Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
Inspiring students, one robot at a time.

This Q&A is now read-only

2498: Multi-Page Innovate Submission


8056A
3-Feb-2025

I was the JA at an event where a team included their own version of the Innovate Award form, but it was multi-page (3+). From my reading of the Guide to Judging and the Innovate Form itself, there is nothing that prohibits basically saying "continued on back" or creating an identical version of the form where the fields are much longer (multi-page).

Questions:

  1. Is a multi-page form submission permissible? If so, should it be stated clearly what the page limitations are since that may be unfair to teams that believed (through implication) that the form must be single page.
  2. If a team just creates a separate multi-page "appendix" or section specifically for the innovate submission, and then simply refers to that in the innovate form, would that be acceptable? This seems like the "right" way to do it.

FYI, for that particular event, we were a bit reluctant to DQ the form on a "technicality", but were relieved to dodge the issue since there were unanimously agreed upon stronger candidates anyway.

Answered by Competition Judging Committee
3-Feb-2025
  1. Is a multi-page form submission permissible? If so, should it be stated clearly what the page limitations are since that may be unfair to teams that believed (through implication) that the form must be single page.

A multi-page form would not be permissible. A recreation of the form should take up approximately one page. The intent of the Innovate Award Submission Form, which is reflected in its length, is to provide a brief summary and explanation of what aspect the team is submitting, and show where it could be found in the notebook. It is a reference tool for Judges to know what to look for and where to look when evaluating a team for the Innovate Award. It is not the intent for this form to provide an abundance of explanation or content. The Engineering Notebook is the proper place for that information.

A multi-page version of the Innovate Award Submission Form would suggest that much more original content, explanation, and/or context is being provided beyond the intent of the form.

  1. If a team just creates a separate multi-page "appendix" or section specifically for the innovate submission, and then simply refers to that in the innovate form, would that be acceptable? This seems like the "right" way to do it.

The Innovate Award Submission form referring to notebook content is acceptable.