Difference between revisions of "Neg prize"

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'''Neg prizes''' are awards given  (usually) in jest during a tournament's awards ceremony to the player with the most total negs.  When multiple players tie for the award, ties are broken by lowest tossup/interrupt ratio. While most team and individual prizes consist of various trophies and books, neg prizes can be, and often are, just about anything.
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<onlyinclude>
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'''Neg prizes''' are awards given  (usually) in jest during a tournament's awards ceremony to the player with the most total negs.  When multiple players tie for the award, ties are broken in various ways: by lowest tossup/interrupt ratio, by flipping a coin, or by sawing the prize in half or some other humorous method. While most team and individual prizes consist of various trophies and books, neg prizes can be, and often are, just about anything and are often chosen to be humorous.</onlyinclude>
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==Are neg prizes a good idea?==
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No. There is always a risk of the person being "honored" taking it the wrong way and feeling embarrassed. The ad-hoc solution of deciding on the spot whether the person with the most -5s is "inside enough" to the community to avoid being offended is sub-ideal because it requires TDs to make judgment calls about social connections, which, instead of possibly targeting players, excludes ''TDs'' from being able to run tournaments properly based on factors that should have nothing to do with quizbowl logistics competence.
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More often, you end up with people deciding that their team has no shot of winning the tournament and intentionally trying to win the neg prize by getting questions wrong on purpose. This has a lot of bad consequences, primarily that it makes the games those players participate in meaningless for their opponents.
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In line with many other aspects of quizbowl professionalizing since the 2000s: Do not award neg prizes or call attention to negative aspects of team or individual performance in your tournament.
  
 
==Previous Tournaments' Neg Prizes==
 
==Previous Tournaments' Neg Prizes==
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* ''Pregnant with the Billionaire's Baby'' ([[WUSTL]] mirror of Michigan Fall 2013).
 
* ''Pregnant with the Billionaire's Baby'' ([[WUSTL]] mirror of Michigan Fall 2013).
 
* A poster of Justin Bieber ([[Truman State]] site of [[2013 ACF Fall]]).
 
* A poster of Justin Bieber ([[Truman State]] site of [[2013 ACF Fall]]).
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* A signed picture of Mark Sanchez's butt fumble ([[Kansas State]] mirror of [[DRAGOON]]).
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* All seven volumes of ''In Search of Lost Time'' in the original French. ([[Caltech]] mirror of STIMPY)
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* A compressed air motor made by [[Zhenglin Liu]] in an introductory machining workshop that day (2017 [[Toronto]] mirror of This Tournament Is A Crime)
  
 
===High School===
 
===High School===
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*A California HS Exit Exam study guide (Arcadia Carnal Embrace 2011)
 
*A California HS Exit Exam study guide (Arcadia Carnal Embrace 2011)
 
*A copy of ''Breaking Dawn'' (La Jolla Rocket Surgery 2011)
 
