams read to see what they can win.
If you opt to add Judged Awards beyond the required three, learn what each one asks of a team. Consider what you want to highlight, and balance that with what teams must submit for the award, like an engineering notebook.
All of this makes your award lineup one of the decisions to make with your Program Support Team rather than settle on your own. Show them what you have in mind before it goes on your event listing, and they can tell you whether that fits the teams you expect and how advancement works in your region this season. As a new Event Partner, treat anything that goes on your event posting the same way — talk it through first, then post it.