WCTE Academic Bowl
The WCTE Academic Bowl is a televised Quizbowl tournament held by WCTE, the Tennessee Upper-Cumberland affiliate of PBS. The tournament has been running since 1986 and is among the oldest tournaments still held in Tennessee, if not the oldest entirely. The WCTE Academic Bowl is not to be confused with East Tennessee PBS Scholar's Bowl. Since its inception, the tournament has been held at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee. Participants in the tournament are geographically restricted to the Upper-Cumberland area of Tennessee. The tournament’s current moderator is Brian O’Connor, who began his tenure circa 2006. Records of the WCTE Academic Bowl before 2013 are incomplete, if not missing entirely.
Format
From (at least) 2013, WCTE consisted of two eight-minute halves separated by a ten-question lightning round. In 2023, the lightning round was eliminated, but all other rules remained the same. The tossups have no powers or negs and are commonly recycled from previous years' questions. Question quality is highly variant but has steadily improved over the last decade. Bonuses range from one twenty-point question to four five-point questions, with the maximum value of a bonus never exceeding 20 points. The tournament used to be double elimination, but switched to single-elimination beginning in 2020. Brackets are made according to the standings of the previous year's tournament. The 2021 and 2022 versions of the tournament were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A playlist featuring many of the games can be found here: WCTE Acdemic Bowl
Results
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Cookeville | Gallatin | 135-110 |
| 2022 | None | ||
| 2021 | None | ||
| 2020 | Gallatin | Scott | 450-150 |
| 2019 | Gallatin | Cookeville | 430-220 |
| 2018 | Cookeville | Gallatin | 420-170 |
| 2017 | Cookeville | Gallatin | 370-175 |
| 2016 | Gallatin | Cookeville | 330-220 |
| 2015 | Cookeville | Gallatin | Unknown |
| 2014 | White County | Gallatin | 320-300 |
| 2013 | Cookeville | Gallatin | 370-150 |
| 2012 | Cookeville | York | Unknown |
| 2003 | Cookeville | Unknown | Unknown |
| 2002 | Cookeville | Unknown | Unknown |
| 2001 | Cookeville | Unknown | Unknown |
| 2000 | Cookeville | Unknown | Unknown |
| 1999 | Cookeville | Unknown | Unknown |
| 1998 | Cookeville | Bledsoe County | Unknown |
| 1997 | Cookeville | Unknown | Unknown |
| 1996 | Cookeville | DeKalb County | Unknown |