This is the official announcement for the inaugural ACF Fall Tournaments, to be held at various regional sites around the country on the weekend of November 3, 2001. Since this is a new set of tournaments, I'd like to take a moment to explain the motivation for this event (other than to provide quizbowl teams with a high-quality set of tournaments). In recent years, ACF has gained the reputation for using extremely difficult questions which are not readily accessible to younger players, and this reputation is not entirely undeserved. Because of this, my main goal as chief editor will be to provide a set of high-quality questions in tune with the philosophy of ACF which are readily accessible to younger, less-experiences players, while at the same time challenging to grizzled quizbowl veterans. Based on the great success Subash Maddipoti had with this season's Regionals questions, I am convinced that this is a goal well within reach. Concerning fees, here is how that will break down: Base fee: $75 Packet Discounts and Penalties: Packet received by: August 19: -$35 Sept. 7: -$20 Sept. 21: -$15 Sept. 28: -$10 Oct. 12: no penalty Oct. 19: +$15 Oct 24: +$25 (Note that no packets will be accepted after October 24 unless prior arrangements have been made with me.) Equipment discounts: Buzzers: -$5 per buzzer, maximum of two Competent officials: -$10 each Multiple teams: -$5 for B teams, -$10 for each subsequent team "New" teams: If your school did not compete at ACF Regionals or Nationals in the last two years, you will not be required to write a packet, and will pay a base fee of $55, with the non-packet discounts still available) Minimum fee: $40 Divisions: Like ACF tournaments in previous years, there will be no separate section for Div II teams. However, in keeping with the theme of making this tournament friendly to new players, awards will be given to the top two Div II teams, and the top individual Div II scorers will also be recognized. For the purposes of this tournament, Div II teams must consist entirely of players who are in their first or second year of intercollegiate quizbowl competition. Packets: As far as I am concerned, this is the most important part of this announcement. In order to achieve the goals stated above, we at ACF will need your help. It is vitally important that the packets you submit be written at an appropriate difficulty level; there is only so much that editors can do with packets which are written at an inappropriate difficulty level. Specifically, be sure to take advantage of the pyramid structure of ACF questions. In this way, one can write questions about topics of basic importance to their fields which are both readily accessible to inexperienced players and which will reward deep knowledge of the subject (if you are unsure whether a certain answer is acceptable, feel free to ask me at the email address listed below). As always, packets should consist of 30 tossups and 30 bonuses. Be sure to consult the ACF Question Writing Supplement at <a href=http://www.inform.umd.edu/StudentOrg/maqt/acf/documents.html target=new>http://www.inform.umd.edu/StudentOrg/maqt/acf/documents.html</a> and the ACF Formatting Guidelines at <a href=http://www.inform.umd.edu/StudentOrg/maqt/acf/formatting.html target=new>http://www.inform.umd.edu/StudentOrg/maqt/acf/formatting.html</a> for other packet writing details. Thanks, Kelly McKenzie Chief editor, ACF Fall Tournaments
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