WCTE Academic Bowl

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The WCTE Academic Bowl, formerly known as the Upper-Cumberland Academic Bowl, is a televised Quizbowl tournament held by WCTE, the Tennessee Upper-Cumberland affiliate of PBS. The tournament has been running since 1986 and is among the oldest tournaments still held in Tennessee, if not the oldest entirely. The WCTE Academic Bowl is not to be confused with East Tennessee PBS Scholar's Bowl. Since its inception, the tournament has been held at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee. Participants are geographically restricted to the Upper-Cumberland area of Tennessee. The tournament’s current moderator is Brian O’Connor, who began his tenure circa 2006. Records of the WCTE Academic Bowl before 2013 are incomplete, if not missing entirely.

Format

From (at least) 2013, WCTE consisted of two eight-minute halves separated by a ten-question lightning round. In 2023, the lightning round was eliminated, but all other rules remained the same. The tossups have no powers or negs and are very commonly recycled from previous years' questions. Question quality is highly variant but has steadily improved over the last decade. Bonuses range from one twenty-point question to four five-point questions, with the maximum value of a bonus never exceeding 20 points. The tournament used to be double elimination, but switched to single-elimination beginning in 2020. Brackets are made according to the standings of the previous year's tournament. The 2021 and 2022 versions of the tournament were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A playlist featuring many of the games can be found here: WCTE Acdemic Bowl

Results

Year Winner Runner-Up Score
2023 Cookeville Gallatin 135-110
2022 None
2021 None
2020 Gallatin Scott 450-150
2019 Gallatin Cookeville 430-220
2018 Cookeville Gallatin 420-170
2017 Cookeville Gallatin 370-175
2016 Gallatin Cookeville 330-220
2015 Cookeville Gallatin Unknown
2014 White County Gallatin 320-300
2013 Cookeville Gallatin 370-150
2012 Cookeville York Unknown
2003 Cookeville Unknown Unknown
2002 Cookeville Unknown Unknown
2001 Cookeville Unknown Unknown
2000 Cookeville Unknown Unknown
1999 Cookeville Unknown Unknown
1998 Cookeville Bledsoe County Unknown
1997 Cookeville Unknown Unknown
1996 Cookeville DeKalb County Unknown