Academic Hallmarks - Revision history

Joseph Feldman at 06:53, 3 September 2026

2026-09-03T06:53:03Z

Kevin Wang at 15:21, 6 January 2022

2022-01-06T15:21:30Z

Kevin Wang at 15:20, 6 January 2022

2022-01-06T15:20:00Z

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Chris Chiego at 20:37, 11 May 2021

2021-05-11T20:37:56Z

Chris Chiego at 20:35, 11 May 2021

2021-05-11T20:35:31Z

Chris Chiego at 20:33, 11 May 2021

2021-05-11T20:33:00Z

Chris Chiego at 20:28, 11 May 2021

2021-05-11T20:28:05Z

Chris Chiego at 20:25, 11 May 2021

2021-05-11T20:25:55Z

Chris Chiego at 04:31, 10 December 2020

2020-12-10T04:31:50Z

Chris Chiego at 04:31, 10 December 2020

2020-12-10T04:31:27Z

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 {{Companybox|Company Name = Academic Hallmarks
 |Image = Academic hallmarks.png
-|president = Owner: [[Pat Jewell]]
+|president = Pat Jewell
-|citystate = Ohio
+|citystate = Wycliffe, OH
 |status = Open
 | }}
-'''Academic Hallmarks''', abbreviated as '''AH''' and sometimes known as '''The Great Auk''' or '''AUK''' for its mascot, is a software publishing and question writing company historically based in Durango, Colorado. They supply decidedly [[non-pyramidal]] questions to a number of invitational tournaments, including [[Knowledge Bowl]] events in several states. From 1983 until 2013 they organized the online [[Knowledge Master Open]] competition.
+'''Academic Hallmarks''', abbreviated as '''AH''' and sometimes known as '''The Great Auk''' or '''AUK''' for its mascot, is a software publishing and question writing company historically based in Durango, Colorado, and now based in Wycliffe, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. They supply decidedly [[non-pyramidal]] questions to a number of invitational tournaments. From 1983 until 2013 they organized the online [[Knowledge Master Open]] competition, and provided all questions for [[Knowledge Bowl]] until the late 2010s.
 ==Question quality==
-AH has historically produced questions in which no attempt at following "[[good quizbowl]]" principles like [[pyramidality]] or avoiding [[trivia]] is made. Many questions for the high school sets rely on elementary-school-level knowledge of English grammar and deliberately appear to try to mislead players as to what is even being asked using a variety of [[swerve]]s and [[hose]]s as well as unclear [[lead-in]]s and extraneous information. Questions that consisted entirely of lists of various things that players had to identify as well as quotes were common. Wild difficulty swings from question-to-question, limited answer lines, extremely short questions, and confusing syntax can befuddle players and can easily lead to bizarre match outcomes.
+AH historically produced questions in which no attempt at following "[[good quizbowl]]" principles like [[pyramidality]] or avoiding [[trivia]] was made. Many questions for the high school sets relied on elementary-school-level knowledge of English grammar and deliberately appeared to try to mislead players as to what is even being asked using a variety of [[swerve]]s and [[hose]]s as well as unclear [[lead-in]]s and extraneous information. Questions that consisted entirely of lists of various things that players had to identify as well as quotes were common. Wild difficulty swings from question-to-question, limited answer lines, extremely short questions, and confusing syntax befuddled players and easily led to bizarre match outcomes.
 A uniquely [[bad quizbowl]] feature of AH sets consisted of questions in the form of puns and riddles in which the player must provide the punchline for made-up limericks and ditties in order to "answer" the question. Many questions year-to-year were often either near-verbatim repeats of questions from previous years or on the same pet topics of the author's personal interest, often involving things having to do with Colorado or nearby areas.
 See a [https://web.archive.org/web/20210511203714/https://files.nwesd.org/website/Knowledge_Bowl/Knowledge%20Bowl%20Practice.pdf sample Academic Hallmarks packet] from 2010.
 ==History==
-Former School district superintendent Bill Brown founded Academic Hallmarks in 1982 after working with [[Colorado Knowledge Bowl]] for many years. As of June 2020, the original founder stepped down and [[Pat Jewell]] took over. During the 2020-2021 school year, AH appeared to supply [[Questions Unlimited]] with questions for several events and technical support for QU's online events. A number of previous clients of AH such as the state Knowledge Bowl organizations in Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington switched to using [[Question Authorities]] instead.
+Former School district superintendent Bill Brown founded Academic Hallmarks in 1982 after working with [[Colorado Knowledge Bowl]] for many years. In the late 2010s, Brown sold the company to [[Pat Jewell]], a longtime coach in Northeast Ohio. AH enjoyed a close relationship with Questions Unlimited after the sale, supplying them with questions for several events and fulfilling all their technological needs. Immediately after the sale, the state Knowledge Bowl organizations in Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington switched to [[Question Authorities]], which was created by the former coach from [[Grand Junction]].
 ==Events using AH questions==
-Historically, Academic Hallmarks operated in perhaps even more of an "alternate universe" to the "[[good quizbowl]]" scene than [[Questions Unlimited]] does, with very little overlap with other quizbowl competitions. The Great Auk had considerable influence on circuits in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota, with pockets of AH questions usage in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire and several other states. Academic Hallmarks even has (or had) some international clients in Syria, Egypt, Russia, China, and Germany as they appear to market it to international schools.
+Academic Hallmarks events have always had very little overlap with other Quizbowl competitions, making it very difficult to determine their reach. AH had considerable influence on circuits in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota, with pockets of AH questions usage in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire and several other states. Academic Hallmarks has or had international clients in Syria, Egypt, Russia, China, and Germany, as they market to international schools.
-A list of AH "pristine question users" posted at http://www.greatauk.com/pristineusers.html and maintained through the 2000s contained many tournaments which have in fact switched to [[NAQT]] questions over the years. Several other "tournaments" listed on that page have gone defunct. It is unclear if a number of other tournaments and leagues that use AH questions are using pristine questions or instead "custom" question sets of questions from previous years of AH, which are all still sold from AH and updated yearly in a large database. For an example of such a list, see [[2012-2013 Academic Hallmarks events]].
+A list of AH "pristine question users" formerly posted on their website and maintained until 2012 was generally inaccurate. It is unclear if a number of other tournaments and leagues that use AH questions are using pristine questions or instead "custom" question sets of questions from previous years of AH, which are all still sold from AH and updated yearly in a large database. For an example of such a list, see [[2012-2013 Academic Hallmarks events]].
-The full calendar is no longer maintained or linked from the main website as of the 2013-2014 competition year, with a [https://web.archive.org/web/20210511202019/http://academichallmarks.com/events/ more recent list of events as of Fall 2020] being much shorter than the list below.
+Later, an events list was posted after the sale to Jewell, with the new list being much shorter than the 2000s-era original. <ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210511202019/http://academichallmarks.com/events/]</ref>
 ==External links==

