Hey All, I've worked out all the details, so here goes. Basics - The 2004 Chicago Open (and all accompanying tournaments) will be held on the campus of the University of Chicago on the weekend of July 10. The tournament is open to all players. This year's tournament will be packet submission with a major restriction, which I will detail below. At this point, I have 10-11 teams interested (some of these are individual people) and plan on capping the field at 13 teams, primarily due to possible lack of moderators. If I do line up a couple of more moderators, I'll increase the field to 15 teams. Either way, I've had a lot more early interest this year, so if you're thinking about coming, please let me know promptly. Important - Please e-mail me to confirm your interest/register. This applies to everyone, regardless of any past e-mails or conversations we might have had. I'd like to keep a list of officially registered teams and individuals and provide placement for those without teams if necessary. Packets - To ensure maximum editing time for myself and thus the best possible questions, I'm only going to accept packets by one deadline. I am leaving the country on May 23, and will only accept packets by noon CST on May 22. Anyone who submits a packet to me by then, will earn $30 off their entry fee. If I deem the packet to be unsatisfactory in terms of question content and difficulty (my standard is that I would have to do substantial work to more than 50 percent of the questions), then the packet will be sent back to you and the discount will not apply, unless it is resubmitted by noon CST of May 22. At the bottom of this message will be a detailed breakdown of what I want in packets. Fees - Base Fee - $100 Packet by May 22 - (-$30) Buzzers - (-$5) [You're welcome to bring more than one buzzer and if it is used even once during the course of the day, you'll get the discount] I'll also cut people slack on the fees if they're playing as one or two-person teams (e-mail me to discuss that on an individual basis) Also, if you do write me a packet, you'll get the questions from the tournament free of charge (15 rounds if there are 13 teams, 17 rounds if there are 15 teams). Moderators - I would welcome people to come and moderate. If you are competent, based on my judgement, I'll pay you $10 for half the day's rounds or $20 for the entire day I'll also try and shore up the certainty of a Sunday singles tournament within the next week. Please e-mail me at (suby10 at yahoo dot com) with all questions. Packets: Please submit all packets to the above e-mail address. Formatting - I would like the questions in MS-Word. If Word is not an option for you, then e-mail me and we'll figure out what format is easiest for the both of us. If you do submit questions in Word, then they must be in Times New Roman 10 point font with 1-inch margins. The tossups under those guidelines should never exceed eight lines of text (not including the answer line) and should almost never exceed seven lines (five to six is the best and what I will chop almost all questions down to). All novels, plays, paintings, sculptures, and foreign words (that are not names) should be italicized. All poems and short stories (and other things that apply) should be in quotes. Please include pronunciation guides if available. Bold AND underline the necessary portions of the answer line. Bonuses should appear as below: It includes descriptions of the Belgae and Aquitani and a surprisingly objective take on the double siege of Alesia. Name— A. For 10 points, This 1st-century BC work. Answer: Commentaries on the _Gallic Wars_ or De _Bello Gallico_ (or The _Conquest of Gaul_) B. For 5 points, The member of the first triumvirate who wrote those Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Answer: Julius _Caesar_ C. For 15 points, The friend of Caesar who most likely wrote the conclusion, or "eighth book," of the Gallic Wars. He served as a consul in 44 BC after Caesar's assassination and sided with the senate against Marc Antony. Answer: Aulus _Hirtius_ You would, of course, replace the underscores with bolding and underlining. But I want bonus parts to appear exactly as above. Don't use 1.,2.,3. and don't indicate the point values in parentheses. Also, NO tabs should apppear anywhere in your packet (I'll add them in the final stages). I would prefer the questions sorted by category Please pay strict attention to these guidelines, as I will assess a $5-$15 penalty if I find that a packet is in gross violation of them. I know that this is subjective, but hopefully it will ensure that people follow them. If you need a baseline, let me know and I'll send you a packet from a past Chicago Open. Also, keep bonus parts to 3 or 4 prompts. No more than 1 six-part bonus (If you send me more than one, I'm taking away $5). Please don't write paragraph-length bonus parts or lead-ins. Question Content - The packet should consist of 25 tossups and 25 bonuses with the following distribution 5/5 Lit - no more than 2/2 American or 2/2 British. At least 1/0 or 0/1 on continental European (includes Russia), and no more than 1/0 or 0/1 on Asian, Latin American, or African. No more than 1/0 or 0/1 on poetry and no more than 2/0 or 0/2 on plays. No more than 2/0 on writers and no more than 50 percent of the bonus answers on writers. 5/5 History - no more than 2/1 or 1/2 American, no more than 1/1 British. At least 1/1 on continental Europe, and no more than 1/1 on Asian, Latin American, or African (the tossup and bonus should be from different areas). At least 2 of your tossups should have answers that are not people, and at least 30% of your bonus answers should follow that rule. No more than 3/2 or 2/3 of the 5/5 should be military history (this not only includes wars, battles, treaties, and wartime conferences but also questions on rulers that are primarily military-clue laden). Actually wars, battles, and treaties should not comprise more than 2/1 or 1/2 of your 5/5 history. At least 1/1 should be post World War I (but no more than 2/1 or 1/2) and no more than 1/0 or 0/1 should be pre-1066. 5/5 Science - at least 1/1 each on chem, physics, and bio. At least 1/1 should be on a category not from the big three (math, cs, geology). Of that 1/1, make the tossup and bonus from two different areas. No more than 1/0 or 0/1 from organic chemistry and for the purposes of this tournament biochem is biology. No more than 1/0 on science biography. A tossup on Euler describing the various things named for him would not count as biography. 3/3 RMP - at least 1/1 from each category. Unless you're writing on Greek myth, make sure your 1/1 myth is from different categories. 2/2 Fine Arts - It is ok to make the 1/1 on painting but both tossup and bonus should not be on sculpture. Architecture tossups or bonuses would count in the Miscellaneous category. No more than 1/0 or 0/1 music should be opera, but it is fine to make both the tossup and bonus on classical music. 1/1 Social Science - If you feel up to it, try and write substantive social science, instead of biography. Make your tossup and bonus from different categories (sociology, psychology, economics, anthropology, linguistics). 1/1 Trash - This includes sports and pop culture. If your tossup is on sports then make the bonus on pop culture and vice versa. 3/3 Miscellaneous - I'd prefer if 1/1 of this was geography, but it's not necessary. This category includes interdisciplinary questions but can be completely filled by questions from all of the above categories, though no more than 1/1 can be from any single category. Don't write tossups to which the answer is "cable box," or "golf bag." This category should still be comprised of academic questions. Now for the most important thing. Don't write tossups on ass-hard things. Those of you coming to this tournament know what I mean by that. Last time this tournament was packet submission, I got tossups on "Jack Juggler," "Eikon Basilike," "Smectymnus," "Karl Friedrich Schinkel" and so on. I've also been guilty of this in my own packets, but this year my goal is to make this a tournament of even difficulty with accessible tossups. Now accessible doesn't mean "easy," as I'm referring to accessible for this field, which is going to be stronger than most others out there. So, please think your tossups through before you submit them. If you're really tempted to write about something you know is borderline, put it into a bonus. Also, if you find that your bonuses are trending hard, don't put any cream puffs in there, and if they're tending easier, keep them ALL that way. Sorry for this tortuous e-mail, Subash
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