Hi Friend,

 
Program Updates, Deadlines & Reminders 
 
Reminder! Payment deadline for Additional Events: Payment is due Tuesday, January 31, 2023, at 5:00PM Eastern Time to the FIRST® Finance Department for all rookie and veteran teams registered for additional Regional Event(s) or District Event(s) for the 2023 season.  Please contact FIRST Finance at 1-800-871-8326 ext. 563 or send an email with any questions you have about payment.
 
FIRST Choice: Regular Ordering opens Thursday, January 26, 2023, at 12:00PM Eastern Time. The open ordering phase of FIRST Choice is a traditional first come, first-serve ordering process. Teams add items to their carts and check-out using credits remaining after the priority list phases. FIRST Choice closes on April 13, 2023.
 
Reminder! Award Submissions: The 2023 FIRST Impact Award, Dean's List Award, and Woodie Flowers Award application portals are open. The Woodie Flowers Award and the Dean’s List Award applications will close on Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 3:00PM ET. The FIRST Impact Award application will close on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 3:00PM ET. Please visit the Submitted Awards page for more information.
 
Team Resources: Last week, we shared this blog that covered community resources available to teams (including the Robot in 3 Days, Open Alliance, and the Everybot) and this week, we shared some resources that FIRST has created to help teams with wiring, bumpers, and more. Be sure to review these resources if you need a little help.
 
 
FIRST Updates
 
Youth Team Members Registration: All Youth Team Members are required to complete the online youth registration to participate in FIRST remote and in-person team meetings, events, or competitions. Please contact or direct parent/guardians to contact Team Support for help.
 
 
Community Engagement 
 
DriveWorks Webinar: FIRST® Robotics Competition sponsor, DriveWorks, is hosting a free webinar on Thursday, January 26, at 7:00PM Eastern Time! The webinar will cover three ways to build a better robot with DriveWorks Solo, a program that is free to all teams this season (thank you DriveWorks!). Read more about the event and sign up here. Please note: By registering, you may be asked to supply personal data to the event organizer, and this data will be subject to the organizer's privacy policy. You should review the organizer's privacy policy and understand how your data will be used before participating in the event.
 
Just a few days left! We want to feature your teams at an event this season! Teams can submit videos for the opportunity to be highlighted at a 2023 FIRST® Robotics Competition event. Choose one or more of the following and make a video that is 20 seconds or less and submit it into this form. Videos must be submitted by January 31, 2023:  
  • Show us your craziest or weirdest non-traditional application of your robot (e.g., dance moves, pizza delivery, etc.)         
  • Show us your team pets (bonus points for pets in team apparel*)   
  • *Actually, there are no points, but we would still love to see it!  
  • Show us your most creative Mascot Dance Moves              
  • Show us your team's favorite cheer     
  • Show us your most unique robot/mechanism fails (e.g., prototype works opposite of how you thought, robot drives in wrong direction, etc.) 
 
As always, we are here to help. Please contact our Customer Support Team with any questions.   
 
 
Sincerely,  
 
FIRST® Robotics Competition Team Support