The State of Good Quizbowl, State-by-State
Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 11:30 pm
As a way of offering a rough benchmark for the state of good quizbowl across the United States and to encourage outreach across the country, I present the 2015 State of Quizbowl. Many people from good quizbowl-deficient states may not realize just how bad the situation is in their states. On the other hand, the states that do have solid good quizbowl circuits may serve as exemplars for others to follow or at least as a source of successful practices.
The basis for these grades are the following three criteria:
Breadth of Good Quizbowl
How many places across the state are running good quizbowl tournaments and competitions? Are all the major metro areas included? Are there rural schools participating or just metro schools? Are only a few areas active or is pretty much the entire state active? Could a new team get to a good quizbowl tournament in only a few hours drive or would every trip be basically an overnight all-day drive? Are there many AUK and NAC or other bad quizbowl-only participants that crowd out good quizbowl teams and tournaments?
Depth of Good Quizbowl
In the areas with quizbowl, how many teams compete in it? Is it just a handful of teams out of many possible schools or do pretty much all the major schools in the area participate? Are tournaments large with many teams and good quizbowl scheduling practices or are they small and single-elimination (or entirely double-elimination?)? Do schools normally just play one or two tournaments or do they play multiple tournaments over the year along with nationals?
Institutional Support or Opposition (including state championships)
Is there an official state organization that coordinates quizbowl and does that state organization support good quizbowl? Are there resources available for new teams to help build themselves and assistance for coaches (like a coach's association)? Does the state championship (and any local/regional championships) use good quizbowl questions and practices or bad? Is there a lot of AUK or NAC participation or leagues that use bad quizbowl questions and practices?
The grades are NOT based on how well teams from a state do nationally; there are other rankings for ranking teams based on quizbowl prowess. Instead, this is designed to reward and recognize states that adopt good quizbowl practices and get more teams involved in playing quizbowl.
Rough Grading Rubric
A: Almost entirely good quizbowl tournaments; many teams from multiple areas around a state; a solid state organization (or confederation of local organizations) that supports good quizbowl and ensures a good state championship tournament
B: Mostly good quizbowl tournaments; some areas of bad quizbowl or a major lack of quizbowl; state organization is usually good, but may have some issues and the state championship may not attract that many teams
C: Some areas of good quizbowl, but often competes against bad quizbowl leagues or organizations; state organization is lacking in organization or indifferent to good quizbowl; may lack teams and competitions in many areas around the states.
D: Mostly bad-quizbowl tournaments and organizations, though perhaps without actively restricting participation too much in good tournaments. Also a lack of or near-complete lack of tournaments.
F: Active bad-quizbowl organizations that severely restrict and/or oppose good quizbowl participation to the point where there are no good quizbowl tournaments even offered.
Note that History Bowl tournaments are disregarded here--this is a ranking for all-subject quizbowl. This is also mostly for high school quizbowl opportunities, not middle school or college except as those apply to the high school circuit (i.e. middle school circuit that helps build a high school circuit, college that hosts tournaments, etc.).
I gathered what information I could, but I am sure I missed some places. I am especially interested in information on states where there seems to be little quizbowl activity, good or bad, though I have spent quite some time acquiring information about quizbowl in various areas of the country.
Alabama: A
The best state organization in the country with all levels from regionals to the state championships using good quizbowl questions and rules. Tournaments on good questions run in pretty much all of the major metro areas and there is an unusual amount of rural and urban school participation along with the usual suburban contenders. A few schools still favor bad quizbowl questions, but those usually participate in good quizbowl tournaments during the year. Montgomery and Southern Alabama are still behind the Northern half of the state, but progress seems to be continuing and there are already a number of schools playing good quizbowl from those areas.
Alaska: D-
Little sign of any activity going on in Alaska. Academic Decathlon seems to have a stranglehold on competition in the far North, but there doesn't seem to be a specific barrier if a school wanted to run a quizbowl tournament. Probably not going to travel to any current quizbowl tournaments though.
Arizona: C
A handful of schools in the Phoenix area and a couple from further North compete, but these tournaments are largely small affairs and the loss of some previously strong schools like Brophy is worrying. There are frequent tournaments, but very small field sizes compared to the size of the metro area. Nothing in the Tucson area and bad Academic Hallmarks [sic] Knowledge Bowl in some of the rural areas around Thatcher and possibly around Yuma.