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 |status = Open
 | }}
-'''Academic Hallmarks''', abbreviated as '''AH''' and sometimes known as '''The Great Auk''' or '''AUK''' for its mascot, is a software publishing and question writing company historically based in Durango, Colorado. They supply decidedly non-[[pyramidal]] questions to a number of invitational tournaments, including [[Knowledge Bowl]] events in several states. From 1983 until 2013 they organized the online [[Knowledge Master Open]] competition.
+'''Academic Hallmarks''', abbreviated as '''AH''' and sometimes known as '''The Great Auk''' or '''AUK''' for its mascot, is a software publishing and question writing company historically based in Durango, Colorado. They supply decidedly [[non-pyramidal]] questions to a number of invitational tournaments, including [[Knowledge Bowl]] events in several states. From 1983 until 2013 they organized the online [[Knowledge Master Open]] competition.
 ==Question quality==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:37, 11 May 2021
Line 13:		Line 13:

	A uniquely [[bad quizbowl]] feature of AH sets consisted of questions in the form of puns and riddles in which the player must provide the punchline for made-up limericks and ditties in order to "answer" the question. Many questions year-to-year were often either near-verbatim repeats of questions from previous years or on the same pet topics of the author's personal interest, often involving things having to do with Colorado or nearby areas.		A uniquely [[bad quizbowl]] feature of AH sets consisted of questions in the form of puns and riddles in which the player must provide the punchline for made-up limericks and ditties in order to "answer" the question. Many questions year-to-year were often either near-verbatim repeats of questions from previous years or on the same pet topics of the author's personal interest, often involving things having to do with Colorado or nearby areas.
		+
		+	See a [https://web.archive.org/web/20210511203714/https://files.nwesd.org/website/Knowledge_Bowl/Knowledge%20Bowl%20Practice.pdf sample Academic Hallmarks packet] from 2010.

