Ryker Ulansky (left) and Jake Ulansky (right) make up half of the U-BOTS team that built a water-powered vehicle and won the Core Values Award First Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

31 in-person teams and two remote teams participated in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Members of the Lansdowne Fryers team and the Teamsters competed against one another at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Members of the Sunrise team won the Robot Performance Award Second Place and the Robot Design Award First Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Members of the Little Prodigies team participated in the Explore festival part of the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Members of the MDR Royal Crowns team won the Core Values Award Second Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Members of the Pythagoras Penguins won the Rising All-Star Award at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

(L-R) Jolene Ulansky, Jake Ulansky, Ryker Ulansky, and Olive Ulansky make up the U-BOTS team that built a water-powered vehicle and won the Core Values Award First Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Students cheered on members of the Pythagoras Penguin team as they competed in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Members of the MDR Mimu team competed in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Ethan Janes (left) and Johnathon Coyne (right) make up the Yukon AllSparks team that won The Champion’s Award Second Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

Hundreds of kids and thousands of LEGO pieces filled the Meadowridge School gym last weekend as the Maple Ridge school hosted the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship.

READ MORE: LEGO comes to life at Maple Ridge school competition

After hours of putting custom-coded LEGO robots through complex obstacle courses, and presenting handmade STEM projects, the awards were given out to the children in a variety of categories.

• Coach/Mentor Award – Shaun Sims of the T-Rex Technicians (Vancouver)

• Breakthrough Award – T-Rex Technicians (Vancouver)

• Engineering Excellence Award – Mulgrave Robo-Titans (Richmond)

• Rising All-Star Award – Pythagoras Penguin (Richmond)

• Motivate Award – Mr. Jr. (Vancouver)

• Robot Performance Award First Place – Teamsters (Nanaimo)

• Robot Performance Award Second Place – Sunrise (Richmond)

• Core Values Award First Place – U-BOTS (West Vancouver)

• Core Values Award Second Place – MDR Royal Crowns (Maple Ridge)

• Innovation Project Award First Place – RainDrop (Richmond)

• Innovation Project Award Second Place – Nuclear Worms (Burnaby)

• Robot Design Award First Place – Sunrise (Richmond)

• Robot Design Award Second Place – Solar Spirit (Richmond)

• The Champion’s Award First Place – Teamsters (Nanaimo)

• The Champion’s Award Second Place – Yukon AllSparks (Whitehorse)

Five of the teams from this event will now be competing at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge Canada Cup on May 14. This remote event will include the Teamsters, RainDrop, Nuclear Worms, Yukon AllSparks, and U-BOTS.

The top three-ranked teams from the BC/Yukon Championship – Teamsters, Yukon AllSparks, and Sunrise – will also have their pick of which international event to compete at, including the World Festival at FIRST Championship in Texas, the Western Edge Open in California, and the FIRST LEGO League WPI Open Invitational in Massachusetts.