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FIRST Tech Challenge Alberta: Dean's List and Judging Information

FIRST Tech Challenge Alberta: Dean's List and Judging Information

 

FIRST Tech Challenge

December 8, 2025 | firstalberta.ca

Hello and bonjour teams,


Just a few reminders for you this week:

  1. Dean’s List
  2. Tournament Judging
  3. Compass Award
  4. Advancement to the Alberta Championship

Dean’s List

A reminder that nominations for Dean’s List Semi-Finalists are due on December 15th!


If you are wondering what Dean’s List is and how do I submit it, please check out our November 5th Mentor Meeting on our website.


If you have already nominated your student or are going to nominate a student, please use this When2Meet link to indicate any times you and your student would be available for their interview. This helps us ensure we have the right number of volunteers in the right time slots to accommodate you best. Please understand that we are also working to match with the schedules of volunteers. Please use the nominee’s first name and last initial as the name for the availability submission.

 

Tournament Judging

This year, we will be utilizing FTC Scoring for our judging process. 


For all tournaments (including the Alberta Championship), we are asking for mentors to upload their team’s portfolio using the tools on FTC Scoring. You will only be able to upload a PDF 15MB or less and you must do it before the deadline as it will automatically close. This will be set to 1 week before each tournament. For a guide to FTC Scoring, please see this Coach Guide.


For the Interleague Tournaments, teams will also attend their virtual interviews through this tool. Schedules will be created by the Judge Advisor for your event using availability input given through the When2Meet tool:

Please use your team number as the name for your availability submission. Please submit as soon as possible or by January 10th, 2026 so we can ensure we have the volunteer Judges to accommodate your availability to the best of our ability.


You can use the FTC Scoring Coach guide for further guidance on how to join your team's scheduled interview.


For the Buffalo Jump Qualifier teams, judging will take place in person. We are looking to complete interviews for 8 teams on the evening of Friday, January 30th. We will open the practice fields to those who come in. Please email Charlie (charlie@firstalberta.ca) if you are interested.


Compass Award

The Compass Award recognizes an adult coach or mentor who has given outstanding guidance and support to a team throughout the year and demonstrates to the team what it means to be a Gracious Professional. The winner of the Compass Award will be chosen from candidates nominated by FIRST Tech Challenge student team members, via a 40-60 second video submission. The video must highlight how their mentor has helped them become an inspirational team. We want to hear what sets the mentor apart. 


Teams must submit their nomination by January 15, 2026, before midnight by sharing their video using Google Drive to ftcmedia@firstalberta.ca. Please, make sure to include your Team Number and Team Name as part of your submission. Students or mentors may make this submission on behalf of their team.


The Compass Award will be awarded at the Alberta Championship in March. All nominations will be acknowledged at the League Tournament. 


Please, share with your students. We do not have a way to communicate with them directly and they are the one that can nominate you. We rely on mentors to help students nominate our next Compass Award winner for Alberta!


Advancement to the Alberta Championship

We are happy to provide you with numbers for advancement from each tournament to the Alberta Championship. Our goal is to balance the number of spots based on the goal of the tournament and the number of teams competing in each tournament. These numbers will only change if teams withdraw from the season in an effort to maintain balance.

  • Inukshuk Interleague Tournament: 11 spots
  • Nii’miis’stii Interleague Tournament: 10 spots
  • Naa’miis’stii Interleague Tournament: 8 spots
  • Buffalo Jump Qualifying Tournament: 3 spots

Questions?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us! We are here to help. Unless you have a specific question for one of us, please feel free to use the generic FIRST Tech Challenge leadership team email (firsttechchallenge@firstalberta.ca) so you can get a faster response from one of our dedicated members.

Your FIRST Tech Challenge Alberta Leadership Team