Arkansas, aka "Quizbowl Iran": F
The mullahs of the Arkansas Governor's Quiz Bowl Association are determined to force Arkansas teams to remain in the quizbowl stone age, enforcing a regime of bad quizbowl questions and bizarre rules like forcing teams to lug around reference books to protest the terrible questions they seem to get from Questions Unlimited. Attempts to run good quizbowl tournaments at Harding University and Parkview High in the past seem to have petered out. A couple of schools, notably Benton, seem to prefer good quizbowl and make occasional good quizbowl nationals appearances. What's most heartbreaking is how much potential Arkansas has--AETN, the state PBS affiliate, broadcasts the state finals live and there's a huge amount of participation at all levels across the state. Hoping for AGQBA to reform and bring Arkansas Quizbowl into the 21st century with good questions and practices has about as much chance of succeeding as the same thing in Iran, unfortunately.
California: B-
The rise of first SoCal and then NorCal quizbowl in the past few years has helped California greatly, with the San Diego and Bay Areas boasting solid circuits along with a burgeoning Sacramento circuit. There appear to be plans afoot for more outreach into the Central Valley as well, but aside from a few exceptional teams the LA area and Orange County remain mostly quizbowl wastelands. Academic Decathlon's heartland of Orange County has stymied attempts to form any real long-term teams and the LA area along with the Inland Empire and Ventura County have little to nothing going other than a few bad quizbowl leagues. Furthermore, even in San Diego the spectre of Academic League looms large and unless that org flips to good questions as a whole, good quizbowl will always be in danger of backsliding in SoCal.
Colorado: D+
The homeland of Academic Hallmarks saw the first glimpse of hope in a long while with Fairview High School hosting an NAQT championship this year, thanks to the valiant efforts of Jordan Boyd-Graber. There is a lot of potential here with dozens upon dozens of teams across the state playing Knowledge Bowl, but the roots of AUK run deep and it's unclear if the teams there even know about the larger world of good quizbowl, with the possible exception of Grand Junction and the Fairview attendees. Was the Fairview tournament a flash in the pan? Will the "Dude in Durango" (aka the AUK) continue to wreak havoc with terrible puns and even worse near-verbatim repeat questions? Or will good quizbowl eventually strike gold in the Mountain West?
Connecticut: C+
Yale's high school tournaments anchor a small but growing group of teams playing good quizbowl in the Constitution State. There's still a strong lack of penetration into many of the urban areas, but the Middlesex/Darien pipeline seems to be growing a stellar team there and longtime standbys like EO Smith are continuing to help prop up a respectable, if intermittent circuit. Tournaments this year seemed to feature more CT teams than ever before, but more state-wide structure and outreach in general would help since they're starting from a very small base.
Delaware: C+
There are opportunities to compete in Delaware and many nearby, but few teams willing to take advantage of them. Wilmington Charter's perennial success may have sucked the air out of many of the other teams in the area. There is some hope though for teams like Newark Charter, but they just don't go to many tournaments. No statewide championship to speak of besides a poorly-attended NAQT state tournament either and a lack of state organization make Delaware an increasingly troubled area for outreach. Perhaps the only saving grace is a lack of bad quizbowl institutions now and hopefully more cross-pollination with the Baltimore and Philly areas.
Florida: C
A few pockets of strong competition in various parts of the state are balanced out by big gaps in the center and a bizarre state format and governing organization. Ransom Everglades in the South, Buchholz in the North (aided by some solid cross-border ties with South GA), and Pensacola in the Northwest are the keystones of the Sunshine State quizbowl circuit with some surprisingly large tournaments in these areas. Unfortunately, the state championship remains caught in the grips of the bizarre Panasonic format and Panasonic die-hards control the State Department of Education. Still not many signs of good quizbowl in the Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville areas either.
