OREANDA-NEWS. FedEx today kicked off its support of the 2014 FIRST Championship in St. Louis with a social media based contest that challenges participating students to solve complex engineering and math problems via Instagram and Twitter.

Among the top prizes in the FedEx Innovation Challenge are USD 10,000 and USD 5,000 grants to be administered by FIRST and available for use in future FIRST initiatives.

Additional prizes will be awarded daily, including GoPro cameras and iPads.

"FedEx is pleased to support the FIRST Championship, which provides students with exposure to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)," said Virginia Albanese, president and CEO, FedEx Custom Critical.  "This is a chance for young people, who will be innovation leaders in just a few years, to get excited about technology and participate in friendly competition."

In addition to facilitating the Innovation Challenge and providing in-kind shipping, FedEx is supporting the FIRST Robotics Rookie Grant Program.  This program will sponsor 187 new teams during a three-year period and track their progress in competition. Personalized sponsorship and mentoring gives participating teams a unique opportunity to learn from professionals already working in their areas of interest.

FedEx began supporting FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) in 2002.  Over that time, FedEx has supported FIRST by shipping an estimated 11 million pounds of starter kits and completed robots to and from competitions.  Founded 40 years ago, FedEx is a business grounded in innovation and technology and committed to developing the next generation of leaders in science and technology.