NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESSES: utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com for standard tournament replies, registration, etc.; steinhice [at] gmail [dot] com for packet submission or anything just for me. (The steinhic at bellsouth dot net address will go away in the next month.) Also, apologies in advance for the dreaded but inevitable cross-posting. The UTC Academic Trivia Association will host its 9th annual Center of the Known Universe Open on Sat., Oct. 21, 2006, on the UT- Chattanooga campus. This is a collegiate academic quizbowl tournament. Your genial quizmaster Charlie Steinhice will serve as editor-in-chief. Once again this year, it will be followed on Sun. 10/22/06 by the Big Lots Clearance Open trash tournament, a mirror of the ever-entertaining FOGHAT tourney; details will follow in a separate message. ELIGIBILITY: This tournament is designed for teams of current college students, with all players on a given team affiliated with the same university. If space permits, we will accept mixed- affiliation or purely open (i.e., non-collegiate) teams. However, the field is limited to 36 teams, and collegiate teams will be given first priority. The tournament field will be divided into two divisions for separate play and awards. Division II will be limited to players in their first and second year of intercollegiate quizbowl play, with an extra year of eligibility allowed for teams from 2-year schools. (Note: due to the difference in formats, prior experience in College Bowl Inc., Honda Campus All-Star Challenge, or tournaments restricted to junior colleges will not count as prior experience when determining Division II eligibility.) REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS: All we need to know in advance is how many teams you will bring, and in which division(s) they will compete. Please e-mail this information to utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com -- do not hit "reply" here unless you want to tell the world of your registration plans. Teams are composed of up to four players, with alternates allowed as long as there is substitution only between matches. We do not need to know who's on which team until the day of the tournament, but please note that once the tournament starts, a player may not switch teams. Prepayment is not required; payment is expected on the day of the tournament unless arranged otherwise in advance. Note: If your team includes players with disabilities or access issues, it will simplify things if you let us know in advance. That way we can take it into account when scheduling (building changes, etc.) LOCATION AND SCHEDULE: Tournament headquarters will once again be Grote 129 on the UTC campus; see below for directions. Registration will begin at 9 AM EST on Sat. 10/21/06, with announcements at 9:45 AM and play beginning at 10 AM. We hope to be into playoffs by 7:30 PM and finished by 8:30, but we know better than to make any guarantees on the schedule. PACKET SUBMISSION: We are asking every team to contribute a full packet (25 tossups and 25 bonuses) in a timely manner, with the following exceptions: a) Schools making their first appearance at a UTC tournament are exempt. b) Schools making their second appearance at UTC, and any teams from the same school after the first two teams, are only asked to submit a half packet (13 tossups and 13 bonuses.) As a reminder, when there are multiple teams from the same school, each team's packet needs to be blind to the other teams from the same school. Packet submission is not mandatory, but we will add surcharges for teams that fall short of the above expectations. See below for detailed packet specifications. FEES: Base fee: $90 per team; assumes you submit a full packet (25 tossups and 25 bonuses) to steinhice [at] gmail [dot] com by midnight Sun. 10/1/06. Discounts: - $5 for a working buzzer system (one discount per team unless we run short of buzzers) - $5 plus dinner at Provino's for providing a competent full-time official (for either COTKU itself or the Big Lots trash tournament on Sun. 10/22/06) - $20 for each full-time official you provide for our high school tournament on Sat. 9/30/06 - $20 for each full packet, or $10 for each half packet, of original questions you submit by Thurs.9/20/06 for the aforementioned high school tournament - $10 for each team from the same school after the first - $10 if at least half the team members are also playing at Big Lots on Sunday Minimum fee after discounts: $60 for the first team from a school, $50 for each additional team. [Exception: Discounts for officials and/or questions for the high school tournament can reduce fees below the minimum, all the way to zero if you provide enough!] Penalties: + $10 for A and B teams submitting a half packet (13/13) by the 10/1/06 deadline + $10 for submitting a full packet (25/25) after 10/1/06, but by midnight Sun. 10/8/06 + $20 for submitting just a half packet (13/13) after 10/1/06, but by midnight Sat. 10/8/06 + $30 for full packet submitted between 10/8/06 and Sat. 10/14/06; accepted only if extension is requested by 10/8/06 + $40 for no packet submission for A and B teams from the same school + $25 for no half packet submission for subsequent teams from the same school PACKET SPECIFICATIONS EXCLUSIVITY: First and foremost, *the questions you submit must be blind to all other teams, including other teams from your school.