	==History==		==History==

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Question quality==
-AH has historically produced questions in which no attempt at following [[good quizbowl]] principles like [[pyramidality]] or avoiding [[trivia]] is made. Many questions for the high school sets rely on elementary-school-level knowledge of English grammar and deliberately appear to try to mislead players as to what is even being asked using a variety of [[swerve]]s and [[hose]]s as well as unclear [[lead-in]]s and extraneous information. Wild difficulty swings from question-to-question, limited answer lines, extremely short questions, and confusing syntax can befuddle players and can easily lead to bizarre match outcomes.
+AH has historically produced questions in which no attempt at following [[good quizbowl]] principles like [[pyramidality]] or avoiding [[trivia]] is made. Many questions for the high school sets rely on elementary-school-level knowledge of English grammar and deliberately appear to try to mislead players as to what is even being asked using a variety of [[swerve]]s and [[hose]]s as well as unclear [[lead-in]]s and extraneous information. Questions that consisted entirely of lists of various things that players had to identify as well as quotes were common. Wild difficulty swings from question-to-question, limited answer lines, extremely short questions, and confusing syntax can befuddle players and can easily lead to bizarre match outcomes.
 A uniquely [[bad quizbowl]] feature of AH sets consisted of questions in the form of puns and riddles in which the player must provide the punchline for made-up limericks and ditties in order to "answer" the question. Many questions year-to-year were often either near-verbatim repeats of questions from previous years or on the same pet topics of the author's personal interest, often involving things having to do with Colorado or nearby areas.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 | }}
-'''Academic Hallmarks''', sometimes known as '''Great Auk''' is a software publishing and question writing company historically based in Durango, Colorado. They supply decidedly non-[[pyramidal]] questions to a number of invitational tournaments, including [[Knowledge Bowl]] events in several states. From 1983 until 2013 they organized the online [[Knowledge Master Open]] competition.
+'''Academic Hallmarks''', abbreviated as '''AH''' and sometimes known as '''The Great Auk''' or '''AUK''' for its mascot, is a software publishing and question writing company historically based in Durango, Colorado. They supply decidedly non-[[pyramidal]] questions to a number of invitational tournaments, including [[Knowledge Bowl]] events in several states. From 1983 until 2013 they organized the online [[Knowledge Master Open]] competition.
 ==Question quality==
-AH has historically produced questions in which no attempt at [[good quizbowl]] principles like [[pyramidality]] or avoiding [[trivia]] is made. Many questions for the high school sets rely on elementary-school-level knowledge of English grammar and deliberately appear to try to mislead players as to what is even being asked. Wild difficulty swings, unclear answer lines, and confusing syntax befuddle players and can easily lead to bizarre match outcomes. A uniquely [[bad quizbowl]] feature of AH sets are questions in the form of puns and riddles in which the player must provide the punchline for made-up limericks and ditties in order to "answer" the question. Many questions year-to-year were often either near-verbatim repeats of questions from previous years or on the same pet topics of the author's personal interest, often involving things having to do with Colorado or nearby areas.
+AH has historically produced questions in which no attempt at following [[good quizbowl]] principles like [[pyramidality]] or avoiding [[trivia]] is made. Many questions for the high school sets rely on elementary-school-level knowledge of English grammar and deliberately appear to try to mislead players as to what is even being asked using a variety of [[swerve]]s and [[hose]]s as well as unclear [[lead-in]]s and extraneous information. Wild difficulty swings from question-to-question, limited answer lines, extremely short questions, and confusing syntax can befuddle players and can easily lead to bizarre match outcomes.
 ==History==
-Former School district superintendent Bill Brown founded Academic Hallmarks in 1982 after working with [[Colorado Knowledge Bowl]] for many years. As of June 2020, the original founder stepped down and [[Pat Jewell]] took over. During the 2020-2021 school year, AH appeared to supply [[Questions Unlimited]] with questions for several events and technical support for QU's online events.
+Former School district superintendent Bill Brown founded Academic Hallmarks in 1982 after working with [[Colorado Knowledge Bowl]] for many years. As of June 2020, the original founder stepped down and [[Pat Jewell]] took over. During the 2020-2021 school year, AH appeared to supply [[Questions Unlimited]] with questions for several events and technical support for QU's online events. A number of previous clients of AH such as the state Knowledge Bowl organizations in Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington switched to using [[Question Authorities]] instead.
 ==Events using AH questions==
-Historically, Academic Hallmarks operated in perhaps even more of an "alternate universe" to the [[good quizbowl]] scene than [[Questions Unlimited]] does, with the names of events on its website sometimes being the only evidence that the events, or any kind of quizbowl circuit in the state in which the event is listed as taking place, exist at all. The Great Auk had considerable influence on circuits in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota, with pockets of AH questions usage in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire and several other states. Academic Hallmarks even has (or had) some international clients in Syria, Egypt, Russia, China, and Germany as they appear to market it to international schools.