Georgia: B
Good quizbowl maintains a strong presence in the Atlanta Metro area, but the real interest has been the rise of South Georgia in recent years, thanks to a lot of work from Bainbridge and other schools to get a South GA circuit going. GATA has also increasingly adopted more good quizbowl standards, but some strange tendencies remain like the secretive GATA forum, single-elimination at many tournaments, the lack of stat-keeping, and an attitude against the promotion of some good quizbowl tournaments. Strong Chip presence still in the Macon area and few teams from the Savannah and Augusta areas also keep GA from fully reaching its good QB potential.
Hawaii: D+
At least one tournament is better than none, but doesn't seem like much in the way of organized good quizbowl competition exists on the islands. Let's hope that something can come together to build on Iolani's small tournament this year.
Idaho: C-
The Idaho circuit remains alive but hanging by a thread. Outside of the Boise area, there seems to be pretty much nothing and in Boise only a few schools remain consistent quizbowlers. There also seems to be a lot of opportunity for improvement--there's not much getting in the way here it seems besides driving distances. But in a place like Idaho, those distances are considerable and the lack of cross-pollination with other states' circuits is a problem (though Eastern WA and Western MT are possibilities should they get circuits).
Illinois: A-
Illinois is probably the most active state in the country in terms of quizbowl, with hundreds of teams playing good quizbowl questions each year at the Kickoff and Turnabout tournaments. Years of hard work by coaches and players have made Illinois much, much better than it was even a few years ago. Unfortunately, the state championship run by IHSA still has major problems, which keeps IL from reaching a full A-level, as well as a few isolated holdout leagues on bad questions (thanks, Questions Galore). But an excellent NAQT state championship as well as the increasingly solid Masonic State tournament make up for most of Illinois' quizbowl flaws.
Indiana: C
Indiana is overall a bit of a quizbowl wasteland, but there are some bright spots. The Rotary State Championship is now run on good questions, even if it lacks attendance. The northern part of the state merges well with the Michigan and Chicagoland circuits, but otherwise there's little good to talk about a lots of bad leagues and questions. Again, there are out-of-state opportunities and in-state ones if people were willing to run them since there don't seem to be too many bureaucratic barriers, but a long period of dormancy will be hard to wake Indiana out of in the future.
Iowa: D+
Sadly, Iowa seems to have been in the decline over the last few years with the end of teams and tournaments at many of the local colleges (other than a unique ONLY NAQT Iowa Stateprogram) eliminating some of the few good QB hosts in the state. A few teams do attend good quizbowl nationals, but the dominance of Chip along the I-35 corridor hurts. This may change by next year though with the arrival of the former Greenville (IL) coach and some other intrepid individuals, who could easily build on Iowa's strong tradition of quizbowl participation to make a really solid circuit. I expect and hope to see this grade dramatically increase by next year.
Kansas, the "North Korea of Quizbowl": F
There's not much more to say about the sad state of quizbowl in Kansas other than what's been said in this thread, but like Arkansas (and North Korea), if the current regime fell there's a lot of potential there for a great state with high levels of participation and competition.
Kentucky: C+
Kentucky is maddening since it has many, many teams but the dominance of "Quick Recall" and KAAC always puts good quizbowl in danger of losing to bad quizbowl at nearly every school. This makes it hard to keep teams in good quizbowl from year-to-year since so much of the focus is on the bad quizbowl tournaments. Good quizbowl does have a fairly strong geographic footprint across the state, thanks to people at UK, WKU, and UofL, and there are plenty of opportunities to compete in nearby states as well. The Goldenrod Cup is a great idea and hopefully more progress will be made next year.
Louisiana: C+
The Pelican State features an increasing number of opportunities, with Louisiana Tech building a fledgling Northern circuit and Tulane and some of the NOLA schools working on the South. But it's still a Chip bastion and success in getting teams to good quizbowl tournaments doesn't seem to have translated into building an effective good quizbowl state organization or in pushing back some bad quizbowl tendencies still lurking among the bayous.
Maine: D-
No sign of any real competition. Somehow organized a Panasonic team to go to NTAE a few years ago. Perhaps the silence of the Maine Woods absorbs all communication about quizbowl?
