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3. Community Award Online Challenge Sponsored by Google

The Community Award Online Challenge Sponsored by Google is presented to either VRC and/or VEX U teams that make a positive impact on STEM education opportunities in their community through leadership, outreach, mentorship, and support. The winning teams made many contributions outside their own school or organization that helps students, teams, coaches or mentors. Contributions may span multiple seasons. Contributions are not limited to REC Foundation or VEX Robotics programs; they may include any robotics or STEM education program.

The submission will show the team’s impact on one or more of these STEM education opportunities in their community, outside of their own school or organization:

• Leadership or outreach to recruit new robotics teams or start new STEM programs or facilities.
• Leadership or outreach to recruit new students, coaches, mentors, event partners or volunteers.
• Leadership or support for registered VEX Robotics teams, competitions, or tournaments.
• Leadership or support for registered workshops such as Girl Powered events.
• Leadership or support for competitions, fairs, or programs in any STEM field.
• Mentorship for robotics teams.
• Any other leadership or volunteer support in the community related to STEM education or STEM activities.

Additionally, the submission will be judged on creativity and quality of the video.

The submission will be a video not to exceed 195 seconds (3 minute video and 15 seconds of required credits) that highlights the team’s community-wide contributions to STEM education programs. The video will be posted or uploaded to a video streaming service, and a link to the video will be submitted through the REC Foundation Online Challenge website.

 

Prizes

The REC Foundation will recognize ten (10) VEX Robotics teams with the Community Award at the VEX Robotics World Championship.  Winners will be announced on March 4, 2020. The winning teams receive:

•  $500 gift certificate for vexrobotics.com
• Automatic team qualification and paid registration fee for this season’s VEX Worlds

Eligibility

Entries that do not meet Eligibility will not be evaluated.

• Submitting team must be VRC Middle School, VRC High School, or VEX U.
• Submitting team must be registered in the current competition season.
• Video submitted for a previous season REC Foundation Online Challenge is not eligible. (will not apply for this season)
• *Only one entry per team. Note that each team at a multi-team school or organization is eligible to submit one entry and receive this award. For example, teams 123A and 123B may each submit an entry, but team 123A may not submit two entries. *Entries from multiple teams must vary in terms of content and presentation to be recognized as separate entries. Teams may present different entries for each team OR choose the best representation of their outreach efforts. 

Requirements

These are the minimum requirements for this challenge. The “Judging Information” section below provides additional guidance on how your project is judged. Failure to fulfill any of these requirements will result in your entry being disqualified from advancing to Finalist or Winner status.

Requirements for the video:

• Create an entertaining video advertisement or short movie highlighting your team’s community service, not to exceed 3 minutes (180 seconds) long not including credits.
• Credits are mandatory and cannot be longer than 15 seconds. Credits must include the title of the video, team number, team name, and any other relevant credits such as music. (Total allowed video length is 195 seconds with credits included).
• All material must be original or in the public domain (for example, music must be in the public domain).
• Post the video link directly to this online challenge site during the submission process. Links to Google Drive or Dropbox are not permitted and will result in disqualification. Your video must be posted to YouTube, SchoolTube, Youku, or an equivalent platform.

Requirements for submitting the video link:

• Click the green Enter Challenge button on the right side of the screen.
• Fill out the submission form and type your text in the Full Description box according to the Requirements for this challenge.
• Click Save.
• Click the blue Links/Videos button in the upper right of the screen.
• Type in the YouTube, SchoolTube, Youku, or equivalent video streaming site link URL, Title and Description. Include all required information, or your link may not display correctly.
• Click Add Link.
• Your submission is now listed when you click the blue All Entries button to view the challenge entries.

Judging Information

Judges will select at least 25 finalists from the submitted entries and will use community voting results in their choices of finalists. The finalists' submissions will then be judged by additional selected professionals who will determine the winners of this Online Challenge.

Evaluation Criteria and Additional Information

The Community Challenge Award will be presented to the top ten VRC and/or VEX U teams that created and submitted a video that exemplifies community- wide contributions to STEM education programs. Different videos may focus on different aspects of community service to accomplish this goal. Your video may cover more than one, but needs to include at least ONE of these aspects:

• Does this video show the team’s outreach to start new STEM programs?
• Does this video show the impact the team has by their leadership or support for competitions, fairs, or programs in any STEM field?
• Does this video show how the team is represented as leaders or supporters for registered VEX Robotics teams, competitions, workshops, or tournaments?
• Does this video show how the team collaborates on their outreach strategies?

The judges will also evaluate each entry on:

• Good video editing.
• Effective use of music and sound (all music must be in the public domain).
• Clarity of the message.
• Creativity of approach.

Current time:
Wed, Dec 11, 2024 7:52 PM CST

Opens:

Mon, Sep 9, 2019 9:00 AM CDT

Closes:

Tue, Jan 14, 2020 11:30 AM CST

Voting Ends:

Sun, Jan 19, 2020 12:00 PM CST

All Entries
View Finalists
View Winners