Thanks! I spent A LONG time on my essay’s trying to show how passionate I was about computer science, but I guess that wasn’t good enough lol. Congrats on getting nationals, though! 
@swim1128
@equationlover hey you could still get states! And are you a non-senior? Because I just read on the site that you can reapply for the national award if you haven’t won it already
That’s true! I don’t think it’s likely though!
I’m a sophomore, I plan to reapply next year! :)) @swim1128
@equationlover Just a note that I believe regional and state awards are the same thing. Depending on your state, the affiliate award could be at the state or regional level. Being from Texas, the state is broken down into a lot of sub regions so mine is only part of the state, though some smaller affiliates actually consist of two states. I think it comes down to the number of applicants coming from each region and how many sponsors are available.
But anyways, I’m a 2016 affiliate winner and 2017 national honorable mention. Last year, I found out at the very end of January via email about being an affiliate winner so hang in there on results and definitely reapply! It’s an amazing community plus the prizes are pretty great. Prizes really differ per affiliate and the sponsors that they have but I believe NCWIT has like a standard prize for all affiliate winners at least with glass trophies and then an NCWIT bag filled with cool NCWIT swag like playing cards and a headband. I also got a $100 visa gift card, but I don’t know what level that was coming from.
Depending on your affiliate, you may get extra stuff. I know the honorable mentions got Texas State bags instead of NCWIT ones and then we all got shirts from a local tech group. Best part: a tour of Rackspace HQ, who hosted the event.
Let me know if you have any questions and sorry for the long post. I always overwrite lol
@greetings12 Thank you SO much for the info!! I was getting worried because they said (I think) that we would be notified by mid January ish, and that’s almost here!
I’m from Ohio, but I’m not sure how the awards are given out. But when I looked at past winners, all of them seemed to have a lot of cool experiences that I’ve never had the opportunity to do lol. I’m really hoping for states…but yeah lol. I’m not sure I’ll get it.
I clicked at least ten “I have no experience” boxes so I feel like I haven’t been exposed to a lot that most people have. For example internships…most are only offered to juniors/seniors!
Congrats on your awards! What do you plan on majoring in?
@equationlover I know that section can be a little intimidating but I think they also understand that not everyone has access to opportunities like internships or that people have other things to focus on, plus tech is a pretty broad field. My experiences are pretty limited to just programming and design, so I had quite a few of those boxes marked with no experience too, especially for engineering ones. For my affiliate award last year, I found out on the very last days of January so hang in there and keep your head up.
As for my major, I’m planning on computer science at the moment but I’m not dead set on anything.
Freshman/sophomores rarely win at the National level. Being an underclassman is a disadvantage.
There is some misinformation in this thread.
There are only the Regional and National award levels. National winners usually do not win Regional because NCWIT likes to not double up on awards.
Source: I’m a judge.
@CourtneyThurston, Oh ok, thanks for clearing that up! I read that on a CC thread from a year ago and thought I read it on the website. I must have misread it.
And yeah, I figured that being an underclassman would overall be a disadvantage compared to other applicants.
Some students can be runner-ups (now called honorable mention) at the national level and be winners regionally. My DD was a national runner-up and a regional winner in one year but that was in 2014. Also I encourage everyone to apply, it never hurts to apply since you never know that you just might win.
I just got an email today that said: “Congratulations! On behalf of the DFW Affiliate Selection Committee, we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a 2017 DFW Affiliate Honorable Mention for the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing.” Can someone explain more about what this means?
@Ayotaytayy Well you won an affiliate award! I’m not really sure, I’ve never gotten that. But I heard the award banquets are awesome at any level!
I still haven’t gotten any response back yet. I’m so nervous I didn’t get one. :-/
I won my state affiliate in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and I was also a 2016 National Runner Up. Wasn’t a 2017 National Winner but I’m hoping I win my state affiliate award again this year so I can have a four year streak!
@MyNameIsX I still haven’t heard back it I won any award yet at all… Is it typical for them not to send out awards for affiliate for this long?
And I hope you do too! That’s awesome!!
EDIT: I see you’re from Ohio! That must mean we may find out on the same day if one of us gets it!
@equationlover Looking at my past notification emails they usually come out end of December/beginning of January but last year they came out at the beginning of February. I hope it’s soon!
Hi everyone! So it’s already after January 31st, but today I got an email saying someone invited me to the NCWIT aspirations facebook group. I never got an email saying I won anything, so does everyone get invited to the facebook group? What does it mean if I do?
@MyNameIsX Ok, that’s good to know! I still haven’t heard anything yet.
@gkfang I’ve never won anything yet (as of now) but you probably did win an award if you got that.
I think the email said by February 15th, but I could be mistaken. It honeslty depends on which state you live in, because different states get them it at different times. But if it’s past February 15th, then it’s safe to assume you didn’t get anything is what I interpreted from the email.
Thank you! I must have totally skipped over the February 15th thing in the email. And hang in there, over one of their video FAQ things, someone from NCWIT told me that they alway try to award as many people as possible. Ohio could be one of the states that awards everybody, so don’t lose hope. Even if you don’t win this year, you have a really good chance of winning next year.
For those of you in Ohio, it appears as if they have already posted winners on the site, but haven’t notified them yet. S
https://www.aspirations.org/awardees/aspirations-award-recipients?field_award_type_target_id=All&field_year_value%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=2017&field_aspirations_community_target_id=41005&field_first_name_value=
You’re welcome!! And THANK YOU so much for providing that link! I won state for my first year! So excited!!
However, It seems odd that they would put it on the website before they notify the recipients. I guess that’s how they like to do things. @gkfang
@MyNameIsX Check the link that @gkfang provided! I guess they put it on the website before they notify people.