Maryland: B-
It's Academic dominates a lot of the DC and Baltimore metro area, but there are a number of long-running solid quizbowl attendees that help break up the tyranny of goofy old-school bad quizbowl. Johns Hopkins running a good tournament and a number of northern MD tournaments playing on NAQT questions are both solid signs of progress. There's still a strong lack of penetration or a real statewide org, but the plethora of competition opportunities (almost too many in some cases) help make up for that.
Massachusetts: C+
While Mass. teams have made a lot of progress, thanks to some concerted outreach efforts by college folk in Cambridge, there's still quite a long way to go. One unique thing that's helpful in the Boston area is that the local bad quizbowl TV show people seem to want to encourage good quizbowl rather than oppose it (even if they won't change their questions). There are an increasing number of options of tournaments to attend, from MIT to Harvard at the college level to Lexington and others at the HS level. Almost nothing outside of the Boston area, however, and at lot of potential to expand still in the Boston area. I expect them to be on the upswing next year though, especially if a solid state organization can come together.
Michigan: B
A solid B for Michigan, which has tons of teams with a lot of good quizbowl, but an unusually high amount of bad quizbowl as well. The state championship unfortunately seems to have gone back to being a bad quizbowl fest and there remain a stunning number of local schools and leagues still doing bad quizbowl. Across much of the Detroit area, however, good quizbowl dominates and solid yearly tournaments in the area give plenty of opportunities for teams. The Upper Peninsula and the far north tip of the Panhandle have some TV tournaments that run NAQT (albeit only a few games for most teams), but most teams seem to attend bad quizbowl invitationals and nationals. It's odd that there's a lack of an effective state organization here with a large number of long-running programs here.
Minnesota: B-
Within the Twin Cities area, it's an A thanks to the efforts of NAQT and others in MNQB to have a solid slate of tournaments, even if a few are so big they have to be run on single-elim. But outside the metro area, somehow, the AUK has taken root. This has resulted accordingly in a lack of good quizbowl tournaments outside the Twin Cities and a stubborn insistence from the rural areas to stick to bad quizbowl. Will be interesting to see if good quizbowl can take root outside of the Twin Cities in the future--perhaps if more college teams could help host.
Mississippi: D+
Murrah's annual tournament is about the only good quizbowl tournament consistently held in Mississippi, but there are some teams that go compete out of state. Unfortunately, within the state the major tournaments that draw dozens of teams are almost all horrible bad quizbowl, with hoses and misdirection and trivia as well as a lack of transparent rules. A lot of potential though, like some of its fellow Southern states, if these teams switched to good questions. Hopefully more schools will start to host good QB tournaments here in the future to take advantage of the large number of active teams.
Missouri: B+
MSHSAA is still a drag, but the questions have improved and there's good coverage throughout much of the state of good quizbowl, including in some rural areas. The Missouri River valley is still the most fertile source of teams (though St. Louis seems to have oddly declined in recent years from some very tall heights a few years ago) and the work of the MOQBA has helped coordinate a large number of good QB tournaments across the state. Overall a good situation to be in and with a few more changes in MSHSAA and some continued geographic expansion to other areas of the state, a good shot at moving up.
Montana: D
One tournament on good questions that kind of sort of reports stats? No teams besides Frenchtown that seem to know good quizbowl? AUK tournaments or worse everywhere else? Yep, it's a bad state of affairs in the Big Sky state.
Nebraska: D+
Another state with massive potential in terms of the number of teams, but also near-blanket coverage of bad quizbowl thanks to our good friend the AUK. Omaha North attending HSNCT this year was neat to see as was their league using NAQT questions during the year. There's not much potential for NE teams to really go out of state though unless Iowa gets some more good tournaments going on along the Missouri River.
Nevada: D+
Varsity Quiz in Vegas, Academic Olympics in Reno, many random local leagues that don't seem to use very good questions...oh wait, Academic Olympics may be using NAQT questions and more teams are learning a bit about NAQT in the area? There may be hope at last for Nevada. There are many teams here who currently play bad speedcheck questions, so the Las Vegas and Reno areas seem ripe for expansion if they got some dedicated good quizbowl people in there to get those teams to good tournaments or to reform the leagues more fully.
New Hampshire: D-
A couple of schools seem to have achieved awareness of good quizbowl, but the state tournament remains poor, good quizbowl teams (outside of honorary Vermont team Hanover) few, and not much else is going on in the Granite State.
