Southeastern Invitational

The Southeastern Invitational was held annually since 1970 until 2011, usually at Berry but sometimes at other schools in the greater Atlanta area. This tournament essentially created the independent quizbowl circuit following the demise of the College Bowl TV show. In the early years, the winning team would host the tournament the next year and write all the questions for that tournament. Of course, they would sit out that tournament since they wrote the questions.

Such programs as Emory and Georgia Tech, which were the trendsetters of the independent circuit for over twenty years, were formed in order to compete in this tournament. Personalities such as Gordon Carper, Carol Guthrie, Robert Meredith, and Don Windham, who were the most important individuals in the formation of quizbowl over that time period, all became involved through organizing or competing in this tournament.

In later years, the tournament became something of a "secret" event, often announced only to a quaintly selected list of participants via private e-mail, and never releasing its questions or statistics to the outside world. The last public information about the event suggest that its final version took place in 2011. [1] Despite this recent decline in prominence, its role in the early formation of quizbowl cannot be overstated.

For an example of the kinds of questions asked at the Southeastern, see this packet from the 1989 edition.

The following list of early tournament winners was posted in 1989:

Year	Date	Host	Champion	Second	Third	Fourth	Editor	Field size	Notes
1970			Valdosta State
1971			Berry
1972			Georgia Southwestern						defeated Stetson in de-facto final; team members: Richard Stewart, Sharon Schlef, Lynnette McCormick, Russell Muller; coach, Gerald Critoph
1973	February 2-3	Georgia Southwestern	Georgia Southern					7	Other teams included Berry (2 teams), Georgia Southwestern, Shorter, Spelman, and Valdosta State
1974	February 15-16	Georgia Southern	Berry	Georgia Tech	Georgia Southern
1975	February 28 - March 1	Berry	Georgia Tech	Berry	Georgia Southern	Columbus		12
1976	February 27-28	Georgia Tech	Berry	Armstrong State
1977		Berry	Georgia Tech
1978			Georgia Tech
1979			Georgia Southwestern
1980			Georgia Tech
1981			Georgia Tech
1982			Georgia Tech
1983			Emory
1984			Davidson
1985			Emory
1986			Davidson
1987			Georgia Tech
1988			NC State
1989			Georgia Tech
1994			Georgia Tech
2007			Alabama
2008			Alabama
2009			Alabama
2010			Berry

• 1970: Valdosta State
• 1971: Berry
• 1972: Georgia Southwestern (defeated Stetson in de-facto final; team members: Richard Stewart, Sharon Schlef, Lynnette McCormick, Russell Muller; coach, Gerald Critoph)
• 1973: Georgia Southern
• 1974: Berry
• 1975: Georgia Tech
• 1976: Berry
• 1977: Georgia Tech
• 1978: Georgia Tech
• 1979: Georgia Southwestern
• 1980: Georgia Tech
• 1981: Georgia Tech
• 1982: Georgia Tech
• 1983: Emory
• 1984: Davidson
• 1985: Emory
• 1986: Davidson
• 1987: Georgia Tech
• 1988: NC State
• 1989: Georgia Tech

More recent results:

• 1994: Georgia Tech
• 2007: Alabama
• 2008: Alabama
• 2009: Alabama
• 2010: Berry