Award-Specific Content
Learn how to showcase your engineering, outreach, and creativity to win awards at FTC.
Awards at a Glance
Inspire Award
FTC’s top award – excelling in all areas
Think Award
Critical thinking and documentation
Connect Award
Community + professional connections
Innovate Award
Unique engineering solutions
Design Award
CAD, build quality, and design
Motivate Award
Inspiring and inclusive outreach
Inspire Award
The most prestigious award. Judges look for a team that excels across all areas: engineering, outreach, teamwork, values, sustainability, and presentation.
What to include:
- A balanced portfolio that touches on every area: robot, programming, outreach, and values.
- Evidence of collaboration: “Our build and programming teams worked closely to integrate the lift PID loop…”
- Documentation of growth: show how the robot improved through testing and feedback.
- Evidence of strong outreach and FIRST impact.
Where to show it:
- Team Introduction, Engineering Process, Outreach, Final Reflection
Think Award
Judges want to see your critical thinking, technical documentation, and how you approached problems.
What to include:
- Engineering Design Process: idea → sketch → prototype → test → redesign
- CAD diagrams with iteration notes
- Math/calculations (gear ratios, torque, speed)
- Test results (graphs, charts, notes)
Connect Award
This award honors teams that connect with professionals, mentors, and their community to grow in STEM.
What to include:
- Meetings with engineers, universities, or companies
- Mentorship connections
- Outreach logs with dates and impact
- Photos of events
Innovate Award
This award recognizes unique engineering solutions and creative approaches to the game challenge.
What to include:
- Photos and CAD of your most unique mechanism
- Details about what makes it innovative
- Prototyping steps that led to the final solution
- Comparison to standard solutions
Design Award
This award is for teams with excellent CAD, build quality, and engineering design principles.
What to include:
- Clean CAD screenshots with labels
- Mechanical principles (supports, forces, material choices)
- Design aesthetics and team branding
- Photos of build quality
Motivate Award
This award celebrates teams that spread FIRST values, promote inclusivity, and inspire others to join STEM.
What to include:
- Community events and workshops
- Social media campaigns
- Creative ways of inspiring others
- Evidence of inclusivity and teamwork