New Jersey: B
NJ is a bizarre patchwork of good and bad quizbowl existing side-by-side in some areas, with an array of bad quizbowl from ancient Jeopardy!-style tournaments to Chip teams to "Academic Challenge" and others. A few parts of the state have almost no competition, such as Atlantic City. However, where good quizbowl is popular it's very popular--Northern NJ has many big tournaments and plenty of opportunities for teams to compete around most of the state and within easy driving distance out of state. There's a strong NAQT state tournament, but not much in the way of coordinated quizbowl organization besides that.
New Mexico: D
Earth to New Mexico--do you read us? It's quizbowl. We exist. Please verify your existence. Some AUK-friendly stuff around Las Cruces, along with occasional overlap to the El Paso NAQT stuff there, but besides that there's little info.
New York: C+
The Chip Presence is strong here, throughout Long Island and into Westchester County still. There are good quizbowl teams and tournaments, but the overwhelming stench of Questions Unlimited covers most of the NY Metro area. I'm still astounded at how few teams there are in the NYC area considering the sheer number of schools, but there is a solid, if unspectacular, circuit and a good number of good tournaments in the region. Masterminds is making improvements upstate, though there's still a ways to go in the Hudson Valley with many schools and in getting Masterminds teams to good quizbowl.
North Carolina: B
There are opportunities across the state, but Western NC and Eastern NC seem to have fewer competitions, with the majority in the Charlotte and Research Triangle area. The state organization is, by many accounts, a little weird and restricting, but perhaps somewhat useful to promoting new competition. Perhaps the most limiting thing here is the number of teams--there just don't seem to be as many as there ought to be for a state of this size, especially in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg area.
North Dakota: D
Another state mostly lacking in competition opportunities and pretty far from any other competitions. There doesn't necessarily seem to be a lot of bad quizbowl, just a lack of competitions outside of every now and then something in the Fargo area. Previous NAQT attempts to run things here didn't seem to stick.
Ohio: B-
I'll stand by something I said a long time ago: "Ohio has a somewhat fractured quizbowl circuit, with a few small pockets of intense competition (like in Mahoning County) and with the rest scattered around the state." But those previously very fractured subcircuits have lately started to come together a bit more often, thanks in part to people working on OAC to add more participation even if a lot of weird practices remain. There's still a lack of coverage in areas like the Southwest and even in relatively active areas the circuit isn't as deep as it should be outside of maybe the Cleveland area--a few key departures of coaches and some whole circuits could collapse.
Oklahoma: C
A fair number of good quizbowl tournaments, but also many bad tournaments and teams plus a terrible state organization that encourages bad quizbowl and the NAC in particular. Still, there are opportunities here for teams to play and a few of the better teams appear to have seen the light, though the loss of some college teams here has hurt the hosting circuit and left tournament sizes fairly small.
Oregon: D+
A couple of tournaments sort of materialize around Grants Pass using NAQT questions, but nothing seems solid yet. The Willamette Valley would seemingly be fertile territory for good quizbowl expansion and Westview, an HSNCT attendee, could get something going in the Portland area. Can we get hipsters to take a liking to quizbowl?
Pennsylvania: B-
By far the most diverse state in terms of levels of quality quizbowl, ranging from the offensively horrendous Pennsylvania State Academic Competition to a number of excellent good quizbowl tournaments and burgeoning circuits. Some areas have strong leagues that play on good questions, others have almost nothing or just bad quizbowl questions and even some NAC holdouts. Pittsburgh and the Philly suburbs anchor the two most active areas, but there are an increasing number of pockets of good competition across the state.
Rhode Island: D
Brown seems an island of amid an Ocean State of quizbowl nothingness. There are driveable tournaments nearby and I'm sure Brown would love to host more high school events, but until something changes there ain't much here.
South Carolina: C
SC quizbowl has seen better days. Still some decent good quizbowl coverage upstate, anchored by Dorman and occasionally some college or other programs, but the central area of the state around Columbia has little going on (a decline from the glory days of Aiken and Irmo years ago). The coastal areas are curiously lacking in good quizbowl both here and in NC and GA, so it's a little hard for burgeoning teams from those areas to get to good tournaments. No sign of an effective state organization here either.
