| Qualifying Event |
| <QC1A> | Must follow rules and guidelines outlined in RECF governing documents |
| <QC1B> | Open, School-Based, Conference, Invitational Tournament, or a League |
| <QC1C> | Visible for at least one week prior to opening for registration |
| <QC1D> | Teams must be registered and paid on RECFEvents.org for the current season. |
| <QC1E> | Minimum of 16 teams for RECF ACHIEVE and RECF INSPIRE Robotics Competitions |
| <QC1F> | No one organization may have more than 33% of the registered teams. |
| <QC1G> | Must have a Certified Head Referee and a Certified Judge Advisor |
| <QC1H> | May utilize a Waitlist |
| <QC1I> | RSM may enable or disable Early Bird Registration |
| <QC1J> | Results uploaded and finalized to RECFEvents.org within 48 hours of completion |
| <QC1K> | Specific payment policies and procedures |
| <QC1L> | Must offer a maximum of three (3) Driving and three (3) Coding Solo Match attempts to each team |
| <QC1M> | Must offer the Excellence Award, Design Award, Innovate Award, and Judges Award at events with judging. |
| <QC1N> | All teams must be given the opportunity to be interviewed at events with judging. |
| <QC1O> | An Engineering Notebook and Judging interview is required to win any judged award. |
| <QC1P> | If no team at an event meets an award's criteria, that award should not be given out. |
| <QC1Q> | Qualifying Events for the current season may begin on or after June 1, 2026. |
| <QC1R> | The deadline to host a Qualifying Event is two (2) weeks before an Event Region Championship. |
| <QC1S> | Must be posted on RECFEvents.org by December 1, 2025, and be open for registration at least eight (8) weeks in advance of the event. |
| <QC1T> | The RECF RSM will ultimately determine the allocation each qualifying event is assigned within an Event Region. |
| <QC1U> | If a team double qualifies, the spot will be awarded to the team of the same grade level with the next highest solo match score who did not win a qualifying award at that event. |
| <QC1V> | Teams from outside the Event Region are eligible to receive any performance-based or judged awards offered at the event. |
| Open Tournament |
| <QC2A> | Open to any registered team, has alliance and elimination/finals matches, and may or may not include judging. |
| School-Based Tournament |
| <QC3A> | Only school based organizations (public/ private/charter) as indicated in RECFEvents.org can register for these events. |
| <QC3B> | May or may not include judging |
| <QC3C> | No requirement to host an Open Tournament before hosting a School-Based Tournament |
| <QC3D> | Be held within the same season as an Open Tournament with organizational or team percentage registration restrictions |
| <QC3E> | Be in the same program and age group |
| <QC3F> | No one organization may have more than 33% of the registered teams. |
| Invitational Tournament |
| <QC4A> | Each Event Partner is permitted to host exactly one Invitational Tournament after they host another Open Tournament of equal or greater size that follows all registration restrictions. |
| <QC4B> | Be held within the same season as an Open Tournament. |
| <QC4C> | Be in the same program and age group |
| <QC4D> | Must have alliance matches. |
| <QC4E> | Are not bound to the 33% organization requirement. |
| JROTC Invitational Event |
| <QC5A> | Must only have JROTC-affiliated teams competing in order to qualify for the National Championship. |
| <QC5B> | May also qualify teams to an Event Region Championship |
| RECF INSPIRE Robotics Competition Event |
| <QC6A> | Tournaments cannot be Invitational. |
| <QC6B> | Minimum of 8 teams |
| <QC6C> | Must be approved by the appropriate RECF RSM |
| <QC6D> | May run Driving Solo Matches and Coding Solo Matches at RECF ACHIEVE events |
| <QC6E> | An award not given out, or a double qualifier exists the spot(s) will go to the next spot on the qualifying award chart. |
| <QC6F> | May qualify directly to their respective World Championship from any qualifying event regardless of event region |
| <QC6G> | World Championship spots allocated to Signature Events in a region may impact that region’s at-large World Championship spots. |
| <QC6H> | Various factors are taken into consideration when pulling teams from the World Championship Waitlist. |
| <QC6I> | Must have competed in a qualifying event or have a score recorded in the world solo match standings to be invited to the RECF STEM World Championship. |
| <QC6J> | All events will be set to open for registration immediately, and will close at least one week prior to the event date. |
| <QC6K> | Events will be allocated spots based on how many teams actually attend the event. |
| <QC6L> | Not all events may receive qualifying spots. |
| League |
| <QC7A> | May or may not have judging. |
| <QC7B> | Can be invitational. |
| <QC7C> | Can not be Solo Match Only events. |
| <QC7D> | Each ranking session may offer teams the opportunity to complete three (3) Driving and three (3) Coding Solo Match attempts. |
| <QC7E> | Are not bound to the 33% organization requirement. |
| <QC7F> | Must have a minimum of one week between Ranking Sessions. |
| <QC7G> | A single ranking session may be split over multiple days within the week, but will still be considered one (1) ranking session. |
