Bergen Junior 2 (October 27, Hackensack NJ)

[jonpin]

On behalf of the Quiz Bowl team at the Bergen County Academies, I wish to extend an invitation to the second annual Bergen Academies Junior Academic Competition, a quiz bowl tournament for junior- or middle-schoolers. This competition will be held on Saturday, October 27, 2012 and is a perfect opportunity for your school’s Gifted and Talented students, BrainBusters team, or any collection of interested students to work together in competition against other middle schools in the region, show off their knowledge, and learn new facts. The first annual BAJAC was held in January 2012 and featured teams from three states, and was won by Independence School of Newark, DE.

The games of the competition will be in “tossup-bonus” format. Two teams of four students each will attempt to buzz in to answer a tossup, with a correct answer earning points and the opportunity for the answerer’s team to hear a bonus. On bonuses, a team will have the opportunity to discuss as a group before giving an answer. A game will consist of twenty tossups and however many bonuses are used, and will take approximately 35 minutes. Teams will play roughly 4-5 games in the morning, followed by a lunch break and playoffs.

The registration fee for this tournament will be $75 for the first team from a school, and $60 for each additional team. A team may consist of up to six students, with four competing at one time (substitutions will be permitted at halftime and between games). Included in the registration fee, BCA will provide a breakfast of bagels and juice before the competition begins, one pizza per team for lunch (additional pies may be purchased), and trophies and medals for the high-performing teams and students. Each school is required to have an adult (either teacher or parent) with each team at all times. Note that teams are to register by school, not by town or school district. Students are eligible if they have not yet completed eighth grade.
National Academic Quiz Tournaments will be writing the questions for this event. NAQT has been writing for high school and college quiz bowl tournaments for more than 15 years and this is their third year writing middle-school questions. No other tournament in New Jersey will have used these questions, nor will use these questions later in the 2012-13 school year. The top 15% of competing teams will qualify to attend NAQT’s third annual Middle School National Championship Tournament, to be held in April 2013 in Chicago, IL.

If you have any questions about this tournament, please contact me at [email protected]. If you would like to register, please either fill out the below form and return it to the listed address or e-mail me with all the details so requested. We hope you choose to attend our tournament!

[jonpin]

Field Update (as of October 22):

Ben Franklin [NJ]: 2 teams
Hunter [NY]: 2 teams
Independence [DE]: 4 teams
Leonia [NJ]: 1 team
Middlesex [CT]: 4 teams
St. Paul Interparochial [NJ]: 1 team
State College Homeschool [PA]: 1 team
Stillman [NJ]: 1 team
Teaneck Comm. Charter [NJ]: 2 teams

18 teams, 9 schools, 5 states

[jonpin]

Barring a team cancellation, the field is now closed with the 18 teams listed above.

The format will be substantially the same as last year, with a five-round round-robin in three groups before lunch (except with 18 teams instead of 15 there will be no byes). The top two teams in each group and two wild cards will advance to the afternoon playoffs, which will be single-elimination. Consolation games will be available for teams that miss the playoffs.

[jonpin]

Congratulations to Ben Franklin MS of Ridgewood, NJ on winning the second annual Bergen Academies Junior Academic Competition, by defeating Hunter College High School in the championship game 430-205. Middlesex MS was third. Prelim results are already posted here. David Song was the leading scorer at 118ppg. Full results will be available by the end of tomorrow, and will include the consolation games played to the best of my ability.

[youngster68]

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to Bergen for another smooth day of quiz bowl and a fun tournament. Hats off to Ben Franklin and all the other teams - I watched some very exciting games and lots of excellent competition. It's nice to see middle school quiz bowl grow and wonderful to see the thrill for the students who were attending their first tournament. I know the Hunter kids had a great time and are proud to be a part of this wonderful quiz bowl community.

[Dirty Water]

Thanks to the Bergen team and Jon Pinyan for organizing this tournament and managing to run it flawlessly. Congrats to Hunter for a 2nd and 4th place finish and all the other schools for all the fun and great competition. Our rookies loved the tournament, thanks for a wonderful introduction to pyramidal quizbowl. Thanks again and I hope that future middle school tournaments will be successful as this one.

[jonpin]

Well now that I have power and internet back...

I regret that the consolation games were too haphazard for me to do any reasonable job entering them into stats; in some cases I don't have teams or a round number, in other cases, there were hybrid teams designed to make sure everyone had as much chance to play as possible. Regardless, the playoff stats were posted Monday before Sandy hit, and can be seen by hitting the Full Standings link here. The playoff bracket is attached. Thank you all for coming, and we look forward to Bergen Junior III: Now with Less Catastrophic Storms.