South Dakota: C-
There is a yearly tournament in Sioux Falls on NAQT sets that attracts a decent field, but none of those teams seem to have a desire to do more and the champion is often an Iowa team. Little going on here in the way of good quizbowl to the West, with some scattered bad quizbowl leagues including in the Black Hills. Distance is a big problem here--until Iowa gets a solid circuit going, the only consistent hosts of good quizbowl tournaments seem to be in Minneapolis or Kansas City--both just too far away.
Tennessee: B-
A tale of three regions. West TN is unfortunately mired in the AUKiness of Knowledge Bowl, but there are a few schools keeping the good quizbowl banner up there and hosting good tournaments. Middle TN is the most active region and contains pretty much all of the official "state" organization, TACA, that runs a limited state championship on good questions but with weird rules. There aren't many barriers to participating in good quizbowl in East TN, but there seems to be a lot of inertia keeping teams from fully embracing it and some ancient bad-quizbowl tournaments that haven't died. The loss of UTC as a consistent HS host was a blow to participation. Lots of potential if college teams can be re-started (at the UTs) or weened off a nasty trivia/trash addiction (Vandy).
Texas: B+
Texas Quizbowl has made great strides over the past few years by establishing solid circuits in the Houston, Austin, and San Antonio areas and a very well-organized state tournament, but there's still a lack of coverage in East Texas, North Texas, and West Texas. While the top teams are some of the best in the country, there's still not enough depth all the way down in terms of tapping the huge potential fields of teams. In the far west, El Paso is one of the most bizarre regions in all of quizbowl--lots of tournaments on NAQT questions, but the teams all go to ChipBowl and seem to not have any contact with the rest of the state, much less the quizbowl world. An increasing number of tournaments in the Dallas area bodes well for the future, but still much more that could be done to increase opportunities statewide.
Utah: D
There are indications of bad QB leagues scattered throughout some of the state, but no major barriers seem to exist if a school did want to run good quizbowl, especially in one of the more heavily populated areas. Whatever used to be at BYU and in a few schools the ventured up into Idaho seems to have dissipated.
Vermont: B+
The state format is odd with the many shortened after-school matches, but it seems to make sense for the largely rural state, with lots of schools far from each other and winter closings potentially affecting tournaments. Pretty much every tournament here seems to be on NAQT questions though there aren't that many tournaments throughout the year and almost no Saturday invitationals on housewrites or more difficult sets. Coverage seems to be fairly good in terms of participation overall for one of the smallest states.
Virginia: B
VHSL is great. But given that so many schools play at least some good quizbowl each year, the absence of those schools at circuit events is surprising. The circuit is very top-heavy with a few schools dominating many tournaments and a lack of depth of quizbowl in the NoVA area especially compared to the schools there. Perhaps even more surprising is that Virginia Beach seems to be lacking entirely in any form of good quizbowl. Outside of the Richmond-Charlottesville-Vienna axis, there's the Blacksburg/Cave Spring circuit, but that's somewhat isolated. Definitely much more potential here.
Washington: D+
Knowledge Bowl wraps the state of Washington in a warm blanket of bad quizbowl terribleness and only a few plaintive cries of good quizbowl can be heard around the Seattle area. The few UW tournaments do get some teams, but the field sizes are tiny and Knowledge Bowl's dominating stature and ties to the NAC help ensure that only bad quizbowl gets a hearing from the vast majority of schools in the state. Would be neat to see if something around Spokane could emerge to at least provide an opportunity beyond the Scablands.
West Virginia: C+
Somewhat of a backpedal from previous years that featured even larger fields and more good quizbowl tournaments, but there is still a state championship and there are multiple tournaments on good quizbowl questions. Unfortunately, there are also unique WV rules and a stubborn insistence on bad quizbowl in too many areas.
Wisconsin: C-
The Badger State is a sleeping giant potentially, with only a few bad QB leagues in some areas and a widely scattered circuit that's starting to see more good quizbowl tournaments every year. The Milwaukee area has easy access to Chicagoland tournaments and schools here seem interested. Good potential, but still no real organization at this point.