+Historically, Academic Hallmarks operated in perhaps even more of an "alternate universe" to the [[good quizbowl]] scene than [[Questions Unlimited]] does, with very little overlap with other quizbowl competitions. The Great Auk had considerable influence on circuits in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota, with pockets of AH questions usage in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire and several other states. Academic Hallmarks even has (or had) some international clients in Syria, Egypt, Russia, China, and Germany as they appear to market it to international schools.
 A list of AH "pristine question users" posted at http://www.greatauk.com/pristineusers.html and maintained through the 2000s contained many tournaments which have in fact switched to [[NAQT]] questions over the years. Several other "tournaments" listed on that page have gone defunct. It is unclear if a number of other tournaments and leagues that use AH questions are using pristine questions or instead "custom" question sets of questions from previous years of AH, which are all still sold from AH and updated yearly in a large database.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Former School district superintendent Bill Brown founded Academic Hallmarks in 1982 after working with [[Colorado Knowledge Bowl]] for many years. As of June 2020, the original founder stepped down and [[Pat Jewell]] took over. During the 2020-2021 school year, AH appeared to supply [[Questions Unlimited]] with questions for several events and technical support for QU's online events.
-==Events using Auk questions==
+==Events using AH questions==
-Academic Hallmarks operates in perhaps even more of an "alternate universe" to the [[good quizbowl]] scene than [[Questions Unlimited]] does, with the names of events on its website sometimes being the only evidence that the events, or any kind of quizbowl circuit in the state in which the event is listed as taking place, exist at all. Great Auk has considerable influence on circuits in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota, with pockets of Auk questions usage in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire and several other states. Academic Hallmarks even has (or had) some international clients in Syria, Egypt, Russia, China, and Germany as they appear to market it to international schools.
+Historically, Academic Hallmarks operated in perhaps even more of an "alternate universe" to the [[good quizbowl]] scene than [[Questions Unlimited]] does, with the names of events on its website sometimes being the only evidence that the events, or any kind of quizbowl circuit in the state in which the event is listed as taking place, exist at all. The Great Auk had considerable influence on circuits in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota, with pockets of AH questions usage in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire and several other states. Academic Hallmarks even has (or had) some international clients in Syria, Egypt, Russia, China, and Germany as they appear to market it to international schools.
-The list of AH "pristine question users" at http://www.greatauk.com/pristineusers.html contains many tournaments which have in fact switched to [[NAQT]] or HSAPQ questions, including at least one that abandoned AH as supplier over eight years ago. Several other "tournaments" listed on that page have gone defunct or do not appear to have ever actually existed in the first place (no hits on Google or news archives). It is unclear if a number of other tournaments and leagues that use AH questions are using pristine questions or instead "custom" question sets of questions from previous years of AH, which are all still sold from AH and updated yearly.
+A list of AH "pristine question users" posted at http://www.greatauk.com/pristineusers.html and maintained through the 2000s contained many tournaments which have in fact switched to [[NAQT]] questions over the years. Several other "tournaments" listed on that page have gone defunct. It is unclear if a number of other tournaments and leagues that use AH questions are using pristine questions or instead "custom" question sets of questions from previous years of AH, which are all still sold from AH and updated yearly in a large database.
-The full calendar is no longer maintained or linked from the main website as of the 2013-2014 competition year, with a more recent list of events as of Fall 2020 being much shorter than the list below. In 2012-2013, it listed the following events:
+The full calendar is no longer maintained or linked from the main website as of the 2013-2014 competition year, with a [https://web.archive.org/web/20210511202019/http://academichallmarks.com/events/ more recent list of events as of Fall 2020] being much shorter than the list below.
 *8/25	Nebraska State Fair High School Quiz Bowl	Grand Island, NE	H

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:31, 10 December 2020
Line 7:		Line 7:

	'''Academic Hallmarks''', sometimes known as '''Great Auk''' is a software publishing and question writing company historically based in Durango, Colorado. They supply decidedly non-[[pyramidal]] questions to a number of invitational tournaments, including [[Knowledge Bowl]] events in several states where it is the dominant [[quizbowl]] format. From 1983 until 2013 they organized the online [[Knowledge Master Open]] competition.		'''Academic Hallmarks''', sometimes known as '''Great Auk''' is a software publishing and question writing company historically based in Durango, Colorado. They supply decidedly non-[[pyramidal]] questions to a number of invitational tournaments, including [[Knowledge Bowl]] events in several states where it is the dominant [[quizbowl]] format. From 1983 until 2013 they organized the online [[Knowledge Master Open]] competition.
−
−	AH indicated that its other operations would be continuing despite the suspension of the KMO. However, the page on tournament questions has been de-linked from the front of their site, and tournament questions do not appear in the order form section. Questions referring to current events from at least as recently as 2012 have been seen in AH sets used at bad tournaments, but whether any truly new questions are being produced is difficult to discern. Some of its "pristine" questions have striking, near-verbatim similarities to older questions in its database.

	==Question quality==		==Question quality==