2016 Cooper Awards: Winners Announced

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The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence is pleased to announce that it is accepting nominations for the 2016 Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Awards. The awards, which recognize those who contribute to the “spirit and honor of quizbowl competition,” will be presented at the 2016 PACE National Scholastic Championship in Rosemont, Illinois, on June 4-5. The Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award will be given to a coach, advisor, administrator, tournament organizer, or other person who has made significant contributions to high school quizbowl. A second award, the Young Ambassador Award, will be given to someone affiliated with a college or high school program who, despite his or her young age, has already made valuable contributions to the high school academic competition community. Nominations will be accepted until April 1, 2016. For more information on the award and the nomination process, please see below.

The Benjamin Cooper Awards:

The Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award and the Young Ambassador Award recognize those who have made substantial contributions to the “spirit and honor of quizbowl competition.” Benjamin Cooper, for whom the award is named, was a model student at the Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC, who was well-liked among his colleagues and the faculty. He participated in many activities in school and in service to the community. Because of his enthusiasm and encouragement to promote academic competition among his team members, he was selected as the captain of the varsity team for the 1997-1998 school year. On August 12, 1997, Ben was tragically killed in an automobile accident while returning from his summer job.

The first Cooper Award was presented by PACE to Georgetown Day School team advisor Sue Ikenberry in honor of Ben at the 1998 NSC. Subsequent awards have been presented every year, and a complete list of winners is available on the PACE website. The Young Ambassador Award was first presented at the 2004 NSC.

How to Nominate:

Any member of the quizbowl community is eligible for the Cooper Award. Eligibility for the Young Ambassador Award is restricted to those currently affiliated with high school or college programs. Because there are always many deserving candidates, PACE welcomes re-nomination of those nominated last year who have continued to contribute to the quizbowl community.

To submit a nomination, please compose a statement of no more than 1,000 words detailing your nominee’s contributions to the quizbowl community. This statement should include a summary of positions held by the nominee as well as a specific explanation of why, in your opinion, he or she has contributed to the “spirit and honor of quizbowl competition.”

Please email your nomination statement to this year’s Cooper Award coordinator, Jarret Greene, at [email protected] no later than April 1, 2016. To make sure they're easily found, please put "Cooper Nomination" in the subject line of the email. I (Jarret) will confirm receipt of your nomination within 48 hours of the time you submit it. In your email, please include your contact information in case the PACE Cooper Award Committee wishes to contact you for additional information about the nominee. All nomination statements are strictly confidential and will be seen only by the PACE members involved in the selection process.

Announcement of Winners:

Members of the PACE Cooper Award Committee will deliberate throughout the month of April. The winners will be announced on the hsquizbowl.org message board and on the PACE website during the first week of May. The awards will be formally presented to the winners on the first day of the 2015 NSC.

If you have any questions about this year’s Cooper Award or to submit a nomination, please contact Jarret Greene at [email protected].

(Many thanks to Sarah Angelo for her 2015 Cooper Awards post, which I shamelessly copied for this one)

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With a month to go before the April 1st deadline, we have only received one nomination. If there is someone or someones who you feel have made significant contributions to quizbowl in some way, please send nominations to [email protected].

Thank you.

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The nomination process closes this Friday, April 1st. If there is someone in your life that you feel is deserving of being nominated for a Cooper, please nominate that person!

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The nomination period is now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted them.

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On behalf of PACE, I am extremely pleased to announce that the winners of the 2016 Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award are Sheryl and Michael Cvijanovich of Matt's Buzzers. The Cvijanoviches are being recognized for their selfless and generous role in the quizbowl community, granting buzzer sets to teams that need them, and that may not be able to participate in this activity without them. The world of high school quizbowl would look very different if not for their efforts.

The winner of the 2016 Young Ambassador Award is Ankit Aggarwal of UC Berkeley, who not only helped rejuvenate the Berkeley club after a few down years, but has been invaluable in the Northern California quizbowl Renaissance that has seen the circuit grow from a small handful of teams to the point where 64 teams competed in the most recent California Cup (which Ankit helped found).

Congratulations to the Cvijanoviches and Ankit, we at PACE and the community at large thank you for your hard work!