Awards
There are many ways to win an award. At Chapter competitions, four competitors and their coaches get awards for individual scores and about four teams and their coaches get team awards. At State competitions, the awards are the same with one less team award. However, in Nationals competitions, the four highest scorers, the four highest places in the Countdown Round, the three highest teams, the winner of the Masters Round, the team that improved most, and the team with the most spirit get awards.
The award for the most improved state has teams competing against the past. Whichever team has a score most improved from the year before gets this award.
The Spirit Award is different from the other awards. It requires no knowledge of math, but rather rewards the team for supporting each other and their state, and for creating a positive cheer/song/chant to present to all of the other teams before competing.
Read more about this topic: List Of Winners Of The Mathcounts Competition