Revision History
Revision
Description
Initial 2025-26 Season Release
• Added “Interview Timeline” section
• Added “Editing Interview Dates” section
Removed France and Cyprus from number of advancing finalists
Removed Puerto Rico from international list, as they are part of
the USA.
Remove South Carolina from 2 finalists list in Advancing number
of finalists – North America. SC has 3 spots as indicated on list
Replaced “Dean’s List Award” with “FIRST® Leadership Award”
throughout document
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What is theFIRST® Tech Challenge Leadership Award?
The FIRST® Leadership Award recognizes the dedication and individual contributions of outstanding
secondary school students participating on FIRST® Tech Challenge or FIRST® Robotics Competition
teams. Students in 10th or 11th grade are eligible to be nominated by their team for
the FIRST® Leadership Award for excelling in areas such as leadership, entrepreneurship, and dedication
to advancing the mission of FIRST® within their communities. There are three (3) levels
of FIRST® Leadership Award students.
– comprised of the two (2) students in their 10th or
11th school year nominated by each team.
- The students selected for each regional championship.
- comprised of the ten (10) FIRST® Robotics Competition and
ten (10) FIRST® Tech Challenge students selected from the applicable FIRST® Leadership
AwardFinalists.
The students who earn FIRST® Leadership Awardstatus as either a Semi-finalist, Finalist or Winner,
are great examples of student leaders who have led their teams and communities to increased
awareness for FIRST® and its mission, champion FIRST® Core Values such asInclusion, and
embody Gracious Professionalism®. It is the goal of FIRST that FIRST® Leadership AwardWinners will
continue, post-award, as great leaders,student alumni, and advocates of FIRST®.
In 2019, theWoodie Flowers Memorial Grantwas established for FIRST® Leadership AwardWinners
pursuing STEAM fields of study. This grant is awarded to a student selected from among the prior
year’s FIRST® Robotics Competition and FIRST® Tech Challenge Leadership Awardwinners.
Student Eligibility
Every registered FIRST® Tech Challenge team can submit up to two (2) students as FIRST® Leadership
Award semi-finalists.
• Students must be a sophomore (grade 10) or junior (grade 11) to be eligible for this award.
o Note: For regions of the world that do not use grade levels such as this to identify years
of schooling: This award is intended for students who are two (2) to three (3) years away
from entering college or university. Students that would be attending college or
university in the next academic year are not eligible. Mentors will be asked for the year of
graduation during the nomination process.
• The coach or mentor nominating the student(s) must submit an essay explaining why the
student should receive this award. The essay must be 4,000 characters or less.
FIRSTLeadership Award Criteria
Criteria for selection of the FIRST® Leadership Award shall include, but not be limited to a student’s:
• Demonstrated leadership and commitment to the FIRST® Core Values
• Effectiveness at increasing awareness of FIRST® in their school and community
• Demonstrates passion for a long-term commitment to FIRST®
• Individual contributions to their team contribute to the overall success of the team
• Proven experience in areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
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• The student is a role model and can motivate and lead fellow team members
Important FIRST® Leadership Award Season Dates
FIRSTLeadership Award Important Dates
September 6, 2025 Nominations open
December 15, 2025 Nominations due
February 15, 2026
Finalist selections due to FIRST®
Various
RCMP’s announce finalists
April 2026
Winners announced at FIRST® Championship
FIRSTLeadership Award Events
New in the 2025-2026 season, Program Delivery Partners are no longer required to create their own
FIRST® Leadership Award Interview event. Events will be created by FIRST® for all regions prior to Kickoff.
All regions will follow the same deadline for all FIRST® Leadership Award nominations, as outlined in the
next section.
Program Delivery Partners, however, must access their FIRST® Leadership Award event using the FIRST®
Tech Challenge scoring system to set up the window in which the region will be holding interviews. The
interview windows must only happen within the date ranges of December 15, 2025 through February
15th, 2026. Please be aware that Finalists are due to FIRST® on February 15th, so interviews should be
schedule prior to this date to provide enough time for finalist selection.
To select the window for your region, please see FIRST Leadership Award Events – Editing
Interview Dates section of this document for step-by-step instructions.
What is the Deadline for Team Nominations?
The deadline for all teams to nominate students is December 15th, 2025 at 11:59pm Eastern time.
All regions will have a
nomination deadline of
December 15th at
11:59pm eastern time.
