Let the qualifying tournaments begin!
It’s qualifier season! The big day has finally arrived when we kick off the INTO THE DEEP tournaments and we couldn’t be more excited. They’re shaping up to be our biggest, best and most community-driven events yet.
Our electric events calendar
From Belfast to Bournemouth, we’re touching down in schools and science centres across the UK.
Cambridge – 25 and 26 February
Liverpool – 01 March
Birmingham – 12 March
London – 15 March
Berkeley – 18 March
Stoke-on-Trent – 20 March
Sheffield – 25 March
Sutton – 29 March
Belfast – 01 April
Bromley – 01 April
Glasgow – 03 April
Edinburgh – 23 April
Bournemouth – 25 April
Oxford – 29 April
“During a competition where anything can happen, you have to stay resilient and have a positive attitude!”
– Team Octacore, UK-032, St John Fisher Catholic College
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With more teams competing this season than ever before, we have young people coming from across the UK to compete regionally. After months of hard work, every team will be putting on their own epic display of innovation, problem-solving, Gracious Professionalism and real-life skills. It’s hard to believe all our teams started with just a box of robotics parts!
“FIRST Tech Challenge UK takes young people who may lack confidence at the beginning, and turns them into leaders, public speakers, engineers, teachers and so much more! Give it a try, come to your first event, and you will be astonished by how much these young people can achieve!”
– Bec Fallows, Electronics/Computer Science Teacher, St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy
The 2024-25 qualifying tournaments are well and truly in the community’s hands – even the trophies were designed by two competing team members. We can’t wait to reveal them to you later!
Of course, we couldn’t do it without our volunteers. They’re trained up and raring to go, ready to make an impact!
The ones who make it all possible!
Our alumni will be coming back to inspire their peers and show them what they’ve achieved after FIRST Tech Challenge UK. Our Youth Ambassadors are also taking the lead on our social media and some of them will even be making their debut as game announcers. Watch out, Sky Sports, we’ve got some commentators in the making!
Throughout the day, our young people will have the chance to hear from guest speakers from our volunteers, alumni and wider community. These qualifiers are more than a chance for teams to test out their creations on the game field. They’re also a chance for them to learn about the endless possibilities that await them in STEM.
We can’t wait to see what teams have created and see all their unique approaches to this year’s game. Our 48 top-performing teams will gain spots to compete at this year’s UK Championship in June – and the fun doesn’t stop there!
Tadaa! An international double whammy
Teams have been sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the chance to compete on the global stage and now, we have not one but two international progression opportunities!
The National Inspire Award Winner from the UK Championship will gain a spot at this year’s FIRST Global competition in Panama! From 29 Oct to 01 Nov in Panama City, the team will represent Team Great Britain and join over 190 other countries to prove that STEM is exciting as sport. They’ll be backed by FIRST UK HQ and their own sponsors to ensure every young person has the opportunity to go global.
There’s also a new event on the block. Our friends in the Netherlands have organised the first-ever FIRST Premier event, to take place in Eindhoven from 03 to 05 July. 96 FIRST Tech Challenge teams from over 52 countries will compete in this year’s INTO THE DEEP game. There are up to 13 spots available for our UK teams.
We can’t wait to see our teams flex their competition muscles at these events, but for now, it’s regional qualifying tournament season!
Follow us on socials to stay tuned with what our community is getting up to!
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