*A copy of ''Breaking Dawn'' (La Jolla Rocket Surgery 2011)
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*A book on hydrocephaly and ''Accounting Terminology in the PRC and USA''--the hosts, anticipating that [[Lucas Brown]] would win the prize yet again, provided two neg prizes so that somebody else would have a turn.  The #2 negger declined his prize.  (NAQT state championship, Southern CA, 2011)
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*A book on hydrocephaly and ''Accounting Terminology in the PRC and USA''--the hosts, anticipating that [[Lucas Brown]] would win the prize yet again, provided two neg prizes so that somebody else would have a turn.  The person with the second most negs declined his prize.  (NAQT state championship, Southern CA, 2011)
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===Modern Usage===
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Neg Prizes have been increasingly eliminated by tournaments; the most prominent organization to regularly use neg prizes is the [[LIQBA]], which uses them at all regular-season events, and used them at the first [[QBNC]], but discontinued them on the national level after that. Neg prizes are most heavily entrenched in the circuits in the New York tri-state and Massachusetts, which are the regions where the LIQBA first operated. The awarding of neg prizes is a long tradition in the New York Tri-State circuit; when a tournament there does not have one, the TD is usually fiercely jeered. The LIQBA brings neg prizes to every out-of-region event it runs as well, to universal acclaim from the teams.
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The LIQBA's neg prizes are awarded just before the top scorer is announced at the closing ceremony, following a comical speech by the Tournament Director. The prizes are traditionally kept under a tablecloth and unveiled during the climax of the speech.
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Neg Prizes given out by the LIQBA in its history include:
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*Most traditionally, a can of Goya Red Kidney Beans, described as "A CAN OF BEANS"; that or the prize below has been awarded at over 90% of LIQBA tournaments
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*A can of Del Monte Golden Sweet Corn, with the entire label comically read aloud, usually immediately opened and eaten by the winning player.
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*Condiments left over from the staffers' lunch banquet, often including containers of low-grade mayo, mustard, and balsamic vinegar, when the TD forgets to pack the actual prize
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*Badges of the City of New York Corrections Department
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*A card, given to [[Joe Feldman]] as a joke at the then-largest LIQBA event to be held, that read "For your sanity, please touch grass"; after a good laugh, Joe got permission from the pranksters to give it away as a neg prize
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*Copies of Twilight novels and other terrible "literature"
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*At the QBNC, the overall neg prize at each site was a food-service can of corn, weighing 108 ounces. The winner at the Morristown site paraded the can over his head around the auditorium to wild cheers; as he was a senior, all the graduating members of the school's Quizbowl club opened and ate the entire can during the graduation ceremony at their high school on Long Island.
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The corn and beans are from an obscure inside joke where a team, having brought 10 readers with their 3 teams to a 2021 event, had their fee waived, but, for unclear reasons, were jokingly required to bring a can of beans as the fee. This caused the LIQBA members present to roll in laughter when the can was handed in at the beginning of the tournament; it was later given away as a neg prize to great effect.
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The speech is preceded by "Remember, the following presentation all in good humor" at high-profile events. The reasons for the continued awards are well beyond tradition and involve many complex factors, though they were discontinued at the QBNC as most teams, being out of the regions the LIQBA runs events in, found them unfamiliar and odd rather than humorous.
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[[Category: Quizbowl lingo]]
 
[[Category: Quizbowl lingo]]
 
[[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]
 
[[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]

Latest revision as of 12:36, 11 August 2026

Neg prizes are awards given (usually) in jest during a tournament's awards ceremony to the player with the most total negs. When multiple players tie for the award, ties are broken in various ways: by lowest tossup/interrupt ratio, by flipping a coin, or by sawing the prize in half or some other humorous method. While most team and individual prizes consist of various trophies and books, neg prizes can be, and often are, just about anything and are often chosen to be humorous.

Are neg prizes a good idea?

No. There is always a risk of the person being "honored" taking it the wrong way and feeling embarrassed. The ad-hoc solution of deciding on the spot whether the person with the most -5s is "inside enough" to the community to avoid being offended is sub-ideal because it requires TDs to make judgment calls about social connections, which, instead of possibly targeting players, excludes TDs from being able to run tournaments properly based on factors that should have nothing to do with quizbowl logistics competence.

More often, you end up with people deciding that their team has no shot of winning the tournament and intentionally trying to win the neg prize by getting questions wrong on purpose. This has a lot of bad consequences, primarily that it makes the games those players participate in meaningless for their opponents.

In line with many other aspects of quizbowl professionalizing since the 2000s: Do not award neg prizes or call attention to negative aspects of team or individual performance in your tournament.

Previous Tournaments' Neg Prizes

College

High School

  • TJHSST Tournaments
    • A 1986 Women's Bowling trophy, clad in a skanky duct-tape dress, Fall 2003
    • A Powerpuff Girls picture book, defaced with Sharpie mustaches and goatees, January 2004
    • A purple ribbon indicating "I Tried My Best", Fall 2004
    • A copy of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, autographed by tournament staff, January 2005
    • Grotesque Alanna Beard water bottle, Fall 2005
    • Charles Dickens action figure, January 2006
    • Genuine Nottingham Castle pink maiden hat, Fall 2006
    • Dolphin candle, January 2007
    • "Quizbowl's Greatest Hits" CD, consisting of 21 versions of "Never Gonna Give You Up", Fall 2007
    • Hampshire College Ultimate Frisbee's naked calendar, January 2008
  • three Pokémon plushes (Prison Bowl I)
  • Jane Austen Action Figure - complete with writing desk and quill pen! (The Decemberist 2007)
  • Matt Morrison's music (unidentified GSAC tournament)
  • Plush AFLAC Duck (Harvard Fall Tournament 2007)
  • Harmonica with case and instruction book (Harvard Fall Tournament 2008)
  • Hannah Montana Activity Cards (BGSU BRAVE Falcon 2007)
  • a hug from Ian Eppler (GDS fall tournament 2007)
  • A copy of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead signed by Steve Feldman (GDS fall tournament 2008 (?))
  • A videotape on teamwork, courtesy of Bob the Builder (WCI 2009)
  • A book on Alcoholics Anonymous, picked up from a garbage can at McGill (Lisgar mirror of LIST, 2013)

