Judge Manual

Revision History
Revision Date Description
1.0 10/16/2024 Initial 2024-2025 Release
Corrected language about Think nominations, page 5
1.1 10/31/2024
Made formatting edits

Overview
Roles Covered: Judge

Job Description
Judges meet with teams to learn about and celebrate the unique journey and accomplishments of each
team and evaluate these against award requirements. Judges interact with students during the
interview process and in the pits. As a group, Judges determine the teams that receive awards at
events.
Requirements
Technical Medium
Physical Medium
Administrative High
Communication High
Pre-event Training High

Time Commitment
A Judge should expect to spend 10-12 hours at a full-day event.
2-4 hours of pre-event training is required.

Attire
• Comfortable closed-toe, closed-heel shoes, much of the day will involve moving between the pit
area and the deliberation room.
• ANSI Z87.1 certified safety glasses are required in the pit and competition areas.
• As one of the event leaders, comfortable professional wear is encouraged.
• Judges should not wear team affiliated clothing at the event.
• If team swag is present and Judges accept the swag, Judges must be willing to accept pins and
other branding items from all teams.

Training and Certification

Read and complete all tasks listed in the Pre-Event Training section.
Volunteers must create an account on the FIRST dashboard and apply to the role. If you apply to an
event role requiring training and certification, the ‘Roles Missing Certification’ section will appear on

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your Volunteer Dashboard. Click on ‘Review Outstanding Tasks,’ then click the ‘Resolve’ button. This will
take you directly to the training site. Alternately, you may also click on the ‘Trainings/Certification’
button on the top right of the screen. If you have applied for a role but have not received access to the
training, please email [email protected]. A separate confirmation of the role
assignment will come later.

All volunteers are expected to read and comply with the Volunteer Handbook.

Roles and Responsibilities

FIRST is fun for all. The most important role of a volunteer is to provide a
safe, fun, and welcoming environment to all FIRST participants. When
executing the duties of your role, always make decisions with the team
experience in mind. Ask for help from event leadership if you feel your
required duties conflict with the best team experience.

A Judge is responsible for:

Responsibilities
Conduct team interviews
Conduct pit interviews
Review portfolios (when present)
Update Judging Summary Forms
Update Judging Feedback Forms
Watch competition matches (when applicable)
Within your panel, determine the top ranked teams for each judged award
As a group come to consensus with other Judges on the recipient of each award and finalists (if
applicable)
Use interview notes, work with other Judges to create award scripts for top ranked and award-
winning teams

Prerequisites for Judges

Judges must be at least 21 years old and post high school or equivalent. Volunteers over 18 years old
and post-high school may request to be assigned to this role, and the request will be reviewed for
consideration by FIRST Headquarters staff. Prior FIRST experience is not required but is preferred.
Philosophy of Judging
FIRST recognizes both on-field performance, and the characteristics that help FIRST achieve its mission
to change the culture by inspiring young people. Competition awards are earned by teams for their
ability to play the game, while judged awards celebrate teams for their off-field performance. Please
review Section 6 of the Competition Manual to learn more about the award categories.
It is important that both Judges and students have a positive judging experience. The awards are a
method FIRST uses to inspire students and help provide insight for their future endeavors. The goal of
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judging is to recognize students for their achievements, help them celebrate their successes, and to
cheer them on in their journey through the FIRST programs.
Modeling Gracious Professionalism
As a Judge, you serve in a visible role at an event. You will interview teams and listen to their stories,
challenges, and accomplishments that took place throughout the season. Many students see judging
interviews as a stressful time, publicly speaking to new people in an unfamiliar environment. Judges
are there to put the team at ease by taking notes and asking questions that will allow teams to
demonstrate how they have grown throughout the season.
Judges are role models who are professionals across many different industries outside of the FIRST
setting. Judges are an important volunteer, are vital to the judging process and are frequently front and
center. As such, your actions are very noticeable to teams, coaches, mentors, and parents. While
Judges are responsible for determining awards, Judges must never publicly comment about a team’s
attributes, compare teams, or make comments that would be considered negative or condescending to
a team.
Judges are responsible for celebrating the accomplishments of all teams, and while Judges may only
be able to award a few teams, Judges act as a cheerleader to all teams in FIRST Tech Challenge. You
should make sure to keep a professional demeanor in working with the entire Judge crew. A light-
hearted, friendly personal style in the interview room and around the pits should help to keep the
interactions with everyone, including the teams, friendly and cordial.

