Just completed our councils Family Adventure Camp. We had 75+ families attend, all earning the Down and Dirty Nova award, as well as Archery, Slingshot, etc…
Trying to get everything updated in scoutbook, so we can get bridge crossing underway. Can’t find any of the awards I need to record… There is a glaring incorrect post in the change log from yesterday by @ edavignon May 29, 2025 Legacy Scoutbook Updates stating that NOVA is nolonger supported. This is incorrect. NOVA is no longer “administered” by national, but it is still a supported and permitted award. Local councils have the option to make these awards available, but we still NEED to be able to record them to record and they are still part of a scouts record.
even beyond that issue… I can’t find or access even the basic awards of Archery, BB, Slingshot, etc. Not being able to access or add these to records will delay our ability to have bridgecrossing. PLEASE HELP
@AaronDearth - with scoutbook and scoutbook plus being the National advancement database the NOVA awards were removed because Nation no longer supports them and as such they are now local council awards if supported there. Since they are local if at all there is no support for local awards.
The Archery etc are all Adventures in Cub Scouts - those are found in Scoutbook +. NOVA are council awards, Council awards (like NOVA, Hot Pepper Camper, or Polar Bear Camper) are not listed in National System and therefor not in Scoutbook Database.). National has instructed they are to be removed from their systems.
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Incorrect… National no longer “administers” them ( STEM Nova Awards | Scouting America ) but they are still supported as an optional award available to councils. We STILL NEED ACCESS TO POST THESE TO THE SCOUT RECORD in order to do that. Also, there are camps, events, and large online programs already scheduled featuring NOVA which rely on the ability to record these awards. Buckeye Councils HOMESCOUTING.ORG for example has served over 70,000 cubscouts to date and currently has their new summer program starting in TWO DAYS. Which promonantly features NOVA Up and Away, Down and Dirty, Splash, Out of this World, and Shoot!.. How can they justify removing these nationally approved optional awards from being available to simply “record” to the record
Now that is helpful… you are correct on the archery… I look everywhere for that “award” not thinking that its definition had been unfortunately changed to an “adventure”… found those… thanks…
however, the assumption that these nationally approved optional awards are NOT to be included is still incorrect and needs fixed immediately
@AaronDearth Glad you found adventures. On NOVA - that is a National Decision. It is Scouting Americas Decision, sorry it does not align with your understanding. In 2 days councils can redo all requirements how each council wants to, so there is no national way to track. Your Council can ask Council if it so chooses.
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What??? that makes no sense either " All activities and programming used in conjunction with the STEM Nova Awards program must be followed and implemented as designed by Scouting America. Local Councils may not add or subtract activities or requirements from this Scouting America-designed program." has something changed?
That is the jest of what was presented when we heard of it. Talk to council. But at its base, NOVA is a Council award program, not a National award, Council awards are not tracked in the national database.
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I am communicating with council as well. And I’ve notified the HOMESCOUTING people. The question is not whether or not an award is “adminstered” at the council level. These are nationally recognized and permitted awards. These are awards that are earned around the world! I have personally sat through zoom sessions counciling children as far away as CHINA completing their requirements for NOVA. We need a place to simply “record” them as we always have and list them on their record. Furthermore, there are countless children actively working through their SUPERNOVA requirements which take two years to complete. What about those? As national still approves of these as optional awards, and they are still being actively being administered to children accross the country by multiple councils, we still need to be able to RECORD them.
also, as a long standing NOVA counselor and SUPERNOVA mentor, as well as instructing adult scouters on the program multiple times, we have not be informed of any change that would permit us to change requirements, or remove our ability to record these accomplishments. I personally have NOVA events on the calender pre-scheduled through august, what are we to do???
If your council still supports Nova awards, your Scouts may still earn them. Being removed from Scoutbook does not change this.
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I was thinking further about your “In 2 days councils can redo all requirements how each council wants to” comment… What does June 1st have to do with it? Is there a publication stating an official change on June 1st at a national level? If so, where can I read that? I did double check the updated FAQ and there is nothing posted ( Nova Awards FAQ | Scouting America ) … and even “if” that is true… for these specific cubs I am trying to record an award already completed. They completed it BEFORE June 1st, and it is also still not June 1st… in comparison, I can go back and submit an adventure to update a record using the expired 2016 requirements and that still works (just confirmed) but I can’t submit a valid, nationall recoginized award completed last weekend???