* In some cases, when the teams will be in different divisions, we can make an exception, but PLEASE check with me first. At present we have no mirrors scheduled, but we still need to be sure the questions are blind to teams elsewhere in the country. Please do not play-test them online in advance. DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Because we expect at least half the field to be Division II teams, we want questions considered moderately easy by current 4-year 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. If you're just dying to ask something that's pretty obscure, at least confine it to one bonus part. Anyone who would like sample questions, please let me know and I'll e-mail you some. FORMAT: In a change from our style in past years, *please arrange questions separately by category.* Please e-mail the packet as either an MS Word or RTF file, with the essential parts of the answer in bold and underlined. Make sure the words "for ten points" or abbreviation "FTP" appear in each tossup shortly before the final clue. Please insert the word "Answer:" followed by a single tab before each answer. Ideally, titles of books, plays, periodicals, films, TV series, and works of art should be italicized, while titles of songs, short stories, and TV series episodes should be placed in quotes. But we're not going to penalize you if you don't. 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 13 bonuses, distributed across the same categories. Literature: 5 tossups and 5 boni for full packet, 2-3 of each for half packet o 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 (including math): 5/5 for full packet, 2-3 of each for half packet o For full packet: at least 1 each of biology, physics, and chemistry. If you have a second question from any of these categories, try to make them from a different subcategory (e.g. two physics boni would be OK, but two on thermodynamics would be overkill.) History: 5/5 for full packet, 2-3 of each for half packet o 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 Philosophy/religion/myth: 2/2 for full packet, 1/1 for half packet o Prefer no more than 1/1 of each Fine arts: 2/2 of each for full packet, 1/1 for half packet o No more than 1/1 each on visual arts and classical music Geography: 1/1 for full packet Social sciences other than geography: 1/1 for full packet Popular culture: minimum 1/1 for full packet, maximum 2/2. (While this is an academic tournament, all knowledge is power.) The remaining questions for a full packet may include: General knowledge/interdisciplinary questions -- these are especially helpful as spare tossups, since they make good Tossup 21's. Current events other than pop culture Additional questions from any of the above categories (no more than one extra per category). Since it seems like we get more duplication on sciences, a 6th science question is especially welcomed. STYLE: You probably already know the basics, but just in case: Tossups -- average length 3 sentences. Please include a unique clue early to avoid any ambiguity. 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 an object or the title of a work. Bonuses -- each bonus worth a possible 30 pts.; no single- part all-or-nothing bonuses. We don't want 5-part or 6-part boni unless they're very, very short, and even then use sparingly. Also use the 30-20-10 format sparingly, with 3 in a round as the absolute max. We can accept visual bonuses if reasonably structured. DRIVING DIRECTIONS: >From Atlanta and points south -- take I-75 to Chattanooga, then I-24 west towards downtown, then follow the freeway splitoff for U.S. 27 North, downtown Chattanooga. From 27 North take the 4th Street exit, within sight of the Tennessee Aquarium. Go right on 4th St. (you have no choice) and follow it for ca. 1 mile. Go past the UTC Arena, after which E. 4th St. becomes part of E. 3rd St. After that, take the second right on Palmetto St. Go two blocks and turn right on Vine St. (just past the EMCS Building.) Just before the place where Vine St. is blocked off, the parking lot for Grote and Holt Halls is on the right. Enter Grote by the door next to the dumpster. From Knoxville and points north -- take I-75 to Chattanooga, then I- 24 West; directions from there same as above. >From Nashville and points west/north: Take I-24 east to Chattanooga. As you round Moccasin Bend (freeway goes alongside river) watch for two exit lanes on the right; take the less rightward of the two, which will have signs above it for U.S. 27 N. Rest of directions are the same as above. >From Birmingham and points southwest: Take I-59 to the outskirts of Chattanooga, where it dead-ends into I-24. Get on I-24 East and follow the Nashville directions from there. CONTACT: For further information contact your genial quizmaster, Charlie Steinhice, coach of UTC's quizbowl team. Note new contact addresses: General tournament business (inquiries, registration, etc.): utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com Packet submission: steinhice [at] gmail [dot] com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:48 AM EST EST