In November 2009 ACUI and NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC) established a strategic partnership to return quiz bowl to ACUI's portfolio of student programs and to increase participation in NAQT's collegiate tournaments.  Both parties want to see more students playing quiz bowl and look forward to working together to help new teams get started, improve themselves, and attend tournaments. 

We're working on some communication pieces to share with ACUI members, NAQT customers and former College Bowl customers.  For those who were familiar with College Bowl, the NAQT game play will seem quite similar, though there are a few aspects of the program that will have some variation on what College Bowl once was. 

What are the most pressing questions that come to mind for you about this new program as we embark on this new partnership?  Answers will either be channelled through this forum and/or included in a mass e-communication piece sent to a broader audience. 

Gail Ferlazzo, ACUI Academic Challenge Program Team chair

I am excited to see the opportunity for students to compete at the regional and national level again.  My questions/feedback include:

*What is the estimated cost to host a campus tournament?

*Would regional tournaments be part of Rec Tournament weekends?

*What volunteer opportunities would be available at the regional/national levels?

Susan H. Payment, College of Charleston

Excellent questions.  If you have an opportunity to explore the www.naqt.com web site, it offers lots of helpful information - check out the "college" tab.

*What is the estimated cost to host a campus tournament?

If your school is not currently an NAQT customer, you would be eligible to purchase a "new college package" for $149.00, which will provide 15 packet sets suitable for intramural/campus play and many other good resources to help get the program started on your campus.  (see www.naqt.com/college/new-college-package.html) The regular price of the 15-packet set intramural set of questions is $225.00 plus $10 shipping & handling.  (see www.naqt.com/college/intramural.html).  There is no individual packet price for more packets or less packets and there is no minimum packet purchase quantity required to be eligible to compete at the SCT (sectional championship tournament).  Hosting a campus tournament is strongly encouraged but is no longer a prerequisite for participation in an SCT.  Other costs for a campus tournament for such "frills" as prizes, trophies, t-shirts, etc. are at the discretion of the campus.  College campuses are encouraged to host High School quiz bowl tournaments which would serve as a fundraising opportunity for that campus and provides great exposure for the institution as they recruit new students. 

*Would regional tournaments be part of Rec Tournament weekends?

Our timing on confirming this partnership arrangement was not ideal for this year for all regions to feel comfortable submitting bids to serve as hosts for SCTs in February 2010 (what used to be Regional Tournaments when College Bowl was in use).  Several regions have been selected to host for this year, but not all regions appplied this year.  NAQT has agreed to strive for 15 SCT tournaments to be held according to the general geography of the ACUI regions.  There may be some adjustment to this count, either slightly lower or slightly higher if registration turnout is low for an area or extremely high for an area and two tournaments might need to occur in that region.  SCT tournaments are all held on the same weekend (Feb. 5-7, 2010) for the same question security reasons as in the past.  The region may choose to hold the recreation tournament activities on the same weekend as the quiz bowl SCT weekend, but it is not a requirement.  There is a bid selection process used to determine the locations/hosts for SCT events - it is our hope that all 15 regions will apply next year to be a host for the SCT events, but the bid process is competitive and is open to regions as well as individual school club teams to host.  Starting with the SCT 2011 season, a certain percentage of qualified ACUI region host bid applications will be selected per our partnership agreement. 

*What volunteer opportunities would be available at the regional/national levels? 

Each ACUI region will be looking for an Academic Challenge Coordinator volunteer to fill out their Regional Leadership Team or they could combine the duties of that position with an existing volunteer position.  There are openings for this next  year on the Academic Challenge Program Team, including the chair position (application form for the chair position available under the ACUI volunteer tab)  (I'll be moving into the ACUI Student Program Team Leader position this spring). 

Re: on-site tournament volunteers:  The volunteers needed to run a single game room at an NAQT tournament consists of a moderator and a scorekeeper, so the total number of volunteers needed per room is less than it was for College Bowl, but it is anticipated that more game play rooms will be needed as the tournament field size is likely to be larger at an NAQT tournament than what it may have been at a College Bowl tournament.  For NAQT, there are two divisions of play at an SCT & ICT (International Champsionship Tournament) - Division I, which is the most experienced players and includes graduate students, and Division II, which is generally less experienced players, excludes graduate students, and may include community college teams.  Schools may send more than one team to an SCT.  (There's also a seperate Community College division, which  holds its own SCT and CCCT national championship tournament on seperate weekends from the Div I/II SCT & ICT weekends.)   ACUI volunteers are encouraged to get involved with the SCT as staff volunteers (particularly if the region is the host of the tournament).  If you have never seen an NAQT tournament live, I would encourage that you go and observe the tournament in your area to learn more about the program - and take a team with you to compete! 

The reading ability of the moderators at an NAQT tournament is critical to the success of the tournament, so if you're a STRONG skilled reader - your talents will be desired (matches are two 10-minute halves - an okay moderator should get through 20 tossup questions in a match; a pretty good moderator can get through 22 tossup questions in a match; and an excellent moderator can get through up to 24 tossup questions in a match).

• NAQT has essentially 3 divisions - Division I is the most experienced players and may include graduate students on the teams; Division II is less experienced teams, typically newer to the competition, and excludes graduate students from being on the team; and there is a parallel Community College Division.  Division II is open to students at all accredited post-secondary educational institutions. This includes military academies, historically black colleges and universities, junior colleges, and so forth.  (see www.naqt.com/college/collegiate-eligibility.html for NAQT eligibility requirements) 
• Division I & II compete at the SCT (sectional level) in early February and the ICT (international level) in April at the same site on the same weekend.  The Community College CCSCT in late January and CCCT in late February are held at a different site than Div. I/II.  The top teams from the CCCT receive invitations to the Intercollegiate Championship Tournament (ICT) where they compete in Division II against four-year schools for an overall title.
• It will be optional for regions to apply to host either Div. I/II or Community College tournaments or both.  As a frame of reference 7 CC SCT tournaments were held in early 2009.  There are some regions of the country where there are not enough community college teams to make up a quality tournament so it is unlikely that there will be a CC SCT in every ACUI region.