Before the Event

Pre-Event Training
Judges must complete the required reading in this section and pass a certification test before serving
in this role.
Resources for training and certification:

Judge Pre-event Training List

Requirement Resource
Complete the FIRST Data Protection and Privacy training in
Required
BlueVolt
The Competition Manual - specifically
Required
• Section 6 - Awards
Required Complete the Judges Certification test in BlueVolt
Required Review the Award Terms and Definitions
Required Review the Conflict-of-Interest Description
Required Complete Conflict of Interest Form
Competition Manual – specifically
Encouraged
• Section 4 - Advancement
Encouraged
Complete Strategies for Inspiring Success for All Modules.
(New this season)
Encouraged Attend the monthly Judging Calls
Encouraged Review the Judging Questions Document

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 Judge Pre-event Training List
Requirement Resource
Watch the game animation video for a general understanding of
Optional
the game for a general understanding of the game

Event Day
Report Time
The Event Director, Volunteer Coordinator or Judge Advisor will confirm the time you arrive, and the
location you should arrive at, typically via email the week before the event. In most cases, you will need
to be at the event when it opens for volunteers first thing in the morning, or at least 1 hour before
judging interviews are scheduled to begin.
When you arrive onsite check-in with the volunteer check-in table, or the Volunteer Coordinator and then
report to the Judge Advisor unless you have received different check-in instructions.
Set-up
Go to the judging deliberation room for a meeting which typically includes some day-of training. Declare
any Conflict of Interest you might have, including teams you are associated with in any way.
As part of the introductory meeting, the Judge Advisor will provide resources for the formal interview
such as:
Formal Interview Resources
The Judge Advisor may consider several different factors
when assigning a panel. One of the most common factors is
Panel Assignments ensuring each panel has at least one technical judge and one
non-technical judge. The Judge Advisor may assign new
judges to a panel with a Judge with prior experience.
The Judge Advisor will give a list of teams you will meet in the
List of Teams formal interview process. Remember: These teams are excited
to meet you, and excited to tell you about themselves.
The Judge Advisor will provide a short list of required
questions that you must ask each team. You may ask other
Short List of Questions
questions once the required questions are asked. Judges will
be provided with a list of additional sample questions.
The Judge Advisor will provide Judging Feedback Forms and
Forms
Judging Summary Forms for each team in your panel.

In addition to the resources listed above the Judge Advisor may also provide writing utensils and any
other resources that may be needed to complete formal interviews.
Formal Interviews
The first interaction Judges will have with teams is the formal interview, which in most cases occurs in
the morning of the event. Each interview will last at least 10 minutes. Every team receives the same
amount of time in their interview.

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Each formal interview should follow the format in the table below. Teams have worked incredibly hard
and could be very stressed or nervous about the event and the interview process. Remember to smile
and be welcoming.
Formal Interviews
Give teams a minute to get set up while you introduce yourself,
Team Enters the Room welcome them to the interview, collect their portfolio, if they have one,
and ask them if they have a presentation.
Teams receive the opportunity to present, uninterrupted, for the first 5
minutes of their interview. If teams have a presentation, they receive 5
minutes to speak to you.
5 Minute Presentation
If teams do not have a presentation, you can begin to ask questions
immediately.
After the presentation, you can ask them questions. Please ask the
Q&A required questions provided by the Judge Advisor Remember: It is
important that you do your best to put the teams at ease.
After the interview, take a moment to make notes on the Judge
Review Portfolio and
Summary Sheet, review the portfolio, if one was provided, and complete
Complete Forms
the Judging Feedback Form. You will have 10 minutes to do this.

