Do people actually say that?  That's...not how you win a contest.

That would be me

I will take the road less travelled...

I would like to believe that there is some intentional ambiguity to the RoadTest selection.  Sometimes the selection criteria might be innovation or creativity that wins the day.  Sometimes it might be dependability in producing a research level report.  Sometimes the goal may actually be "anyone but the 'usual suspects'".  We can trust that the winning applications are merit based - but the selection criteria may not be as regimented.

Just my 2 cents. 

If everyone agrees, it would be very useful for everyone to see what the winning applications looked like so they can understand what it takes to be selected.

cstanton   No good deed goes unpunished.

Sensing impending doom, you are.  Trust your skepticism, you must.

"it would be kind of cool to see the items people put forward"

Would it be appropriate to display people's applications publicly?

I suppose everyone would get to see the one liner's we turn down that say "I'd like to test this, it's very nice", I think there's an element of accountability versus opening yourself up for unnecessary judgement?

Thanks for informing.! Waiting to see the road test and their applied hardware.

hats off to the Element14 team - no doubt the level of interest and involvement is a win but they may also be thinking - who's bright idea was this to create so much work for us

Hi OwainM oh wow.  Ok, I was just confused because of the dates before they were updated.  Thanks.

We understand. It is gonna be harder than comparing test plans for the same product. Even to understand the test plan the judges needs to understand the product first.

Hey MATRIX7878  , we had just over 100 entries in total and a lot of very thorough test plans! In order to make sure we do justice to everyone's applications, we are extending the judging period before we announce the ten successful applications.

Successful applicants will now be announced Friday 18th September

Their item(s) to test will be shipped Friday 9th October

Hey saramic , we had just over 100 entries in total and a lot of very thorough test plans! In order to make sure we do justice to everyone's applications, we are extending the judging period before we announce the ten successful applications.

Successful applicants will now be announced Friday 18th September

Their item(s) to test will be shipped Friday 9th October

This road test approach is a neat idea, being road tests have previously been driven by a specific supplier.  

Perhaps keep the current road test format, and add an annual competition called "Create me" posting a goal and a material list. 

The terms and conditions pdf says on 4th the road testers will be announced. This along side your point of evaluating such large number of application will definitely take time. 

If I am correct about nearly 100 entries - it would be kind of cool to see the items people put forward - that would be quite easy - you could even give a quick overview, anonymised entry using AI or similar?

for example for me it was

Order code: 4163984 (×2 units)

Anonymized elevator pitch: Modifying two Raspberry Pi Global Shutter Cameras (removing a resistor and soldering a wire to an SMD trigger pad) to create a hardware-synchronized stereo camera pair using the cameras' external trigger (XTR) pin — a technique documented by the manufacturer but rarely demonstrated in practice. The synchronized rig is then calibrated for stereo depth and used to predict the real-world flight path of thrown/kicked balls, tested at both close (garden) and long (pitch) range, to produce a measured accuracy benchmark rather than a qualitative demo.

and the AI prompt to extract that would be something like

You are extracting structured data from a product road-test competition entry.
From the attached entry, extract exactly two things:

1. **Order code** — the Newark / Farnell / element14 product order code
mentioned in the entry (usually numeric, e.g. "4163984"). Include quantity if
stated (e.g. "×2"). If more than one distinct product/order code is listed,
include all of them.

2. **Anonymized elevator pitch** — a 2–4 sentence summary of the core
idea/project being proposed, written so that it contains NO identifying
information about the applicant. Specifically strip out:
  - Names, usernames, or handles
  - Professional background, job titles, employers, or specific
    skill/experience
  - claims ("I have X years of experience in...")
  - References to other specific road tests/projects they've personally done in
    the past (unless essential to understanding this idea's technical context —
    in which case describe it generically, e.g. "building on a related
    compute-module setup" rather than naming it)
  - Location, company, or other personally identifying details

Keep: the product being tested, the technical approach/method, the novel or
interesting angle, and the intended outcome/deliverable. Write it as a clean,
self-contained description of the idea, as if evaluating it blind.

Output in this exact format for each entry:

    Entry: [filename or entry number]
    Order code(s): [code(s) + qty]
    Elevator pitch: [anonymized 2-4 sentence summary]

If the order code is missing or unclear, write "NOT FOUND" rather than
guessing. Do not include any other commentary.

in the Important Dates above it states
> Units ship:4th September

so that would be this Friday - but I think I saw some place that there were near 100 entries and each may be mentioning different products so I am sure it will be soon-ish but may be a hard job deciding

When will we know when the winners are selected, I do not see that date.  Also, this is a gentle reminder that I kind of came up with this idea, ergo, I should be considered .

I’m really eager to find out who the final road testers will be! I’d absolutely love the opportunity to review DFrobot’s components by integrating them into an exploration robot and putting them to the test in a real-world project.

Thanks, done.!

Its under 175USD on uk.farnell.com store. you should apply for the road-test. uk.farnell.com/.../2723824