Guide to Judging: Introduction and Terms

2025-2026 Guide to Judging
for Robotics Education and Competition Foundation Programs

VEX IQ Robotics Competition (VIQRC)
VEX V5 Robotics Competition (V5RC)
VEX AI Robotics Competition (VAIRC)
VEX U Robotics Competition (VURC) 

Updates & Changelog

This document may be updated on the third Monday in the months of June, August, December, and April. In extenuating circumstances, unplanned updates may occur. Any significant changes will be listed below. 

June 2025

• Overall
  • Various grammatical and typographical fixes
  • Various edits and additions for clarity
  • Past season Q&As integrated into document
  • Added reference tags such as <JP1> to add structure for verbiage references
  • Added “Quick Reference” list of reference tags
• Section 2: Judging Roles
  • Added verbiage to clarify best practices and requirements for Judge selection, roles, and certifications
  • Changed some age requirements for Judge volunteers
  • Expanded guidance and requirements for managing conflicts of interest
• Section 3: Event Preparation and Execution
  • Added verbiage to clarify best practices and requirements for Event Partners and Judges
• Section 4: Awards
  • Award descriptions and criteria moved to Award Description Appendix to improve document flow
• Section 5: Judging Engineering Notebooks
  • Revised section, “The Engineering Notebook: Purpose & Academic Honesty”
  • Refined list of what Engineering Notebooks should contain
  • Added guidance for adding informational appendices to Engineering Notebooks
  • Added guidance regarding time limits for evaluating Engineering Notebooks
  • Removed guidance for percentages of notebooks in consideration for awards
• Section 6: Team Interviews
  • Removed verbiage permitting Judge Advisors to schedule team interviews
  • Collateral / Supporting Documents
  • Engineering Notebook Rubric has undergone significant changes

Note: For events occurring up to seven (7) days after the release of a new version of the Guide to Judging, both the current version and the previous version of the Guide to Judging as well as printable judging materials are valid for use in qualifying events. This is so as not to present an undue burden for those running events in this one-week period that may have prepared materials using the previous version. Events occurring after those dates must use the most up to date judging materials and verbiage found in the current version of the Guide to Judging.

Introduction

Judging is an important part of Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (REC Foundation) events. At events, teams of students showcase their knowledge and skills in designing, building, and programming a robot. Students demonstrate their knowledge of the Engineering Design Process by documenting their design process in an Engineering Notebook. 

Students exhibit their robot designs and game strategies during match play and individual skills challenges. All of these activities are to be completed by the students with minimal adult assistance. Students must make the decisions, complete the work, and demonstrate their learning and knowledge to Judges for their team to qualify for Judged Awards.

Through the judging process, students have opportunities to practice both written and verbal communication skills, as well as to demonstrate the values espoused in the Code of Conduct and Student-Centered policies. Some awards given at an event may also qualify teams to higher levels of competition. 

Serving as a Judge can be an incredibly rewarding volunteer role—you will hear many impressive stories of what students have designed, created, and learned, and in some cases how they have grown as individuals and team members. It is also sometimes not an easy role—there are often many deserving teams worthy of recognition, and difficult choices must be deliberated upon.

However, the most important aspect of judging is giving students the opportunity to share what they have learned and tell the story of their team’s progress. This helps to affirm that their efforts are meaningful and valuable, and their stories are worth listening to. It is vital, therefore, that Judges show every team they encounter respect, compassion, and integrity, which includes following all of the rules found in this Guide to Judging. Our competitions are not just about STEM content, but about students growing as teammates and as individuals.

In order to help ensure consistent practices across events and regions, this Guide to Judging should serve Judge volunteers in a similar way that the Game Manual serves referees and scorekeepers. This allows teams to know what to expect from the judging process, and that from event to event, awards are evaluated against consistent, publicly known criteria.

The purpose of this document is to provide the following:

• Descriptions of the roles of Judges, Judge Advisors, and Event Partners
• Policies and procedures for the judging process
• Criteria and descriptions for awards
• Additional tools and materials to conduct the judging process

This document applies to all events that include Judged Awards for VEX IQ Robotics Competition (VIQRC), VEX V5 Robotics Competition (V5RC), VEX AI Robotics Competition (VAIRC), and VEX U Robotics Competition (VURC) events. The contents of this document can also be found in the REC Foundation Library.

Note: Aspects of the VEX Robotics World Championship judging process may differ from this guide due to the scale and complexity of that event.

The Judging Q&A System

All responses in the Q&A system should be treated as official rulings from the REC Foundation Robotics Competition Judging Committee. The Q&A system is the only source besides this Guide to Judging document for official rulings and clarifications, and is functionally an extension of the Guide to Judging. Q&A rulings are effective immediately upon release.

The 2025-2026 Judging Question & Answer System can be found here.

Before posting on the Q&A system, be sure to review the Q&A Usage Guidelines.

1. Read and search the Guide to Judging before posting.
2. Read and search existing Q&As before posting.
3. Quote the applicable verbiage from the latest version of the Guide to Judging in your question.
4. Make a separate post for each question.
5. Use specific and appropriate question titles.
6. Questions will (mostly) be answered in the order they were received.
7. This system is the only source for official rules clarifications.

If there are any conflicts between the Guide to Judging and other supplemental materials (for example, Judge certification courses, REC Foundation Library articles, etc.), the most current version of the Guide to Judging takes precedence.

