University of Michigan Autumn Classic (IS-46): 12/11/04

[solonqb]

Posted on behalf of Michigan Academic Competitions...

Dear Academic Team Coach:

Michigan Academic Competitions is pleased to invite your team to the 2004 Autumn Classic to be held on Sunday, December 11, 2004, on the Central Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Since 1995, Michigan Academic Competitions has hosted several tournaments for high schools throughout the state of Michigan. This year's Autumn Classic promises more of the same, as we hope to draw some of the finest schools from throughout the region and beyond. This event will be run with questions provided by NAQT. As a result, teams entering the 2004 Autumn Classic will be able to qualify for the 2005 NAQT High School Championship.

Each match will consist of two 8-minute halves or 24 tossup questions, whichever comes first. Players who first answer a question correctly will be rewarded with points and a chance for the entire team to answer bonus questions, all of which are worth a maximum of 30 points. Questions come from all areas: science, math, history and government, literature, current events, geography, popular culture, fine arts, sports, mythology and religion, social science, and general knowledge; with the academic areas heavily emphasized. In an attempt to ensure that teams have the opportunity to compete against teams of equal skill, the schedule will incorporate a pooled round robin for preliminary play. In addition, we guarantee that each team will play a minimum of seven matches, with the top teams playing head-to-head to determine the tournament champion. Our goal is that each team plays as many matches as possible. We will also attempt to ensure that teams from the same school will not play each other during the preliminary rounds.

We will begin registration at 8:15 a.m. and hold a mandatory meeting for players and coaches at 8:45 a.m. Rounds will begin at 9:00 a.m. and continue through the morning and early afternoon with a lunch break around 1:00 p.m. Playoffs and a brief awards ceremony will follow, and we expect to finish no later than 6:00 p.m.

Registration for this event will be limited to 36 high school teams, and we will initially allow each school to register only 2 teams. All other teams from that school will be placed on a wait list, which will be used to complete the tournament field on a first-come, first-served basis after the registration deadline of November 24, 2004. Teams may consist of an unlimited number of players, only four of whom may play at once. It is our hope, however, that all the students attending the tournament will receive a good deal of playing time. We will accept teams on a first-come basis until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 24, 2004, unless we first reach the tournament maximum (if this happens, we will place these teams on a waiting list).

Check out the tournament site for further details, such as entry fees, registration, etc.

Asim Modi
Internal Director/TD, Michigan Academic Competitions