Note: For the full list of judged awards, along with their descriptions, criteria, and other information, please see the ADC Pro Judged Award Descriptions & Criteria.
This resource can help guide judges’ deliberations. Event partners and judge advisors may wish to print the award descriptions and laminate them or place them in plastic sheet protectors for use at multiple events.
Not all events will present every award. Judge advisors should consult with their event partner to determine which awards will be presented at their event.
ADC Pro Judged Awards
- All-Around Champion
- Engineering Design Award
- Airmanship Award
- Coding Systems Award
- Industry Insights Award
- Judges Award*
- Inspire*
* optional, not included in standard trophy pack
All-Around Champion
The All-Around Champion recognizes a team that excels in both the judged award and performance award categories. This team demonstrates outstanding competition performance, high quality written and verbal communications skills and exemplary team conduct, sportsmanship and professionalism. This team is committed to excellence in everything they do.
Key criteria of the All-Around Champion are:
- Submission of a competition notebook is required.
- Be at or near the top of rubric rankings.
- Be ranked in the top 50% of qualification rankings at the conclusion of qualifying alliance/teamwork matches.
- Be ranked in the top 50% of solo skills rankings at the conclusion of solo autonomous flight and solo piloting matches.
- Participation in both the solo piloting mission and the solo autonomous flight mission is required, with a score of greater than 0 in each mission.
- Be a candidate in consideration for other judged awards.
- Exhibit positive team conduct, good sportsmanship, and professionalism.
Additional notes:
- All-Around Champion criteria, including performance metrics, are intended as a threshold for eligibility. Qualitative judgment on the part of judges is needed to determine an All-Around Champion from among eligible candidates.
- Events with multiple grade levels may award one All-Around Champion Award per grade level when eligibility requirements are met. Blended events must have at least 10 registered teams from each participating grade level two weeks before the event. See the Qualifying Criteria for more information.
- In the instance of two All-Around Champions being awarded at an event, teams are to be compared only among teams of the same grade level.
- For events with a single All-Around Champion Award, percentages are based on the number of teams
at the event. For blended grade level events with two grade specific All-Around Champion Awards,
percentages are based on the number of teams in each grade level award.
Engineering Design Award
The Engineering Design Award recognizes the team that demonstrated excellence in applying the engineering design process to both their aerial and ground systems. Their documentation told a compelling story, one filled with brainstorming, CAD models, iterations, testing, and purposeful design decisions. They didn’t just build; they engineered with intention, using industry-aligned practices to create cohesive, efficient systems.
Industry Insights Award
The Industry Insights Award is about connecting the competition to the real world, where drones and ground robots are solving critical challenges. The Industry Insights Award goes to a team that explored how drones and robots are transforming the power and energy industry. Through thoughtful research, outreach, and reflection, this team demonstrated how their work today connects to real-world careers and tomorrow’s technologies.
Coding Systems Award
The Coding Systems Award recognizes a team that demonstrates exceptional coding skills implemented in both their drones and robots. Judges evaluated not only code quality, but also how that code powered smart, autonomous systems that worked together to complete missions. This team showed that great code is the brain behind every successful bot.
Airmanship Award
The Airmanship Award goes to the team that showed precision and professionalism in both flight operations and ground system handling. Judges looked for detailed flight logs, a strong safety plan, well-executed maintenance routines, and smart project management that ensured mission readiness. This award honors a team that demonstrated elite operational skill and discipline.
Judges Award*
The Judges Award recognizes a team that the judges felt were deserving of special recognition.
Inspire Award*
The Inspire Award recognizes a team that exhibits passion for the competition and positivity at the event.
* optional, not included in the standard trophy pack
Additional Awards
These can be determined solely by the judges or event volunteers can nominate teams for these awards. There is no nomination process for any other award type.
- 3D Fabrication Award
- Sportsmanship Award
- Energy Award
- Team Spirit Award
3D Printing & Fabrication Award
The 3D Printing & Fabrication Award recognizes a team who have effectively designed and utilized 3D
printing or other fabrication techniques to create solutions to engineering design challenges.
Sportsmanship Award
The Sportsmanship Award recognizes a team that exhibits a high degree of good sportsmanship, helpfulness,
respect, and a positive attitude both on and off the competition field at the event.
Energy Award
The Energy Award recognizes a team that exhibits outstanding enthusiasm and excitement at the event.
Team Spirit Award
The Team Spirit Award recognizes a team that has an approach to team identity, image, and theme that unifies team logos, uniforms, and overall aesthetics.