A New Team Judging Experience for the FIRST Championship

Get ready, teams! We are thrilled to announce a fresh, dynamic judging format for FIRST^® Tech Challenge at the 2026 FIRST^® Championship. We are moving away from the traditional closed-room setup and bringing the conversation right to where the action happens: your team’s pit.

This new format is designed to be more fluid, engaging, and reflective of the energy of the competition. Here is everything you need to know to prepare your team for the spotlight.

The Pit Interview: No Room, No Schedule, All Heart

The biggest shift this year is the move to pit-based Initial Interviews. Instead of heading to a meeting room, the Judges are coming to you.

• Spontaneous Connection: Initial interviews will not be scheduled in advance.
• Share Your Story: After the initial questions, you’ll have the opportunity to share the highlights of your team’s season. Judges will also ask follow-up questions to dig deeper into your journey.
• The Format: When a Judging Panel visits your pit for the first time, they will invite you to share your presentation, if you have one. Then, they will ask your team two specific questions. To help your team feel confident, these questions are listed in Competition Manual Section 15.
• Timing: Expect these initial visits to last approximately 10 minutes.

The Judging Timeline

To ensure you don't miss your chance to shine, it’s your team’s responsibility to do your best to be available to meet with the Judges. Judges will do their best to find you, and work around your match schedule, but all teams are encouraged to keep a representative in their pit as much as possible to help coordinate with the Judges. (“Hi, we just finished a match and the team will be back in 5 mins, can you come back?”)

Teams should be aware when Judges will be in the pits and make a plan to be available:

Times when Judges will possibly be in the pits are noted on the Event Public Schedule . Judges follow your division's schedule. When your division is at lunch, the Judges are too—so you can take a breather then!

Meet Your Judges

Your Judging Panel will consist of a dynamic duo:

1. Team Attribute Expert: Focused on your outreach, growth, sustainability, and "beyond the bot" impact.
2. Technical Expert: Focused on the machine, creativity, and innovation.

Digital Portfolios

We are streamlining the paperwork. Teams will be required to submit their portfolios online ahead of the event. We will not be able to accept portfolios submitted at the event. Portfolio Judges will review them before the event to get a head start on learning about your incredible work. Portfolio submission instructions can be found in the FTC Scoring – Team and Coach Guide. The portfolio submission window is March 27^th – April 6^th, 11:59 PM CDT.

Division Level Awards

All awards are evaluated and given at the Division level and announced during the Division Playoff Matches. This means more opportunities for your hard work to be recognized on the world stage. The overall event winning Inspire Award will be selected from one of the six Division Inspire Award Winners.  

Have Questions?

We know attending the FIRST Championship can be a big step regardless of if this is your first time or you’ve attended recently, and we want you to feel prepared. For more details about the changes to judging, please refer to the latest version of the Competition Manual Section 15 and Team Update 28.

Additional information about the FIRST Championship can be found on the FIRST Championship Website and in the FIRST Tech Challenge Event Guide.

For follow-up rules questions please use the Team Q&A and for FIRST Championship logistics questions please email customerservice@firstinspires.org.

Additional updates related to the field and game play will be covered in a future blog and Team Update.

We can't wait to see your innovation and passion on display in the pits. See you at the FIRST Championship!