Award Information

Description:
This award is the top award presented at The Governor’s Cup, and encompasses community outreach, team dynamics, relationship with schools and sponsors, enthusiasm for STEM, technical abilities, and on-field performance. This award places emphasis on recent accomplishments, both on and off the field, and robot performance at the Governor’s Cup will be considered when selecting the winning teams.
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Three teams will be awarded The Governor’s Award, with the graduating seniors on the winning teams receiving a voucher for a semester of tuition at a NH university system college or university. One deserving team will be selected from the North, Central, and Southern regions of New Hampshire.
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See below for more information on the tuition vouchers and participating schools.

Description:
Celebrates outstanding demonstration of FIRST Core Values such as continuous Gracious Professionalism® working together both on and off the playing field.

Guidelines:

• This team has found unique and impactful ways to support the community

• This team maintains communication with sponsors, their school, and the FIRST community

• This team has spread positivity and their desire to help others is prevalent

Description:
Celebrates the team that progresses beyond safety fundamentals by using innovative ways to eliminate or protect against hazards.

Guidelines:

• The team displays obvious enthusiasm for FIRST and for their team

• Spirit is part of the team and is apparent in their community, at their school, with sponsors, and other teams

• They act and function as a unified team

Description:
During the course of the event, the judging panel may decide a team’s unique efforts, performance, or dynamics merit recognition.
 
Guidelines:

• The positive aspects of the team are apparent to the judges

• A unique happening or feature (often one that demonstrates the team has fully embraced the principles of FIRST) has caught a judge’s attention

• This team is deserving of an award but does not fit into the other award categories

Description:
Celebrates creativity in design, use of a component, or strategy of play.

Description:
Celebrates the team that progresses beyond safety fundamentals by using innovative ways to eliminate or protect against hazards.

Description:
Celebrates attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance.

Description:
New for 2024, students please nominate a mentor from your team for the "Lilac Award"! 

The Lilac Award honors an FRC mentor who embodies the essence of mentorship, offering guidance, support, and inspiration to help others grow. Through their wisdom and leadership, they make a lasting impact, empowering those they mentor to reach their full potential. Woodie is the Flowers of FIRST, and the Lilac is the flower of NH. 

Please complete the nomination form at:  Lilac Nomination Form​

Deadline for the entries is October 12 at 11:59pm

Description:
A number of $2,000 individual scholarships will be awarded to eligible seniors nominated by their mentors. These individual scholarships are made possible by generous sponsorships by area businesses.
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A NH FRC team may nominate up to two seniors from their team, and a brief nomination write-up must be submitted by an active mentor on the team who is unrelated to the student being nominated. For these write-ups, we are not looking for a lengthy essay; rather a short paragraph or two that describe why the nominated student is worthy of the scholarship award will be sufficient.
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Also, if the student is needs-based, please provide a general description of the need. For example, something like the following may be added:

• Would be a first generation college student from their family.

• As a Title 1 school, we know this student makes use of those services and could really use this scholarship.

 
That is the type of entry we are looking for. Please understand that needs based is only one thing being considered, so those who are not needs-based have a good chance as well. 
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Please complete the nomination form at:  Scholarship Nomination Form
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Deadline for the entries is October 12 at 11:59pm
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Participating Colleges and Universities:

• Granite State College

• Great Bay Community College

• Keene State College

• Lakes Region Community College

• Manchester Community College

• Nashua Community College

• NHTI-Concord’s Community College

• Plymouth State University

• River Valley Community College

• University of New Hampshire at Manchester

• University of New Hampshire Main Campus (Durham)

• White Mountains Community College

 
Students must go through the regular admission process and be accepted by the institution.
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The scholarship must be used within one year from the date of the competition.
To be eligible the student must be a participant of the 2024/25 FIRST Robotics Competition season.
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*For students enrolling at a NH community college: The recipient will receive a $2000 scholarship towards tuition and tuition-related fees. Tuition-related fees are fees that are directly tied to a course, for example lab fees and comprehensive fees. Examples of fees NOT related to tuition would be housing, parking fine, late fee, conduct fine. Please direct questions to College Bursar’s Office

Semester Tuition Waiver Information:
In keeping with his mission to build New Hampshire’s workforce for “not just tomorrow but for five, ten, twenty years”, Governor Chris Sununu has worked with the University System of New Hampshire (USNH)  and the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH) to offer a waiver of tuition for one semester of full-time study at any of the institutions within  USNH or CCSNH for the high school seniors on the Governor’s Award winning teams.
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About the Semester Tuition Waiver:
Seniors on the winning teams are eligible for waiver of the tuition costs for one semester of full-time study at any of the institutions listed below.  To be eligible for the waiver, students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form.  The tuition waiver will be applied after any grants and scholarships the student receives.  The waiver is “last-dollar” and will be applied to tuition only, it will not be applied to other costs such as books, room and board, fees or other costs of attendance.* 
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Participating Colleges and Universities:

• Granite State College

• Great Bay Community College

• Keene State College

• Lakes Region Community College

• Manchester Community College

• Nashua Community College

• NHTI-Concord’s Community College

• Plymouth State University

• River Valley Community College

• University of New Hampshire at Manchester

• University of New Hampshire Main Campus (Durham)

• White Mountains Community College

 
Students must go through the regular admission process and be accepted by the institution.
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The tuition waiver must be used within one year from the date of the competition.
To be eligible the student must be a participant of the 2024/25 FIRST Robotics Competition season.
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*For students enrolling at a NH community college: The recipient will receive a waiver for tuition and tuition-related fees that exceed the amount of grants and scholarships awarded to the student. This means that the student will first apply grants and scholarships to the tuition cost, and any tuition balance remaining will be waived by the college. Tuition-related fees are fees that are directly tied to a course, for example lab fees and comprehensive fees. Examples of fees NOT related to tuition would be housing, parking fine, late fee, conduct fine. Please direct questions to College Bursar’s Office