Similarly, it can never be assumed that definitions, rules, or other materials from previous seasons apply to the current season. Q&A responses from previous seasons are not considered official rulings for the current season. Any relevant clarifications that are needed should always be re-asked in the current season’s Q&A.

Key Links and Documents

• REC Foundation Code of Conduct
• REC Foundation Student-Centered Policy
• REC Foundation Qualifying Criteria
• Commitment to Event Excellence
• VIQRC Game Manual and Resources
• V5RC / VURC / VAIRC Game Manual and Resources
• Judging Q&A
• Judge Advisor / Judge Training & Certification Course
• REC Foundation Library 

Key Terms and Definitions

Autonomous Coding Skills Match – An Autonomous Coding Skills Match consists of a sixty-second (1:00) Autonomous Period during which robots are controlled only by pre-loaded programming code. Only one team is on the field for this kind of match.

Developing – An evaluation state for Engineering Notebooks. All notebooks that score fewer than two points in any of the first four criteria of the Engineering Notebook Rubric should be considered Developing, as they do not contain a full iteration of the Engineering Design Process.

Digital Engineering Notebook (DEN) – An Engineering Notebook that is submitted digitally via RobotEvents.com. A DEN can be natively digital, or it could be a physical notebook that has been scanned and uploaded digitally. 

Driving Skills Match – A Driving Skills Match consists of a sixty-second (1:00) Driver Controlled Period during which students use controllers to drive their robot to score points. Only one robot is on the field for this match.

Engineering Design Process – Exploring a problem, generating and testing solutions, and documenting results in an iterative process. 

Engineering Notebook – The document submitted by a team to record their Engineering Design Process. Notebooks are sorted by Judges, and some will be evaluated according to a rubric.

Event Partner (EP) – The tournament coordinator who serves as an overall manager for the volunteers, venue, event materials, and all other event considerations. Event Partners serve as the official liaison between the REC Foundation, the event volunteers, and event attendees. 

Finals Match – A match used in the process of determining the champion alliance and which occurs after Qualification Matches. Also known as an Elimination Match for V5RC, VAIRC, and VURC.

Fully Developed – An evaluation state for Engineering Notebooks. All notebooks with a score of two points or higher in the first four criteria of the Engineering Notebook Rubric should be considered Fully Developed as this would outline a single iteration of the Engineering Design Process.

Individual Recognition Award – An award that is given to a particular individual rather than a team. An example would be “Volunteer of the Year.”

Judge – Person who interacts with teams at an event to help determine winners of Judged Awards. Those who perform this role online are known as Remote Judges.

Judge Advisor (JA) – The coordinator of all Judges at an event. They are responsible for organizing Judge volunteers, guiding deliberations, and relaying the judged award results to the Event Partner and/or Tournament Manager Operator. 

Judged Award – An award that is determined by Judges at an event based on standardized criteria and descriptions.

Judges’ Room – A secure and quiet room with adequate space for the judging panel to deliberate. Only the judging panel and specifically authorized volunteers should have access to this room.

Performance Award – An award based solely on a team’s on-field performance. Examples would be the Tournament Champion Award or Robot Skills Champion Award. 

Qualifying Award – An award that will qualify a team to a higher level of competition, such as an Event Region Championship or the VEX Robotics World Championship. The precedence of Qualifying Awards is listed in the REC Foundation Qualifying Criteria document. Not all awards at an event may be Qualifying Awards.

Qualifying Event – An event is considered “qualifying” if it meets all of the requirements in the official Qualifying Criteria. Certain Performance and Judged Award winners at qualifying events may qualify teams to the next level of competition, such as an Event Region Championship. 

Qualification Match – A match in which teams are randomly partnered and share a score. Qualification Matches factor into a team’s ranking for the event and determine which teams move on to Finals Matches. The exact ranking methodology is found in the game manuals for the current season. 

REC Foundation / RECF – Abbreviations for Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, the organization which oversees the competition aspects of V5RC, VIQRC, VAIRC, and VURC events. 

Regional Support Manager (RSM) – An REC Foundation staff member who oversees team and event support for a given region. The contact information for a region’s RSM can be found here.

Team Interview – A conversation, typically 10-15 minutes in duration, during which students on a team are asked questions by Judges. Teams demonstrate their ability to explain their robot design and game strategy. The information shared in this interview and the Judges’ notes become the basis for award nominations and deliberations. 

Tournament Manager – The competition software that is used at events to run and score matches, assign award winners, and print out reports using scoring data from the event.

V5RC – Acronym for VEX V5 Robotics Competition, played by middle and high school aged students. The student eligibility requirements are outlined in the V5RC Game Manual.

VAIRC – Acronym for VEX AI Robotics Competition. This high school / college competition is played using the V5RC game, with notable exceptions to game play, robot construction, and student eligibility contained in the V5RC Game Manual’s VAIRC section.

VIQRC – Acronym for VEX IQ Robotics Competition, played by elementary and middle school aged students. The student eligibility requirements are outlined in the VIQRC Game Manual.

VURC – Acronym for VEX U Robotics Competition, a college/university age robotics competition program. VURC is played using the V5RC game, with notable exceptions to game play, robot construction, and student eligibility contained in the V5RC Game Manual’s VURC section.

Quick Reference List

Continue to the next section, Guide to Judging: Judging Principles