FIRST Digital Animation Award

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WPI is excited to be sponsoring the 2026 FIRST Digital Animation Award which celebrates STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) and emphasizes the ability to tell a story through animation that integrates technological, social, and humanistic concepts. 

 

The 2026 Digital Animation Award is offered to help encourage students to cultivate skills in design and creation of animation while telling a story about the impact of technology on society. This award is open to all FIRST Robotics Competition teams and FIRST Tech Challenge teams and is optional.

The competition will open on September 25, 2025.

 

Visit judging and submission requirements for more information.

Video Submission Form
WPI Scholarship Form
CONTACT

This Year’s Theme: The Artifact That Changed Everything

Choose one invention or material and animate how future generations might view it as the defining artifact of our era.

Need a little inspiration?

  • Built to Last (or Not): Future archaeologists might find crumbling cities or a legacy of self-healing buildings that stood the test of time. Animate the story of how our choices in construction, urban design, or waste management become tomorrow’s artifacts. 

    Learn more about self-healing concrete

  • Energy Imprint: Consider the long-term impacts of the batteries inside of all our modern devices. What if instead of digging up the waste, future generations instead reaped the benefits of sustainable battery recycling.  Tell that story in animation.  

    Learn more about Lithium-Ion battery recycling

  • Beyond Earth: Rockets have become symbols of human ingenuity. Animate the story of how today’s innovations in reusable rockets and sustainable propulsion shape the next era of exploration.

    Learn more about the father of modern rocketry

Competition Awards

An official FIRST Trophy and Plaque will be sent to the winner from FIRST. There will be one winner and trophy for the FIRST Robotics Competition winner and another winner and trophy for FIRST Tech Challenge. 

WPI will provide sponsorships to the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge winning teams as long as all submission criteria are met:

  • FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC): A team sponsorship covering the 2026/2027 registration fee (a $6,300 value).
  • FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC): A $2,000 team sponsorship, which breaks down as:
    • $325 toward registration
    • $500 toward field materials
    • $1,175 toward robot materials

Competition Scholarship

Any student who is a member of a FIRST team that submits a Digital Animation Award entry is eligible for a $1,000 scholarship to attend WPI.

The scholarship form opened November 1, 2025 and closes May 1, 2026.

Past Winner References

COPYRIGHT

By making a submission, the Submitter irrevocably grants to FIRST and FIRST's designees the right to use any or all of the submission in any and all media for the purpose of describing the submission, describing the Award, and/or otherwise promoting FIRST and FIRST's programs.