Proudly presented by The Wright Family Foundation, the VEX IQ Challenge National Championship for 2020 is returning to Palmerston North Conference and Function Centre this 12-13 December.
This is shaping up to be our biggest VIQC Nationals ever - so big that for the first time, we're splitting Elementary and Middle School Grades into separate divisions! This also means more award opportunities too 🙌
Please forward this email to anyone who needs the info, and we recommend you subscribe to our newsletter to avoid missing out on any important news.
REGISTERING FOR NATIONALS
To compete at the National Championships, your team MUST:
Have your team/s registered and paid on RobotEvents (this is charged direct by RECF at $200AUD first team, $130AUD each team thereafter)
Register your team for the VIQC National Championship for Elementary School or Middle School Event.
RECF Consent Forms must be completed for every student.
There are limited spaces, with capacity for 40 Middle School and 30 Elementary School teams. The divisions will be in separate locations at the venue, so please plan adult requirements for your teams accordingly.
Registrations for these events are now open, and will close at 6pm Friday 4th December NZST.
At this stage, it is not necessary to RSVP on the Kiwibots Events page for the IQ Nationals. We are working on an easier solution to contact trace attendees for this event given it covers multiple days and people will be in and out often. Watch this space for info on how we will be managing attendance.
Note: RSVPs for regular scrimmages still applies.
If you are unsure whether your team qualifies in Elementary, please check the Game Manual. Note, the oldest member in the team must be born after 1st May 2008 in order for the whole team to qualify as Elementary. If any student in the team is older, the team must play in Middle School. Middle School ages allow you to compete if the student is younger than 15 yrs old on 1st May 2021.
There is a fee to compete at Nationals (unlike our other scrimmages which we put on for free), so please read on for information about that.
Call for Volunteers
All hands on deck - we need your help with making sure this event is a success!
If you have a few hours to spare, we'd love for you to join at the event. No experience is required, you can help with queuing, field reset, and more. Sign up to volunteer for the IQ Nationals here.
Due to the split of divisions, we will need even more volunteers, so this is a great chance for high school students who are finished with exams to come along and help!
Competition Fees
To compete at the National Championships, there is a fee of $100NZD per team that goes toward covering the cost of the event. A huge thanks is owed to our generous sponsor, The Wright Family Foundation who have donated funds to se can reduce the per fee team to enable more groups to take part.
If your group is able to provide an IQ Field for the Nationals weekend, you will be able to get a further $20 discount per field. This is issued on a first come first serve basis - please email j.van@kiwibots.co.nz or stephan@centralrobotics.org.nz to notify us if you wish to claim this discount.
Fees will be invoiced by Kiwibots to your organisation upon registration for the event on RobotEvents, however they will not be due until 20th December 2020 to allow for schools to line this fee up with their accounts.
Please email accounts@kiwibots.co.nz if you need to add purchase order details to the invoice.
PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEOGRAPHY
ALL matches at our Nationals will be LIVESTREAMED via YouTube where drivers will be within shot.
The livestream will remain online after the event, so we recommend that any students who do not wish to be videoed are not a driver for their team.
To help our photographers out, we will be providing identifying badges/lanyards to students who do not wish to have photos of them publicised.
Note that the RECF and VEX Waiver holds the rights for all students to be photographed, and so this extra step is so that our teams in NZ will do our best to prevent images of particular individuals being shared.
Nominations for Awards
As well as awards for our competing teams, we have awards for Mentor, Teacher and Volunteer of the year.
We ask that people take the time to nominate people who have put in the effort to make this season a success - given we're one of the few countries across the world running regular in-person events, we have a lot of people that deserve thanks!
You can nominate as many people as you like, just complete the form for each person. Nominations close 9pm Tuesday 1st December 2020.
Accommodation for Travelling Teams
We are working with a number of schools and Massey University to help secure group booking rates for our teams who are travelling in to Palmerston North.
Announcements will be made shortly to confirm these details and the rates available.
Note that the event is set for Saturday and Sunday, though an early check-in will be available on the afternoon of Friday 11th for those who can make it to help ease congestion on Saturday morning.
SCHEDULE
This is a rough guideline of the event to help groups with their planning. Detailed schedules will be published in due course. Exhibitor booths will be open throughout the day, 9am - 5pm.
Friday 11 December 3pm - 5pm Early check-in and inspection
Saturday 12 December
8:30am Doors Open, Check-in and Inspection
9:30am Opening Ceremony
10:00am - 12:00pm Practise and Teamwork Matches
12:00pm - 1:00pm LUNCH
1:00pm - 5:00pm Teamwork Matches, Day Close
Sunday 13 December
8:30am Doors Open
9:00am - 12:00pm Teamwork Matches
12:00pm - 1:00pm LUNCH
1:00pm - 2:00pm Finals Matches
2:00pm - 3:00pm Awards Ceremony, Event Close
IMPORTANT DATES
Thursday 1st October - RobotEvents VIQC Nationals Events open for registration, Elementary and Middle school split
Tuesday 1st December - Nominations for Teacher, Mentor and Volunteer of the Year Award close
Monday 4th December - Registrations on RobotEvents close
Wednesday 9th December - Ensure all team members attending and competing have their RECF Consent Form signed and uploaded. You cannot compete if these are not submitted, and this will be audited at event check-in.
Friday 11th December - Early check-in and inspection available for teams
Saturday 12th December - VIQC National Championships begin