Compass Award - Event Preferencing Open NOW!

 Welcome to 2026!!

There is a lot of exciting DECODE gameplay coming up with 5 qualifiers left in Arizona before the AZ Championship, and the Four Corners Championship - the largest RezBotics tournament yet! Read on for information on finishing the season strong!

The Compass Award will be awarded at both the Arizona and Four Corners Championship events. This award requires videos prepared by the team to be submitted in advance. Compass Award submissions are due February 1 by 6:00 PM. Please see the game manual section 6 (awards) for guidelines on preparing your submissions and upload your submissions to the appropriate folder linked below by the deadline. (Please name your submission in this format: Team#MentorName. Ex: 2486RockytheSquirrel)

• FOUR CORNERS CHAMPIONSHIP COMPASS AWARD SUBMISSIONS
• ARIZONA CHAMPIONSHIP COMPASS AWARD SUBMISSIONS
• Note - these links were updated on January 12. Please use these links instead any previous sent. 

ADVANCEMENT - FIRST Championship & Premier Events!

We are excited to announce the advancement numbers for FIRST Championship and Premier Events for the 2025/2026 season!!! Advancement from these events is from the region Championships (Arizona and Four Corners). Read more details at this blog post from FTC leadership HERE!

ARIZONA

• 4 teams to FIRST Championship
• 7 teams to Premier Events
• 48-50 teams will compete at the AZ Championship
• About 20% of the teams will advance to the next level

FOUR CORNERS

• 2 teams to FIRST Championship
• 4 teams to Premier Events
• 18-19 teams will compete at the Four Corners Championship 
• About 1/3 of the teams will advance to the next level

Premier events take place all over the USA and internationally from April to July. If a team receives an invitation to a Premier event, they will have the opportunity to choose from the different event options! Find out more about Premier events HERE!

Plan your fundraising as if your team is moving on...you never know what will happen!!!

Capstone Event Preferencing

All FIRST Tech Challenge teams interested in attending the FIRST Championship presented by BAE Systems or a Premier Event are encouraged to submit their team's event preference list. Learn more about Premier Events and event preferencing on our blog.

If your team has qualified for the Arizona or Four Corners Championship, we encourage you to meet with your teams and decide on events you'd like to attend before you compete at your Championship. Plan ahead! Meet with school and district administrators and discuss travel. Consider timing of events, entry fees and deadlines, and if your team wants to fly or drive. There are no automatic placements. All teams that want to play at a capstone level event, including FIRST Championship, need to submit a preferencing list, even if only one event is on that list. Lead Coach 1 and 2 from ALL region championship teams may begin creating preferencing lists now, or select "decline invitation" if your team doesn't want to play a capstone event. Spots that become available due to teams declining will be filled by teams that have completed preferencing lists. 

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - Region Championships

If your team is done competing for the season, consider volunteering for the Championship events! We especially need referees and judges for both events. To learn more about volunteer roles, visit the FIRST Volunteer page. 

Students can volunteer in support roles as well! To sign up, login to your FIRST Dashboard and select "Volunteer." 

• Four Corners Championship: February 6 & 7, Kayenta, AZ
• Arizona Championship: February 20 & 21, Flagstaff, AZ
• Judging interviews for the AZ Championship will take place Friday evening. Judges should arrive by 5 pm Friday.