Please do not ask teams about religion, politics, gender, disabilities, or

how the students are doing in school. These topics have no bearing on
any FIRST award criteria.

Judges should keep in mind that they can consider content that is relevant to the current season, and
information that a team shares with them during their interview processes. This could include stories
from previous seasons that a team shares to illustrate their growth.

If a Judge has knowledge about a team from previous events or previous seasons that is outside of
what a team has shared during the event, the information is not relevant to the judging process and
should not be a part of the judging discussion.

Initial Nominations
After formal interviews have concluded, report back to the deliberation room at the time provided by the
Judge Advisor.
In the deliberation room, Judges should nominate teams who are strong contenders based on the
award criteria. Judges do not nominate teams for the Inspire Award at this time. Teams should be
nominated for every award that they meet the criteria for. A team may be nominated for multiple
awards at this stage of the process. The Judge Advisor may place limits on the number of teams a
Judging Panel can nominate for a given award.
Judges can nominate teams directly for the Think Award if they have a portfolio. Teams who have
submitted a portfolio and have been nominated for a Team Attribute and a Machine, Creativity, and

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Innovation Award will also be added to the Think Award category for consideration. Teams must meet
all the criteria for the Think Award, but at this early stage, their portfolio will be considered.
After the initial nominations, the Judge Advisor will assign you to one or more awards panels. At this
stage, your role is to gather more information about team accomplishments. Judges may be assigned
to interview teams in their pit areas and/or watch team competition matches, and/or review portfolios.

Judges will be given a list of teams to be evaluated by the Judge Advisor. Please understand that some
of the teams on your list will be directly related to the award panel you have been assigned to, and other
teams will be teams that are not on an award list. Every team deserves a pit visit from the Judges.

Pit Interviews
Judges visiting teams in the pits will decide, with your award panel, on a series of questions to ask the
teams you visit. It is important to perform pit interviews with groups of 2 or 3 Judges. It is important to
interview every team on your list. The Judge Advisor will provide you with the match schedule and
where possible, a pit map. The match schedule will help you determine when teams will likely be in their
pit area. The pit map will help you locate the teams you would like to talk with.
Teams on your list may not always be nominated for awards. It is important that Judges visit every
team at the event to recognize and celebrate the work the team has done. Interaction with Judges is a
valuable part of the FIRST experience.
All teams will have the opportunity to participate in a pit interview, regardless of the number of
nominations that they have received and regardless of their participation in a formal interview.
Match Observation
Some award panels may be asked to observe robot game matches to understand robot performance,
and the contribution of their design, control, or innovative solution they have described. The robot's
performance is not directly related to the win/loss record or their ranking in the robot competition. The
match schedule will help Judges understand where and when teams are playing their matches.

Think Award Judging

The Think Award Judges review the portfolios of each team on the Think Award list and compare their
contents to the criteria for the award. Think Award Judges may need to interview teams in their pit area
to evaluate the encouraged criteria, if needed, to help them better understand the portfolio content.

Determining Inspire Award Candidates

The Judge Advisor will walk you through the process to determine Inspire Award candidates. Teams
who are contenders for the Think Award, a Team Attributes award, and a Machine, Creativity and
Innovation award will be added to the Inspire Award candidate list.

Final Deliberations
Once the pit interviews are completed, Judges return to the deliberation room, and the Judges will be
asked to rank the teams using the award criteria and the results of the pit interviews, match
observations, and where applicable, portfolio evaluations

The Judge Advisor will walk you through the final selections of the teams for each award that will be
presented at the event.

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Judges should keep in mind that they can consider content in the portfolio that is relevant to the
current season, and information that a team shares with them during their interview processes. This
could include stories from previous seasons that a team shares to illustrate their growth. If a Judge has
knowledge about a team from previous events or previous seasons that is outside of what a team has
shared during the event, the information is not relevant to the judging process and should not be a part
of the judging discussion.