Lucas Brown is infamous in the southern California circuit for winning the neg prize at every southern CA tournament he attended, save two (UCLA's 2010 mirror of the New Trier Varisty tournament and ACF Fall 2010). Some of his neg prizes are:

  • A thank-you card signed by members of the other teams at the tournament (Triton Winter 2008)
  • Postsuburban California: the Transformation of Orange County since World War 2 (Baby Anteater 2009)
  • A kiss from the TD (NAQT state championship, Southern CA, 2009)
  • Galloway's Book on Running, on the theory that his teammates would pursue him seeking vengance for the negs (TWAIN 2009)
  • A copy of Sarah Palin's autobiography Going Rogue (ASCII 2009)
  • A Nation of Victims, on the theory that the neg winner had victimized his team (La Jolla Rocket Surgery 2010)
  • Who Moved My Cheese? (NAQT state championship, Southern CA, 2010)
  • Behavior Modification: What It Is and How to Do It. This book was given not to him but to his teammates. (CBCT 2010)
  • A Man, a Can, a Microwave (Triton Winter 2011)
  • A California HS Exit Exam study guide (Arcadia Carnal Embrace 2011)
  • A copy of Breaking Dawn (La Jolla Rocket Surgery 2011)
  • A book on hydrocephaly and Accounting Terminology in the PRC and USA--the hosts, anticipating that Lucas Brown would win the prize yet again, provided two neg prizes so that somebody else would have a turn. The person with the second most negs declined his prize. (NAQT state championship, Southern CA, 2011)

Modern Usage

Neg Prizes have been increasingly eliminated by tournaments; the most prominent organization to regularly use neg prizes is the LIQBA, which uses them at all regular-season events, and used them at the first QBNC, but discontinued them on the national level after that. Neg prizes are most heavily entrenched in the circuits in the New York tri-state and Massachusetts, which are the regions where the LIQBA first operated. The awarding of neg prizes is a long tradition in the New York Tri-State circuit; when a tournament there does not have one, the TD is usually fiercely jeered. The LIQBA brings neg prizes to every out-of-region event it runs as well, to universal acclaim from the teams.

The LIQBA's neg prizes are awarded just before the top scorer is announced at the closing ceremony, following a comical speech by the Tournament Director. The prizes are traditionally kept under a tablecloth and unveiled during the climax of the speech.

Neg Prizes given out by the LIQBA in its history include:

  • Most traditionally, a can of Goya Red Kidney Beans, described as "A CAN OF BEANS"; that or the prize below has been awarded at over 90% of LIQBA tournaments
  • A can of Del Monte Golden Sweet Corn, with the entire label comically read aloud, usually immediately opened and eaten by the winning player.
  • Condiments left over from the staffers' lunch banquet, often including containers of low-grade mayo, mustard, and balsamic vinegar, when the TD forgets to pack the actual prize
  • Badges of the City of New York Corrections Department
  • A card, given to Joe Feldman as a joke at the then-largest LIQBA event to be held, that read "For your sanity, please touch grass"; after a good laugh, Joe got permission from the pranksters to give it away as a neg prize
  • Copies of Twilight novels and other terrible "literature"
  • At the QBNC, the overall neg prize at each site was a food-service can of corn, weighing 108 ounces. The winner at the Morristown site paraded the can over his head around the auditorium to wild cheers; as he was a senior, all the graduating members of the school's Quizbowl club opened and ate the entire can during the graduation ceremony at their high school on Long Island.

The corn and beans are from an obscure inside joke where a team, having brought 10 readers with their 3 teams to a 2021 event, had their fee waived, but, for unclear reasons, were jokingly required to bring a can of beans as the fee. This caused the LIQBA members present to roll in laughter when the can was handed in at the beginning of the tournament; it was later given away as a neg prize to great effect.

The speech is preceded by "Remember, the following presentation all in good humor" at high-profile events. The reasons for the continued awards are well beyond tradition and involve many complex factors, though they were discontinued at the QBNC as most teams, being out of the regions the LIQBA runs events in, found them unfamiliar and odd rather than humorous.

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