(Apologies for the inevitable cross-posting.) The UTC Academic Trivia Association will host its 8th annual Center of the Known Universe Open in scenic Chattanooga, TN. COTKU is a one- day collegiate academic quizbowl tournament Sat., Oct. 22, 2005. It will once again be followed by a trash tournament, the Big Lots Clearance Open, on Sun., Oct. 23 [separate announcement to follow.] ELIGIBILITY: This is intended as a collegiate tournament, with the field split into two divisions. Multiple teams may participate from the same school, but players on any given team must be enrolled in the same school, and we can't accommodate switching from one team to another during the tournament. We will consider allowing open exhibition teams to play -- but only when we know what to expect in terms of field size, available officials, etc. If you are interested in fielding an open team, let me know and I will keep you advised. DIVISION II ELIGIBILITY: Division II will be open to teams from 2- year or 4-year colleges/universities composed entirely of freshmen and/or sophomores and/or upperclassmen in their first or second year [academic calendar] of intercollegiate quizbowl competition. (Note #1: since the untimed game and ACF-style format differs so greatly from the CBI style, participation in CBI and HCASC tournaments will *not* be counted as previous intercollegiate experience. Note #2: Teams which have players with limited experience that technically stretches out across more than two years may still be ruled D II eligible. If your team is in such a situation, contact me with the details -- how many players, how much experience, etc. Div. II eligibility for such schools will be considered on a case-by- case basis.) FORMAT: This will be modified or "softcore" ACF style, meaning untimed rounds of 20 tossups (worth 10 pts. each) and up to 20 bonuses (worth a possible 30 pts. each.) Questions will be distributed across various academic categories, with a smattering of pop culture thrown in. FIELD SIZE: Owing to the number of readers expected, we have tentatively capped the field at 36 teams. If we get more readers we may be able to expand this, but I think it's unlikely we'll need to. SCHEDULE: Registration will begin at 9:00 EST Saturday 10/22/05, with announcements at 9:45 and the tournament beginning at 10. I'll have a better idea of when it will end when I have a better idea of the size of the field, but typically we'll be finished or at least down to the finals by 8 PM. LOCATION: Tournament headquarters will be in Grote Hall on the UT- Chattanooga campus, with matches in Grote and either Brock or Holt Hall. We anticipate that tournament HQ will once again be 129 Grote Hall, but that room was recently closed for repairs, so backup HQ will be across the hall in Grote 131. FEES: Base fee per team: $80. **This assumes a packet meeting the guidelines below is submitted by Friday, Oct. 7.** Minimum fee after discounts: $50 (with one exception noted below.) Discounts -- Working lockout buzzer system: -$5 (1 discount per team; if you bring a 2nd buzzer and we actually need to use it we'll knock off another $5) Experienced reader: will be given their choice of $10 off the fee, or the same bribe we offer our house readers, dinner at Provino's. (Guess which one they'll take.) This offer also applies to those who commit as full-time readers for the Big Lots trash tournament on 10/23. Additional teams from same school: -$10 Freelance high school questions submitted by Thurs., Sept. 15: - $15 for full round, or -$5 for each group of 8 tossups and 8 bonuses. These must be new, original questions suitable for high school and high school JV use, and must not have been heard in any other location [we are exchanging the high school set for use in at least three other states.] Penalties: Half packet submitted by the Oct. 7 deadline instead of full packet: +$10 penalty Full packet received after 10/7 but before Fri., Oct. 14: +$10 penalty Half packet received after 10/7 but before Fri., Oct. 14: +$20 penalty No questions submitted at all: +$40 penalty for A & B teams from a given school, +$20 for C teams et seq. [This is not purely mercenary on our part. For one thing, we always need more questions, but for another, we want every team to develop their question-writing skills.] There's another way to earn an extra discount, and this one can take your fees down to a minimum of $0: We need readers for our high school tournament on Sat., Oct. 1 and will knock $20 off your fees for each official you provide that day. PACKET GUIDELINES: First of all, *questions must be blind to all other teams, including the other teams from your school.* In some cases we can make exceptions, but PLEASE check with me first. It's not mandatory, but it'll make life easier on me if you can e- mail the packet as either an MS Word or RTF file, if the essential parts of the answer are in bold, and if you insert the word "Answer:" before each answer. To encourage participation by Division II teams, we prefer a degree of difficulty considered easy to moderate by current invitational standards. While not beginning with giveaway clues, most tossups should be answerable by most teams by the end of the question. Bonuses should be such that a novice team stands a good chance of getting at least 10 pts., a good team 20, and the best teams all 30 pts. DISTRIBUTION: For a full packet, we ask for 25 tossups and 25 bonuses per packet, distributed as follows below. For a half packet, we ask for 13 tossups and 12 bonuses, distributed across the same categories: Literature 5 for full packet, 2-3 for half packet Recommended for full packet: at least 2 20th century, at least 2 pre- 20th century; at least 2 U.S./Canadian, at least 2 non-U.S./Canadian Sciences 5 for full packet, 2-3 for half packet Required for full packet: at least 1 each of biology, physics, and chemistry History 5 for full packet, 2-3 for half packet Recommended for full packet: at least 2 20th century, at least 2 pre- 20th century; at least 2 U.S./Canadian, at least 2 non-U.S./Canadian The remainder should contain at least 1 each and no more than 3 of: Philosophy/religion/myth Fine arts Social sciences incl. geography Popular culture General knowledge/interdisciplinary questions are OK but purely optional. [Note: For high school rounds, each round should include at least 1 each of geography and math/computer science.] STYLE: Tossups -- average length 3 sentences. We want questions that begin with lesser-known details and gradually get easier. And please don't violate the pronoun rule -- e.g.,, if your first pronoun is "He..." the answer should be a person, not a title. Bonuses -- all bonuses worth a possible 30 pts.; no single-part all-or-nothing bonuses. We don't want 6-part boni unless they're very, very short, and even then use sparingly. Also use the 30-20-10 format sparingly. ACCOMMODATIONS: The Clarion Hotel downtown offers a discount rate ($66/night) if you tell them you're with the UTC quizbowl tournament. The Clarion's number is (423) 756-5150. DIRECTIONS: Come towards downtown Chattanooga on I-24. Take the freeway splitoff labeled US 27 North - Downtown Chattanooga. Follow US 27 North to Exit 1A, 4th St. (Don't worry about which way to turn on 4th St. - it only goes one way.) Follow 4th St.about ½ mile. Shortly after you see the McKenzie (UTC) Arena on your right, 4th St. will bear slightly left and merge with 3rd St. Once you pass the cemetery on your right, turn at the 2nd street to the right, Palmetto St. Go two blocks and turn right on Vine St. Follow it to the last available parking lot on your right before the road is closed. Grote is the building closest to that parking lot. Enter at the back door by the dumpster; tournament HQ will be Grote 129 (we hope.) WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE: Same as it ever was -- the tournament director is Charlie Steinhice. If you have any questions, I can be reached at (423) 877-2706 or 504-8255, or by e-mail at steinhic [at] bellsouth [dot] net.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:48 AM EST EST