During the final deliberation process, it is good practice to advocate

graciously and compromise readily.

Judges Choice Award

During the interview process, you may encounter a team that has special qualities that fall outside of
the award criteria but are inspiring and worthy of celebration. If your Event Director has arranged for
Judges Choice awards, your Judge Advisor will ask you to nominate teams in that category.
Recognition Principles
When determining which teams will be recognized with awards, your Judge Advisor will walk you
through listing them. Judges will work together to determine a ranking order for each team in each
award category, except the Inspire Award.
After teams are ranked, the Judge Advisor will walk you through helping to decide which team will be
recognized as the Inspire Award winner. That team will be removed from every other award list.
Depending upon the event size, the Judge Advisor may move to the Think Award decision or may ask
you to determine an Inspire Award 2nd place team. This process will follow the order outlined in section
4 of the Competition Manual. The Judge Advisor will move down the list of teams, in the order they
would advance, determine an award winner for each category, and then remove that team from all
other award categories. The goal is to identify fine examples of teams that meet the award guidelines,
and to celebrate and inspire as many teams at the event as possible.
Teams should not be named as the winner or as a finalist for more than one judged award. Teams may
receive a competition award and a judged award.
The Award Script
Teams are recognized at the playoffs and awards ceremony. This is likely to be held in between the
double elimination matches at the end of the day. Award scripts are written for the team’s positive
qualities and do not recognize the hardships a team may have overcome. The message to the teams
and the audience about each award winner should be an uplifting one.

Judges write the award scripts. It can be helpful to read them aloud to make sure they are easy to read
by the Emcee and should include the key reason the team has received the award.
There is a standard format for the award script. A good award script is usually three sentences.
1. Sentence one could apply to many teams but includes a subtle hint.
2. Sentence two has a hint that the winning team might understand.
3. Sentence three has a bigger hint, leaving the team somewhat sure who it is, but is not 100%
positive.
4. The last sentence is “And the award goes to...”
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Judges may use AI to help write their award script, and the script should offer credit to AI for helping to
write the script.
Team Interaction and Support
When interacting with teams please always consider the team’s perspective. The teams have put
significant time and effort into preparing for this event and may be feeling very stressed about
everything working out as they have planned. Today is a very big deal for the team and we are here to
help!
While it is our job to help guide the teams to a successful event, it is their responsibility to follow the
rules and be on time for judging and matches.
If you feel there is an issue with an individual or individuals from a team that warrants specific
intervention beyond just a kind reminder, please ensure the correct stakeholders for the team are
aware. Here is a generally acceptable process when working with a student or team who you need to
change their behavior:

The ABCs of Managing Team Behaviors

Do not directly reprimand a student one-on-one without an adult

from their team present. Ask the student to bring an adult who is
Ask for an Adult
responsible for the team to meet you, before moving forward with
any discussion about the concerns at hand.

Is the environment conducive for the feedback you are about to

Be aware of the give? Is it loud in the area where you are? Are there other teams
Environment around that may hear the reprimand? Moving the conversation to
a quieter, more private space as needed can be helpful.
(Offer a) Clear Explain the concern to the team and offer clear examples of the
Explanation behavior that is concerning.
Offer the opportunity for students and adults to ask clarifying
Discuss any Questions
questions
Outline with the students and adults what the next steps are if the
Explain Next Steps issue is not corrected. Certain behaviors may include the risk of
yellow cards

Note: the only person at an event who can give an official warning or
issue a yellow/red card is the Head Referee. Please refer these more
severe issues to the Head Referee and notify the Program Delivery
Partner.

In your role as a Judge, you should not directly consider any negative feedback about any teams from
volunteers or other teams because it is not possible to know all the contributing factors around such a
complaint or observation. That information will be handled by the Judge Advisor (JA) working with the
Event Director and FIRST HQ as needed. If there are issues which are repeated or egregious follow the
Non-Medical Incident Reporting process and inform the Program Delivery Partner.