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Interview Timeline
Nominations Due
Interview Window
Interview Window
Interview Window
Finalists Due
FIRSTLeadership Award Evaluation Structure
The chart below is a visual aid to show how each category feeds into specific levels of competition,
starting with the coach making the nominations. FIRST® Leadership Award interviewers are responsible
for interviewing semi-finalists (nominees). Interviews are done either in person at a traditional event, or
remotely (this will be region dependent, please check with your local program delivery partner). The
FIRST® Leadership Award reviewer will then review the nominations and the interviewer notes within a
state/region to determine which students will move to the next level as FIRST® Leadership Award
finalists. Depending upon the size of the region, there will be 2-4 FIRST® Leadership Award finalists
within each state or region (see
| Number of Teams | Number of Finalists |
| 0 – 49 | 2 |
| 50 – 139 | 3 |
| 140 + | 4 |
NOTE: The pins will be mailed in December
| 2 Finalists | 3 Finalists | 4 Finalists |
| • Alabama • Alaska • Arkansas • Connecticut • Delaware • Four Corners • Hawaii • Idaho • Kentucky • Louisiana • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • Newfoundland and Labrador • New Mexico • New York – Long Island • North Dakota • Puerto Rico • Quebec, Canada • Rhode Island • South Carolina • Tennessee • Texas – South* • Utah • Vermont • Wyoming | • Alberta, Canada • Arizona • British Columbia, Canada • California – San Diego • Colorado • Indiana • Mexico • Mississippi • New Hampshire • New York – Excelsior • New York – NYC • Ohio • Oklahoma • Ontario, Canada • Oregon • South Carolina • Texas – West and Panhandle* • Wisconsin | • California – LA • California – NorCal • Chesapeake • Florida • Georgia • Illinois • Iowa • Massachusetts • Minnesota • Missouri • New Jersey • North Carolina • Pennsylvania • Texas – Central* • Texas - Houston • Texas – North* • Washington |
tournaments. The awards scripts created for the Emcee include a script for the FIRST® Leadership
Award semi-finalists.
However, inviting students to the stage should not be done at a Regional Championship Tournament.
Since Finalists are announced at the State/Region Championship, the Semi-finalist(s) that do not
advance should not have to walk off the stage after not moving to the next level. Only do this at
Qualifying Tournaments or League Tournaments.
Finalist Recognition Certificates
Each Finalist should receive a certificate in honor of their achievements. FIRST® will send out the
appropriate number of finalist certificates to each region along with certificate folders to present to the
finalists at the award ceremonies. The event host or PDP will need to fill in the finalist’s name and the
date of the event prior to passing out the certificate. If you have not received blank certificates, please
emailFTC-LeadershipAward@firstinspires.org.
NOTE: The certificates will be mailed in December
| 2 Finalists | 3 Finalists | 4 Finalists |
| • Chinese Taipei • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Indonesia • Italy • Lithuania • Malaysia • Morocco • New Zealand • Nigeria • Poland • Qatar • Saudi Arabia • Thailand • Vietnam | • Australia • Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) • Brazil • China • DoD • India • Israel • Jamaica • Libya • Republic of Korea • South Africa • Türkiye | • Kazakhstan • Romania • United Kingdon and Ireland |
Judges Portal Instructions
Review Nominations
Link to Portal:https://my.firstinspires.org/Judging/
• Click “Login” at the upper righthand corner. This will redirect to the www.firstinspires.org
login page.
• Log in using your username and password for your www.firstinspires.orgaccount.
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• Once logged in, click “FTC – Leadership Award”
• Click “Edit/View” to access the nominations for the event.
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• Click “Details” to access each individual nomination
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• The student information, along with the essay from the coach will be shown on this screen.
Make sure to read through the nomination essay prior to interviewing each student.
• NEW! Preferred Name – If the student has a preferred name, it will be listed in parenthesis
next to their legal name.
Important:If a preferred name is present, please be sure to use the
preferred name when addressing the student during their interview.
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Select Finalists
• Locate the regional championship event from the Judges Portal and click “Edit/View”.
• The finalist must be selected in the portal to be reported to FIRST®. Select each finalist from
the dropdown and click “save”.
Finalists will receive a notification email from FIRST® after the event has taken place, and after the
student has been announced as a finalist at the regional championship.
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FIRSTLeadership Award Events – Editing Interview Dates
To edit the dates in your FIRST® Leadership Award Interview event, follow these steps:
- Select your region using the hyperlink once you are logged in.
- Select your FIRST® Leadership Award Interviews event
from the event list. Note that prior to
selecting your interview date window, this will show “Unscheduled”.
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- Once the FIRST® Leadership Award Interviews event
is selected, the following popup window will
appear. Enter the interview start date, interviews end date, and your local time zone.
Some important things to consider when selecting your dates:
a. If the date range is more than 7 days, only the last 7 days will be visible in VMS, Event
Search Results, and in the Volunteer dashboard.
b. Finalists are due to FIRST® on February 15th, 2026. Make sure to provide enough time for
interviews to be completed, and for the FIRST® Leadership Award Reviewers to make
Finalists selections prior to the deadline.
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- Click “Save”.
- If the interview dates
selected are more than 7 days, only a 7 day window counting back from
the end date will be shown
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Useful Links and Information
On-Call Support Numbers
On-Call Support
These numbers are for volunteer support only. Teams should not use these numbers
to call about rulings or technical assistance.
Administrative, Judge, Referee and Non-Technical Issues:
(603)206-2412
Scoring System (FTC Live) or other Technical Issues:
(603)206-2450
Call or use the built-in chat feature on FTC Live available for events with internet
access
Pre-Event Support
Mon – Fri
8:30am – 5:00pm Eastern Time (UTC-4 or UTC-5)
Contact Supportincluding live chat or emailcustomerservice@firstinspires.org
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 emailcustomerservice@firstinspires.orgor bycontacting support. Thank you!
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