The Q&A#
After your presentation, judges run up to 5 minutes of questions. This is where consistency with your essay is tested and where students who genuinely did the work shine. The official worksheet and judging guidelines list the kinds of questions to expect:
- Could you expand on [program]?
- How does [program] spread the values of FIRST?
- How does your team inspire others?
- How do you attract/retain sponsors? How do you engage and support your sponsors?
- What's your team's greatest weakness?
- How is your team structured?
- What do you think the message of FIRST is?
- Why do you do [program]? Why do you deserve the Impact Award?
- How did you further STEM and the FIRST mission this season?
- How did you ensure a sustainable program with sponsors?
- How do you pass info and training to each year's new members?
- Describe a program from previous years you continued this year.
- If you overcame a challenge, what did you learn? If you could restart the season, what would you do differently?
How to prepare#
- Run mock interviews. Have mentors and alumni fire these questions at rotating groups of students. Every member who might present should be able to answer the sustainability and "why do you deserve it" questions cold.
- Know your numbers. If your essay says you Reached 2,000 people, the students must explain the basis instantly.
- Answer with how and why, not just what. Judge feedback examples praise teams that explain more about how and why the team does things.
- Be honest about weaknesses. The "greatest weakness" and "what would you do differently" questions reward self-awareness plus a plan.
- Stay gracious under pressure. Mentors cannot help; students must field everything calmly.
The feedback loop is a competitive advantage#
Here is a detail many teams miss. Judges fill out feedback for every team that interviews at an event and enter it into the FIRST Impact Award Judge Portal, which is shared with the team 48 hours after the event. Each feedback covers an area to improve, something that impressed the judges, and an answer to your submitted feedback question.
FIRST states this 48-hour timing exists so teams "receive timely feedback so they can make edits to their presentation if desired." That means if you compete at multiple events in a season, you can read the judges' written feedback after event one and refine your presentation and Q&A (the written submission is locked) before event two. Teams that iterate on feedback dramatically improve their odds at later events.
Make your feedback question count#
Because judges answer your submitted feedback question, ask one that yields actionable coaching, e.g., "What is the most effective way for a small team like ours to measure outreach impact?" Avoid "what do we need to win," which judges are instructed to reject as not following guidelines.
the part worth keeping
Key takeaways
- Expect up to 5 minutes of Q&A on programs, sustainability, sponsors, weaknesses, and 'why you deserve it'; mentors cannot help, so every presenter must know the numbers.
- Practice mock interviews and answer with how and why, framing weaknesses with a plan.
- Judges' written feedback is shared within 48 hours via the Judge Portal, so iterate your live presentation between events; ask a feedback question that yields useful coaching.
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Sources and corrections
This lesson is AI-assisted: drafted from primary sources, then reviewed and edited by hand. Errors still get through. When one is reported we fix it and write down what changed, in public, in the corrections log.
sources and further reading
- info.firstinspires.orgJudging the FIRST Impact Award (feedback process)
- firstinspires.orgFIRST Impact Award Worksheet (practice questions)
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answer sheet
Lesson quiz
All 4 right completes the lesson. Miss one and only that question comes back, anything you already answered correctly stays banked.
0 of 4 answered
01How long is the judge question-and-answer portion that follows the team's presentation?
02During the Q&A, who is responsible for answering the judges' questions and how should they handle the pressure?
03How and when do teams receive the judges' written Impact Award feedback?
04What kind of submitted feedback question is recommended, since judges will answer it in their written feedback?
Answer every question to submit.
All 30 lessons in The Impact Awardopenclose
01 / prerequisites
02 / understanding-the-impact-award
03 / building-the-written-submission
04 / presentation-interview-and-video
05 / building-a-program-worth-recognizing
06 / worked-examples-and-mini-projects
- Not read yet:Build a Living Impact Tracker (Spreadsheet Mini-Project)
- Not read yet:Automate Outreach Data with The Blue Alliance API
- Not read yet:Worked Example: Rewriting a 500-Character Executive Summary
- Not read yet:Mini-Project: An Outreach Event Playbook You Can Reuse
- Not read yet:Mini-Project: Assemble a Bulletproof Documentation Form
07 / common-mistakes-and-troubleshooting
08 / advanced-techniques-and-case-studies