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Teams may only be completely disqualified from awards consideration for very rare egregious actions
and only with approval from FIRST HQ. The Event Director and/or JA should call the on-call number to
discuss the issue.
Safety
An important priority for all volunteers is to observe their event areas to help promote a safe and
orderly space for all the participants. It is likely that various volunteers and event participants will bring
concerns to your attention, but you should also be proactive in identifying areas of concern.
Prioritize working with teams to help identify and correct potential safety issues in the area. Please
review the section about Team Interaction and Support for the best ways to work with teams on
making changes.

Safety Glasses and Closed Toe Shoes

All volunteers, teams, coach/mentors, and spectators are required to have safety glasses and wear
closed toe shoes while in the pit and competition areas. It is important to watch out for anyone entering
these areas without proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and to ask them to put on proper PPE
before entering. Some events will have volunteers staffed at the pit entrance with spare safety glasses
to pass out. Other events may not have spares to provide.
End of the Day
At the end of the day, you will gather all your notes and give them to the Judge Advisor for secure
disposal. Please do not discuss the judging deliberation process with teams or other volunteers.
You will attend the playoffs and awards ceremony, either as a participant or as an observer. After the
event is over, you can celebrate the positive impact you made on the students you interacted with.

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Important Tools
Public Schedule
You will receive the public schedule from the Volunteer Coordinator or the Judge Advisor. You will also
be provided with the times you must report back to the deliberation room, and the time that all awards
must be decided. This schedule will have a high-level overview of all the activities for the event. It is
important that everyone at the event does their best to stay true to the public schedule so that teams
and volunteers who have planned their day around these times have a good experience.

Figure 1: Sample Public Schedule for a Typical FIRST Tech Challenge Event

Time Agenda
7:15am Doors Open for Volunteers
8:00am Doors Open for Teams
8:30am Judging & Inspection Commences
10:35am Inspection Deadline
10:40am Opening Ceremony & Driver’s Meeting
11:00am Qualification Matches Commence
12:00am Lunch Time
12:30pm Qualification Matches Resume
3:15pm Alliance Selection
3:45pm Elimination Matches
5:30pm Closing Ceremony, Awards and Advancement Announcement

On occasion things that happen out of the event’s control may impact the schedule. In these cases,
your Judge Advisor will provide you with updates to the agenda.

Event Layout/Map
The Program Delivery Partner and Event Director should publish a map of the venue before the event. In
some cases, details on the map might not be available until the day of the event.
The event layout map should detail the following:
• Load-In Path
• Parking for personal vehicles and busses
• Team Check-in
• Volunteer Check-in
• Competition Area
• Pit Area (may include the Pit Map)
• Judging Room Locations (if applicable)
• Safety Details as available (emergency exits, AED, shelter in place locations)

Judging Schedule
The judging schedule will be provided by the Volunteer Coordinator or the Judge Advisor.

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Match Schedule
The match list will be generated the day of the event after the teams have been confirmed. This
schedule will list which teams will play in which Alliance (Red or Blue) and it will also list a match start
time see Figure 2. Some events will have more than one competition field and/or division, and each
division will have its own schedule. The match list will help you to know when teams are most likely to
be in their pit area or on the competition field, which will help you with pit interviews.

Figure 2: Example Match Schedule

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Pit Map
Pit maps are typically provided by the Volunteer Coordinator or the Judge Advisor. Having a map of
where each team is in the pit is key, as teams, parents, Judges, or Queuers might need to locate a
specific team. Below are two sample pit maps in Figure 3 and Figure 4:

Figure 3:Example Pit Map for a small12-team Qualifier Event

Figure 4: Example Pit Map for a Typical Regional Championship Event

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Useful Links and Information

Program Resources

FIRST Tech Challenge Website Event Search

Game and Season Resources FIRST Tech Challenge Blog

Volunteer Resources Team Email Blasts

Feedback
We strive to create support materials that are the best they can be. If you have feedback about this
manual, please email [email protected]. Thank you!

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