The Rookie of the Year Award was a best in show award presented to a team and robot in their first year of competing on BattleBots.
Introduced in Season 1.0 as the 'Best Newcomer Award', for the award recognizes a robot in its debut season which has built a popular fanbase and had entertaining fights. The award was discontinued after the first Comedy Central season, and was not seen again throughout the original televised run.
The award was reintroduced for World Championship V in 2020, now voted on by the community, and was won by Rusty.[1] However, a Giant Bolt was not presented. Instead, a makeshift award of two nuts welded to a metal plate. The following year, the award was split between two teams in 2021, Riptide and Glitch, who each received a battle-damaged pulverizer hammer.[2] Following a split win after World Championship VI, the award was not included in the World Championship VII best in show categories for unknown reasons.
| "Rookie of the Year" Award Winners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Robot | Year | Event | Image |
| Alpha Raptor | 2000 | Season 1.0 |  |
| Suicidal Tendencies |  | ||
| Rusty | 2020 | World Championship V BattleBots: Bounty Hunters |
 |
| Glitch | 2021 | World Championship VI BattleBots: Champions I |
 |
| Riptide | World Championship VI |  | |
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