As promised, the UTC Academic Trivia Association will host our 9th annual Sword Bowl on Sat., Jan. 27, 2007. This will be a one-day academic quizbowl tournament, held on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Here are the basics: 1) Sword Bowl is geared toward less experienced teams with relatively easy questions, though we will have a senior division. 2) Packet submission is optional with discounts for junior division teams, but is expected for all senior division teams. 3) Base fee is $100 per team, but discounts can be earned to bring that as low as $40. 4) If UTC is too far afield, there are mirror events the same day in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Louisiana (so far.) Full details follow below. SCHEDULE: Registration will begin at 9 AM 1/27/07, with announcements and schedule adjustments at 9:45 and tournament play beginning at 10 AM. Tournament HQ will be Grote Hall on the UTC campus; see directions below. We hope to be into playoffs by 7:30 PM and finished by 8:30, but experience has taught us never to make any promises on when we finish. REGISTRATION: Our only pre-registration requirements are that you tell us: - How many teams to expect - In which division each team will compete - Whether or not each team plans to submit a packet - How many buzzers and officials (if any) you expect to bring Please mail this information to utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com. Also, 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.) Payment, rosters, etc., can be handled on the day of the tournament. Payment is expected on tournament day unless arranged otherwise in advance. If you need an invoice or other official paperwork in advance, let us know and we'll be happy to oblige. MIRROR EVENTS: Sword Bowl will be mirrored on the same day at the following sites: Drake University University of Oklahoma University of Louisiana-Lafayette Details of their respective events will be announced separately. We are also seeking hosts for mirror events on the West Coast and in the Northeast. Please contact us at utcquizbowl [at] gmail [dot] com if interested. ELIGIBILITY: Teams may be composed of up to four current students from the same college or university; alternates are allowed, with substitutions between matches only. Schools may bring more than one team. The main division will be "junior bird," or what we usually call Division II. To avoid confusion, we'll call it the junior division below. To be eligible for the junior division, a team must be composed entirely of players must be in their first or second year of intercollegiate play. Players for two-year community colleges are allowed a third year of eligibility. [Note: experience in CBCI or HCASC does not count against the eligibility requirement.] Teams with players having more than two years' intercollegiate experience will compete in the senior division. FEES: As noted above, junior division teams are not required to submit a packet, but we do encourage it and offer big financial incentives for doing so. Senior division teams are expected to submit a packet, with financial penalties if they don't. Packets must be unique to each *team*, and blind to all other teams, with one exception. If a school has teams in each division and those teams wish to collaborate on one packet, they may do so, provided that (a) only one team in each division is involved and (b) the packets are clearly labeled to make sure we schedule accordingly. Those joint submissions and any discounts/penalties will apply toward the senior division requirement only. Teams can earn further substantial discounts by writing rounds of high school and/or trash questions for UTC's future use. Base fee: $100 per team Minimum fee: $40 Packet discounts: [Note that junior (or senior) division packet refers to the team submitting it. The same packets will be used for both divisions, written to the same specifications below.] -$30 for packet received by midnight Sun., Jan. 7, 2007 (regardless of team's division) -$15 for junior division packet received after 1/7/07, but by midnight Mon., Jan. 15, 2007 Senior division teams are expected to submit a packet, with no discount or penalty if received by midnight Mon., Jan. 15, 2007. -$15 for each original high school academic packet submitted by midnight Thurs., Jan. 25, 2007 [see note in specs below] -$15 for each original trash packet submitted by midnight Thurs., Jan. 25, 2007 [e-mail us for specs if needed] Other discounts: -$5 for working lockout buzzer system (one discount per team unless we're short of buzzers) -$10 for competent full-time official [plus dinner at Provino's Sat. night if you can join us] -$30 for teams making their first appearance at UTC Packet penalties: +$15 for senior division packet submitted after 1/15/07, but by midnight Sun., Jan. 21, 2007 -- allowed only if we are notified by 1/15 so we know how to plan +$40 for senior division team submitting no packet +$60 for clear evidence of plagiarism PACKET SPECIFICATIONS: DESTINATION: Your genial quizmaster Charlie Steinhice will serve as editor-in-chief, with assistance from our mirror event partners. Since UTC hopes to field a house team, please send packets to steinhice [at] gmail [dot] com, rather than the UTC team e-mail address listed above for registration. DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: While we have opened a senior division, ***Sword Bowl is still aimed at the junior bird level.*** This means we intend to have easier questions than the current circuit standard for four-year schools. 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. EXCLUSIVITY: We can't stress this enough: Packets must be unique to each *team*, and blind to all other teams including the others from your school. The only exception: If a school has teams in each division and those teams wish to collaborate on one packet, they may do so, provided that (a) only one team in each division is involved and (b) the packets are clearly labeled to make sure we schedule accordingly. Those joint submissions and any discounts/penalties will apply toward the senior division requirement only. Since we have multiple mirrors scheduled, questions must be original and blind to teams elsewhere in the country. Please do not play-test them online in advance. FORMAT: -- Please arrange questions separately by category. If you want to make life easier for us, separate tossups and boni, and use the order of categories below. -- 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. * 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 > Prefer no more than 1/1 of each * Fine arts: 2/2 of each for full packet, 1/1 for 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, maximum 2/2. (While it's 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. If you are also writing a high school set for us, note that there are two changes to the distribution. For our high school events, each round must contain 1/1 geography and 1/1 math or computer science 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..." or "She...", 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. ORIGINALITY: Absolutely no plagiarism! This includes taking questions from past tournaments posted online, and also copying text from reference sources. We also recommend that you find sources other than Wikipedia. While it can be useful for confirming spelling, etc., we have found it to be inconsistent, and apparently it's way too tempting a source to plagiarize. 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 Snail mail address is also new: 8821 Winterberry Rd.., Chattanooga, TN 37421.
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