Wyoming: F
Similar story to the Dakotas and Montana--huge distances, a state org that uses AUK, and no sign of good quizbowl from the Tetons to Cheyenne. Interestingly, the AUK champion of the state plays the Montana AUK champion each year. Academic Hallmarks must be tickled.
The basis for these grades are the following three criteria:
Breadth of Good Quizbowl
How many places across the state are running good quizbowl tournaments and competitions? Are all the major metro areas included? Are there rural schools participating or just metro schools? Are only a few areas active or is pretty much the entire state active? Could a new team get to a good quizbowl tournament in only a few hours drive or would every trip be basically an overnight all-day drive? Are there many AUK and NAC or other bad quizbowl-only participants that crowd out good quizbowl teams and tournaments?
Depth of Good Quizbowl
In the areas with quizbowl, how many teams compete in it? Is it just a handful of teams out of many possible schools or do pretty much all the major schools in the area participate? Are tournaments large with many teams and good quizbowl scheduling practices or are they small and single-elimination (or entirely double-elimination?)? Do schools normally just play one or two tournaments or do they play multiple tournaments over the year along with nationals?
Institutional Support or Opposition (including state championships)
Is there an official state organization that coordinates quizbowl and does that state organization support good quizbowl? Are there resources available for new teams to help build themselves and assistance for coaches (like a coach's association)? Does the state championship (and any local/regional championships) use good quizbowl questions and practices or bad? Is there a lot of AUK or NAC participation or leagues that use bad quizbowl questions and practices?
The grades are NOT based on how well teams from a state do nationally; there are other rankings for ranking teams based on quizbowl prowess. Instead, this is designed to reward and recognize states that adopt good quizbowl practices and get more teams involved in playing quizbowl.
Rough Grading Rubric
A: Almost entirely good quizbowl tournaments; many teams from multiple areas around a state; a solid state organization (or confederation of local organizations) that supports good quizbowl and ensures a good state championship tournament
B: Mostly good quizbowl tournaments; some areas of bad quizbowl or a major lack of quizbowl; state organization is usually good, but may have some issues and the state championship may not attract that many teams
C: Some areas of good quizbowl, but often competes against bad quizbowl leagues or organizations; state organization is lacking in organization or indifferent to good quizbowl; may lack teams and competitions in many areas around the states.
D: Mostly bad-quizbowl tournaments and organizations, though perhaps without actively restricting participation too much in good tournaments. Also a lack of or near-complete lack of tournaments.
F: Active bad-quizbowl organizations that severely restrict and/or oppose good quizbowl participation to the point where there are no good quizbowl tournaments even offered.
Note that History Bowl tournaments are disregarded here--this is a ranking for all-subject quizbowl. This is also mostly for high school quizbowl opportunities, not middle school or college except as those apply to the high school circuit (i.e. middle school circuit that helps build a high school circuit, college that hosts tournaments, etc.).
I gathered what information I could, but I am sure I missed some places. I am especially interested in information on states where there seems to be little quizbowl activity, good or bad, though I have spent quite some time acquiring information about quizbowl in various areas of the country.
Alabama: A
The best state organization in the country with all levels from regionals to the state championships using good quizbowl questions and rules. Tournaments on good questions run in pretty much all of the major metro areas and there is an unusual amount of rural and urban school participation along with the usual suburban contenders. A few schools still favor bad quizbowl questions, but those usually participate in good quizbowl tournaments during the year. Montgomery and Southern Alabama are still behind the Northern half of the state, but progress seems to be continuing and there are already a number of schools playing good quizbowl from those areas.
Alaska: D-
Little sign of any activity going on in Alaska. Academic Decathlon seems to have a stranglehold on competition in the far North, but there doesn't seem to be a specific barrier if a school wanted to run a quizbowl tournament. Probably not going to travel to any current quizbowl tournaments though.
Arizona: C
A handful of schools in the Phoenix area and a couple from further North compete, but these tournaments are largely small affairs and the loss of some previously strong schools like Brophy is worrying. There are frequent tournaments, but very small field sizes compared to the size of the metro area. Nothing in the Tucson area and bad Academic Hallmarks [sic] Knowledge Bowl in some of the rural areas around Thatcher and possibly around Yuma.
