Best of Show?

[DMWOOD]

We have one trophy that is presented for Best of Show and I am trying to determine the best way to award it.

Last year when each boy passed inspection and went to the pit area they were given a number. Our pit area has slots for the cars numbered from 1 to # of racres. After all cars were checked in, each boy was given a piece of paper to vote on the # of the car they thought looked best. My son was a Tiger last year and I asked him which car he voted for. I expected him to say his but he said he voted for the car that won. Now this year he asked me if it was OK to vote for your own car. I told him he has to vote for the one he thinks looks the best.

I still think that this is the best way to select the winner but I want to get some thoughts from some of the more experienced people on this site. I know that some adults may try to select a car that looks more like a scout built it but his paint job this year looks alot better than mine. I asked him how he got good with a spray paint can and he told me from working on crafts with mom and grandma.

Any thoughts, our race will be on Saturday.

Thanks,

[Stan Pope]

Give each boy two votes. One piece of paper. The boy must vote for two different cars. One of them may be for his own car.

The other certainly will be for someone else's car.

[TurtlePowered]

We have one trophy that is presented for Best of Show and I am trying to determine the best way to award it.


Any thoughts, our race will be on Saturday.

Thanks,

We break up the racing at around 1/2 done, then have the scouts go by the cars all setup in the holding area and vote for one.

[MathGuy]

My 2cents is that you need to change the dynamic in future years. More awards.

Consistency is nice, so don't change anything at this point. Keep it the same as last year, unless you talk minor tweaks.

Next Year:
I suggest that you add multiple awards for "best designs." A nice looking car stand for a "Best Designs / Best In Show" car is better than a trophy anyways. We made 24 stands at $1.05 a piece. For Webelos Craftsman pin, they are required to make car stands. So you can assign Webelos dens that task, and you kill two birds with one stone. I took this idea from this board.

BTW, A PIECE OF PAPER IS NOT AN AWARD.

[Da Graphite Kid]

DMWOOD,

We have the boys vote for Best of Show as well but give them multiple votes, 4 in all. Their vote for the #1 best looking PWD car is always for their own (this way every boy gets votes for his PWD car and we can tell who voted and who didn't. sneeky aren't we...). Votes #2 - #4 are for the cars they think look 2nd through 4th best. All votes are tallied by their place (#1 vote is 1 point, #2 vote is 2 points,...) and the winner is the one with the least points. Cubmaster votes too but their vote is not included in case there is a tie. Simple and efficient for us (just have a calculator on stand-by just in case!).

As long as I have been associated with this Pack and as far as I can determine, there has always been just one Best of Show award given each year for the best in the whole Pack. Since we have (actual) awards for the 1st - 3rd fastest in each rank for speed, one of my goals for next year is to have 1st - 3rd Best of Show awards for each rank as well.

Yes, it is a race but let's not forget that it can also be an oportunity for creativity and craftsmanship as well - even if they did learn it from mom and grandma!

Da Graphite Kid

[Jthompson]

My pack is new to Pinewood derby this year. We are tring to establish the number of awards and types to give for best design. Our initial thoughts are to award as many ribbons as possible for Best Design (1st through 6th place with honorable mention for another 4-6) along with a certificate for each car. We want to make sure that every Scout who built a car gets recognized. Our Pack size is 34 boys.

Are there any thoughts on what works best? I like the ideas posted that lets the Scouts vote for best design!

[Darin McGrew]

My pack is new to Pinewood derby this year. We are tring to establish the number of awards and types to give for best design. Our initial thoughts are to award as many ribbons as possible for Best Design (1st through 6th place with honorable mention for another 4-6) along with a certificate for each car. We want to make sure that every Scout who built a car gets recognized. Our Pack size is 34 boys.

Are there any thoughts on what works best? I like the ideas posted that lets the Scouts vote for best design!

My attitude is that design awards should be just as significant as speed awards. They shouldn't be consolation prizes for those who don't win the race, and they shouldn't be participation awards.

We have about the same number of design awards as speed awards. The exception is that there are sometimes a couple extra honorable-mention design awards for cars that the judges wanted to recognize, but which didn't quite make the cut for the regular design awards.

Everyone gets a participation ribbon or a participation patch. And of course they have the car that they built, and the memories of building it.