Girl Powered: In Her Words Storybook Challenge

In marking the kickoff of Girl Powered, an initiative to increase the representation of girls on robotics teams, the REC Foundation would like to invite girls on VEX IQ Challenge and VEX Robotics Competition teams to create a story focused on their path in designing, programming, and building a robot or one aspect of their team’s development over the season. This is a unique opportunity for your team to share what’s most important to you, how you overcame particular challenges during the season, and, most of all, what it's like to participate in robotics!
Elementary School | Middle School | High School | College / University | No Grade Level Restrictions |
VEX IQ Robotics Competition | VEX V5 Robotics Competition |
Prizes
- 1st: Girl Powered Storybook Award, $750 VEXrobotics.com gift certificate, and automatic team qualification for this season's VEX Robotics World Championship if the entrant is a member of a registered VEX IQ Challenge or VEX Robotics Competition team
- 2nd: $500 VEXrobotics.com gift certificate
- 3rd: $250 VEXrobotics.com gift certificate
Eligibility
- Entrant grade range: Elementary, middle school, or high school.
- VEX competition team requirement: Does not have to be a team entry.
- Work submitted in previous or different Online Challenges may not be repurposed for this submission.
- No team may submit more than one entry, but each team in a multi-team school or club program may enter this competition. For example, teams 123A and 123B could each submit a storybook, but team 123A could not submit two storybooks.
Requirements
These are the minimum requirements for this challenge, and if they are not met your entry may be prevented from advancing for review and finalist selection. The “Judging Information” section below will provide additional guidance on how your project will be judged.
- This challenge is about creating a Girl Powered story focused on an aspect of your robotics experience. Your story must contain a clear beginning, middle, and end.
- Your storybook should be produced using an online resource and be no more than 12 pages in length (online resources include but are not limited to: Shutterfly, Snapfish, SmugMug, Photobox, Wattpad or Quotev).
- The storybook should be shared via a URL or web link that reviewers can easily follow to read the story. If you can export your storybook as a .pdf file, you may choose to upload it directly to this Online Challenge site during the submission process (maximum file size: 200MB).
- At the end of the storybook there should be a credits section which includes the name of the entrant or entrants, the registered team number, and the name of the storybook, plus any other information the creators want to include (software used, recognition of sponsors, etc.).
- Student team members need to create and produce the story. It is acceptable for adults to assist with submitting the story or prepping for use of the software where students may need permission.
- During the submission process, you can choose to either post the URL or web link, or upload your entire storybook directly to this online challenge site (maximum file size: 200MB).
- Work submitted in previous or different Online Challenges may not be repurposed for this submission.
Judging Information
Judges will select at least ten finalists from the submitted entries and will take community-voting results into account in making their final selections. The finalists will then be judged by additional selected professionals whose scores will be combined with the preliminary-round judges’ scores to determine the winner of the Girl Powered: In Her Words Storybook Challenge.
Evaluation and Additional Information
The judges will evaluate each entry on:
- The story must have a clear beginning, middle, and end. It should include graphics and photos and result in a product that the students’ peers would enjoy reading.
- The final layout of the project should be easy to read, well designed, and engaging, and be no more than 12 pages in length.
- The prose and quality of writing.
- The subject matter should reflect the items listed above, namely a challenge the team faced, what was learned in the process of designing, building, and programming a robot or how the robotics experience inspired girls to pursue STEM and/or education fields/careers.
Tips for this challenge:
Consider these items for inclusion in your story:
- Be sure to make it fun and engaging with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Would a fellow student want to listen to your story read aloud?
- What have you learned about designing, building, and programming a robot?
- When you hear Girl Powered, what comes to mind? How is it reflected in your team’s approach to robotics?
- Failure is an option in engineering. Did you fail? What did you learn from it?
- What have you learned about teamwork and communication?
- Has participating in robotics changed or enhanced your view of engineering and possibly pursuing STEM or education fields in college and beyond?
Deadline Information
Current time:
Fri, Feb 7, 2025 4:36 AM CST
Opens:
Wed, Sep 7, 2016 1:00 PM CDT
Closes:
Wed, Jan 11, 2017 11:00 PM CST
Voting Ends:
Fri, Jan 27, 2017 2:00 PM CST