The UTC Academic Trivia Association will host its 8th annual Sword Bowl on Sat., Jan. 21, 2006, on the UT-Chattanooga campus. This will be held in collaboration with tournaments at Penn, Oklahoma, and Drake -- our partner sites will announce their details separately. Your genial quizmaster Charlie Steinhice will serve as editor-in- chief. We are still seeking a West Coast site; e-mail me if interested. ELIGIBILITY: In the past. Sword Bowl has been strictly a "junior bird" tournament limited to players in their first and second year of intercollegiate quizbowl play, or teams from 2-year schools. This year we are adding a senior division, open to more experienced collegiate players. If there are enough interested teams, we may also admit and give separate awards for open teams (including players not currently enrolled or teams with mixed collegiate affiliation.) However, ***Sword Bowl will still be aimed at the junior bird level.*** This means easier questions than the current circuit standard for four-year schools. (A note regardng eligibility: 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 "junior bird" 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 ("junior bird", senior division, or open.) 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 may be made the day of the tournament. 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. 1/21/06, with announcements at 9:45 AM and play beginning at 10 AM. We hope to be into playoffs by 7 PM and finished by 8:30 PM, but your mileage may vary. PACKET SUBMISSION: We are asking each team to contribute at least half a packet, which we're defining as 15 tossups and 15 boni to cover duplications. We offer discounts for teams that contribute full packets and add surcharges for teams that contribute none. Schools making their first appearance at a UTC tournament are exempt from packet submission requirements. See below for detailed packet specifications. FEES: Base fee: $90 per team; assumes you submit a half packet (15 tossups and 15 bonuses) by midnight Wed. 12/21/05. (With multiple submissions from multiple sites, we need more time for editing and therefore have set an earlier deadline than in past years.) Minimum fee after discounts: $60 for the first team from a school, $50 for each additional team Discounts: - $15 for submitting a full packet (25/25) by 12/21/05 - $5 for a working buzzer system (one discount per team unless we run short of buzzers) - $10 for a competent full-time official - $10 for each additional team from the same school - $10 *plus exemption from packet requirements* for any school making their first appearance at a UTC tournament Penalties: +/- $0 for submitting a full packet (25/25) after 12/21/05, but by midnight Sun. 1/2/06 + $10 for submitting a half packet (15/15) after 12/21/05, but by midnight Sun. 1/2/06 + $10 for submitting a full packet (25/25) after 1/2/06, but by midnight Sun. 1/9/06 + $20 for submitting a half packet (15/15) after 1/2/06, but by midnight Sun. 1/9/06 + $40 for no packet submission for the first two teams from a given school, or + $20 for no packet submission for subsequent teams from the same school PACKET SPECIFICATIONS EXCLUSIVITY: First of all, *questions must be blind to all other teams, including the other teams from your school.* In special cases we can make exceptions, but PLEASE check with me first. Since they'll be used in at least three other locations, we also need to be sure they're blind to teams elsewhere in the country. DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Keep in mind that this tournament is designed to be accessible for Division II teams (meaning first- and second-year players and teams from 2-year schools.) This means we want questions considered pretty 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. Anyone who would like sample questions, please let me know and I'll e-mail you some. FORMAT: In a change from our usual style in the past, *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. 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 15 tossups and 15 bonuses, distributed across the same categories. * Literature: 5 tossups and 5 boni for full packet, 2-3 of each for half packet 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 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 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 * Fine arts: 2/2 of each for full packet, 1/1for half packet; 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, pref. 2/2 -- remember, this tournament is intended to be accessible for novices The remaining questions for a full packet may include: * General knowledge/interdisciplinary questions -- these are especially helpful as 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: Your genial quizmaster, Charlie Steinhice, coach of UTC's quizbowl team, can be reached by e-mail (steinhic at bellsouth dot net -- and yes, it's steinhic, not steinhice), or by mail at 1185 Mountain Creek Rd. #1801, Chattanooga, TN 37405.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:48 AM EST EST