As we have said, this is a decision made by National. We are just volunteers like you. Your Council may be able to record these Nova awards using their tools.
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Here is the announcement about the changes to Nova this year:
STEM Nova and Super NOVA Award Updates
In 2023 the decision was made to sunset the STEM Nova Awards program allowing local councils to continue to support the award as an option at their own cost.
One of the conditions for continuing the STEM Nova Awards was that councils could not change the requirements. We are pleased to inform you that effective June 1, 2025, councils will have the ability to make the STEM Nova Award and Super NOVA awards a council award in which the council creates the requirements. This allows your council to continue utilizing this award to best meet the desired outcomes of your local council.
If your council chooses to continue utilizing this award, you will continue to purchase patches and other recognition items through licensed vendors. You may also make any custom adjustments to the design of the recognition items including branding changes for Scouting America.
With this change, all STEM Nova and Super NOVA awards and content will be removed from Scouting.org on June 1, 2025. This will give councils time to copy any materials from the site to their own site. STEM Nova and Super NOVA awards will not be available in ScoutBook and STEM Nova and Super NOVA counselor positions are no longer registered positions in Scouting America.
The sunsetting of STEM Nova awards was due to low participation nationally. About 1.5% of Scouts earned a STEM Nova award; however, we understand that some councils had, and we hope continue to have, success.
Scouting America values STEM programming and invested in the development of new Cub Scout Adventures to expose a greater number of Cub Scouts to STEM topics. We are pleased to share with you that since the launch of these new STEM Adventures in Cub Scouting, 69,948 youth have earned a STEM-based Adventure, which is almost 10 times the exposure to STEM topics for Cub Scouts so far for this program year.
I’m a big supporter of Nova and wish it was still supported nationally. However, national has made its decision and isn’t going to be reversing course.
The challenge going forward for councils will be how to track counselors/mentors and how to record awards (if at all) in the absence of national support. My council is looking into those issues, but hasn’t implemented anything yet.
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Thank you so much for direct information Whitney! I did a search based on your wording and found a post (and a new resource) here. Redirecting... Looks like national semi secretly shared this with councils back in march without publicly sharing it to counselors/mentors/etc who needed to know. But discussing nationals continued communication failures is a much larger conversation for another time… I will share this with council and the homescouting group…
However… this still does not address the issue that IT IS NOT JUNE 1ST yet. We still have many scouts who worked hard to earn an award at a special STEM camp they paid to attend BEFORE June 1st, and we need to get them recorded and added to their record.
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@AaronDearth
No one from National monitors these forums. We have stated several times you must speak with your Council as that is the only escalation path available.
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As stated, I have been in contact with council. And continue to keep them updated. Having finally received direct information thanks to Whitney there is now some explination as to what is going on. However. That still does NOT answer the question of why I can’t record earned awards when it is not yet June 1st and the awards were completed before June 1st. And NO that is not a question for “national”, that is a question for SCOUTBOOK. Assuming that post is accurate, then national has already stated that it will be removed on June 1st… So… why is it not functioning right now?
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@AaronDearth
As I have said we are volunteers, and can only provide as much information as we are given. Scouting America made the decision to remove the Nova awards from Scoutbook yesterday. No one from Scouting America reads these forums to provide an answer. If your Council cannot provide you an answer, I doubt you will ever get one that satisfies you.
With that being said, there is no requirement to record Nova awards in Scoutbook. Your Council may be able to record them via their tools. Your only recourse is to work with your Council staff.
scouting america sent a notice to remove the awards 3-days ahead of their own published notice? Do you have a copy of that I can see?
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Scouting America IT provides a list of changes to put in the change log. What you see there is all we have.
This has run its course. It was a National decision to end NOVA, it was a National Directive to IT to remove yesterday that is not public. Talk to council, am now closing this thread as we have paying jobs to attend to.