| <QC7H> | Ranking sessions may have fewer than 16 teams participating. |
| Solo Match Only Event |
| <QC8A> | Listed as Open, School-Based, or Conference Tournaments and must have “Solo Match Only” in the name of the event. |
| <QC8B> | An RECF RSM will ultimately decide if a Solo Match Only Event becomes a Qualifying Event |
| <QC8C> | Must be held in-person. |
| <QC8D> | Can not be run as Leagues or Invitational Tournaments. |
| <QC8E> | Live Remote Solo Match (LRS) events are permitted only by special arrangement with the RSM. |
| <QC8F> | No one organization may have more than 33% of the registered teams. |
| <QC8G> | The deadline to host a Solo Match Only event where results upload to the World Solo Match Standings is February 31, 2027. |
| Scrimmage |
| <QC9A> | Do not qualify for a higher level event and do not upload results to RECFEvents.org. |
| <QC9B> | Events that do not meet the criteria for a Qualifying Event will be considered a Scrimmage. |
| Workshop |
| <QC10A> | Can not qualify for a higher level event and do not upload results to RECFEvents.org. |
| <QC10B> | Workshops over $500 require additional RECF approval. |
| Conference |
| <QC11A> | A Conference will be considered a separate Event Region. |
| <QC11B> | A Conference team can only compete in Conference, Signature, and World Championship Events. |
| <QC11C> | Participation in a Conference Tournament is limited to teams from the hosting Conference. |
| <QC11D> | Conferences may run an unlimited number of Conference Tournaments. |
| <QC11E> | Leagues within a Conference can qualify for a Conference Championship. |
| <QC11F> | Conferences must complete an application to be considered and approved as a Conference. |
| <QC11G> | Conference qualification structure, rules, and/or bylaws must be approved by the RECF. |
| <QC11H> | Conferences are open to RECF High School, Middle School, and Elementary School teams |
| <QC11I> | An approved Conference may include teams from multiple event regions. |
| <QC11J> | A team may only belong to one Conference. |
| <QC11K> | All teams from an organization must belong to the same Conference, or no Conference. |
| <QC11L> | A Conference may add new teams/organizations with approval from the Conference Advisory Board. |
| <QC11M> | Removing a team or organization from a Conference must be approved by the RECF and the Conference Advisory Board. |
| Signature Event |
| <QC12A> | Spot allocations to the RECF STEM World Championship are independent from any Event Region. |
| <QC12B> | Is awarded three spots to the RECF STEM World Championship if specific requirements are met. |
| <QC12C> | Must take place between specific dates. |
| <QC12D> | Double qualifications are filled from the Solo Match rankings at that event. |
| <QC12E> | Requirements are season-specific. |
| Event Region Championship |
| <QC13A> | An RECF RSM will determine if an event qualifies and its spot allocation. |
| <QC13B> | A team is permitted to register for only one Event Region Championship in their Event Region. |
| <QC13C> | A team must have posted a solo match score -OR- have competed in a qualifying event in the current season to be eligible for an Event Region Championship. |
| <QC13D> | No team minimum, RSM and EP determine capacity |
| <QC13E> | Must hand out a 2nd Judges Award and the Sportsmanship Award if at least 16 teams compete. |
| <QC13F> | Must follow the spot hierarchy in the Spot Allocation Charts |
| <QC13G> | Must offer judged awards and give all teams the opportunity to be interviewed. |
| <QC13H> | Must offer Solo Matches to all teams. |
| <QC13I> | Must be single grade level only unless special exception granted by the RSM. |
| <QC13J> | Can qualify by winning a qualifying award, Solo Match rankings, or the Waitlist. |
| <QC13K> | A specific process and allocation chart is used to assign spots to the RECF STEM World Championship |
| <QC13L> | Will follow specific dates and deadlines. |
| <QC13M> | A specific process is followed if a RECF STEM Robotics World Championship spot is not handed out. |
| <QC13N> | If the event does not take place, all spots from that region will be awarded to teams in that specific region from the World Solo Match Standings |
| <QC13O> | Should strive to be a multi-day event. |
| RECF STEM World Championship |
| <QC14A> | Teams can qualify from a Signature Event, Event Region Championship, or Conference Championship event. |
| <QC14B> | Teams from specific programs may be invited from the World Solo Match Standings. |
| <QC14C> | When a team qualifies for the RECF STEM World Championship, it is that specific team (team number and letter) and its members that will be invited. |
| <QC14D> | Teams will have two weeks from receiving their RECF STEM World Championship qualification invitation to register. |
| <QC14E> | All teams must be marked “paid” (funds fully received) by March 31, 2027. |
| <QC14F> | Registration cancellations must be received by 5 p.m. Central Time on April 4, 2027, in order to receive a full refund. |
| <QC14G> | The final day for international teams to be invited to the RECF STEM World Championship is March 1, 2027. |
| <QC14H> | Waitlist selection criteria |
| <QC14I> | Event Regions will not have a maximum number of spots allocated to the RECF STEM World Championship. |