The submission window for the ASAP Innovation Competition has closed as of April 2nd, 2012 at 11:59pm EDT. Thank you to all who participated.
Judging and evaluation of submissions to the “School Programs” category of the ASAP Innovation Competition will occur in two Rounds (Round 1 and Round 2). During the submission window, entries will be vetted by competition administrators to ensure that they are complete, eligible, and appropriate. Entries deemed incomplete, ineligible, or otherwise inappropriate will either be disqualified or the team leader will be contacted with a request for additional materials.
Round 1 and Round 2 judging will be performed by two panels of experts representing the following stakeholder groups:
- Academia
- School Officials & Educators
- Healthcare Professionals
- Private Sector
- Child Advocacy Groups
- ChildObesity180
- Student Panel led by Graduate Degree Candidates
Both Round 1 and Round 2 judging panels will evaluate competition submissions according to seven evaluation criteria. For specific information please see “Evaluation Criteria.” Each evaluation category is assigned a weight such that the total of all weights equals 100.
All entries considered complete and eligible by the competition administrators will be forwarded to the Round 1 judging panel at the close of the submission window.
The top fifty (50) entries from Round 1 will advance to Round 2. For each region, a minimum of 3 top entries will advance to Round 2. Three (3) top entries per region x eight (8) regions = 24 entries. The remaining 26 entries advanced to Round 2 will be the next top-scoring entries and may come from any region. Round 2 judges will evaluate each entry according to the same seven evaluation criteria. The entries with the highest scores from this round will be identified as potential regional and national winners.
Following Round 2 judging, competition administrators may conduct interviews and/or site visits to validate programs selected by the judging panel as potential regional and national winners. Team leaders will be notified if their program is selected for an interview and/or site visit. Final award recipients will be selected following site visits and interviews.
Awards and Prizing
The School Programs bracket of the ASAP Innovation Competition will name up to ten (10) regional winners. Two (2) national winners will be selected from the pool of regional winners. All awards will be distributed in $USD.
Regional Winners
- Regional winners will be awarded a $25,000 prize to recognize the quality of their program and to further support school-based fitness and wellness programming that increases physical activity.
- One regional winner will be identified from each of eight regions. Competition administrators may identify up to two additional regional ‘wildcard’ winners. Regional ‘wildcard’ winners may come from any region.
- If insufficient quality entries are received for any given region, competition administrators reserve the right to withhold an award from said region.
- All regional winners will be announced in the spring of 2012. Regional winners will be notified ahead of a public announcement on the Active Schools Acceleration Project website.
- A team has the option to decline acceptance of the regional winner distinction. In the event a team forfeits their prize, competition administrators will identify an alternative winner at their sole discretion.
National Winners
National winners will be awarded a $100,000 prize to recognize the quality of their program and to further support school-based fitness and wellness programming that increases physical activity. Additionally, national winners will also be awarded the resources to support a development pilot study of their program. These resources may include financial support, expert staff, consultants, and other backing.
- By accepting the $100,000 national winner prize, national winner teams are no longer entitled to the regional winner prize of $25,000.
- By accepting the $100,000 national winner prize, the team leader and school(s) associated with the winning program agree to participation in a development pilot study staffed and coordinated by researchers of Tufts University and ChildObesity180.
Awards Ceremony
Representatives from each regional winner team will be invited to attend an awards ceremony (location TBD). National winners will be announced at this event. ChildObesity180 will provide transportation and accommodation for invited representatives to the awards ceremony.