Arkansas, aka "Quizbowl Iran": F
The mullahs of the Arkansas Governor's Quiz Bowl Association are determined to force Arkansas teams to remain in the quizbowl stone age, enforcing a regime of bad quizbowl questions and bizarre rules like forcing teams to lug around reference books to protest the terrible questions they seem to get from Questions Unlimited. Attempts to run good quizbowl tournaments at Harding University and Parkview High in the past seem to have petered out. A couple of schools, notably Benton, seem to prefer good quizbowl and make occasional good quizbowl nationals appearances. What's most heartbreaking is how much potential Arkansas has--AETN, the state PBS affiliate, broadcasts the state finals live and there's a huge amount of participation at all levels across the state. Hoping for AGQBA to reform and bring Arkansas Quizbowl into the 21st century with good questions and practices has about as much chance of succeeding as the same thing in Iran, unfortunately.
California: B-
The rise of first SoCal and then NorCal quizbowl in the past few years has helped California greatly, with the San Diego and Bay Areas boasting solid circuits along with a burgeoning Sacramento circuit. There appear to be plans afoot for more outreach into the Central Valley as well, but aside from a few exceptional teams the LA area and Orange County remain mostly quizbowl wastelands. Academic Decathlon's heartland of Orange County has stymied attempts to form any real long-term teams and the LA area along with the Inland Empire and Ventura County have little to nothing going other than a few bad quizbowl leagues. Furthermore, even in San Diego the spectre of Academic League looms large and unless that org flips to good questions as a whole, good quizbowl will always be in danger of backsliding in SoCal.
Colorado: D+
The homeland of Academic Hallmarks saw the first glimpse of hope in a long while with Fairview High School hosting an NAQT championship this year, thanks to the valiant efforts of Jordan Boyd-Graber. There is a lot of potential here with dozens upon dozens of teams across the state playing Knowledge Bowl, but the roots of AUK run deep and it's unclear if the teams there even know about the larger world of good quizbowl, with the possible exception of Grand Junction and the Fairview attendees. Was the Fairview tournament a flash in the pan? Will the "Dude in Durango" (aka the AUK) continue to wreak havoc with terrible puns and even worse near-verbatim repeat questions? Or will good quizbowl eventually strike gold in the Mountain West?
Connecticut: C+
Yale's high school tournaments anchor a small but growing group of teams playing good quizbowl in the Constitution State. There's still a strong lack of penetration into many of the urban areas, but the Middlesex/Darien pipeline seems to be growing a stellar team there and longtime standbys like EO Smith are continuing to help prop up a respectable, if intermittent circuit. Tournaments this year seemed to feature more CT teams than ever before, but more state-wide structure and outreach in general would help since they're starting from a very small base.
Delaware: C+
There are opportunities to compete in Delaware and many nearby, but few teams willing to take advantage of them. Wilmington Charter's perennial success may have sucked the air out of many of the other teams in the area. There is some hope though for teams like Newark Charter, but they just don't go to many tournaments. No statewide championship to speak of besides a poorly-attended NAQT state tournament either and a lack of state organization make Delaware an increasingly troubled area for outreach. Perhaps the only saving grace is a lack of bad quizbowl institutions now and hopefully more cross-pollination with the Baltimore and Philly areas.
Florida: C
A few pockets of strong competition in various parts of the state are balanced out by big gaps in the center and a bizarre state format and governing organization. Ransom Everglades in the South, Buchholz in the North (aided by some solid cross-border ties with South GA), and Pensacola in the Northwest are the keystones of the Sunshine State quizbowl circuit with some surprisingly large tournaments in these areas. Unfortunately, the state championship remains caught in the grips of the bizarre Panasonic format and Panasonic die-hards control the State Department of Education. Still not many signs of good quizbowl in the Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville areas either.
Georgia: B
Good quizbowl maintains a strong presence in the Atlanta Metro area, but the real interest has been the rise of South Georgia in recent years, thanks to a lot of work from Bainbridge and other schools to get a South GA circuit going. GATA has also increasingly adopted more good quizbowl standards, but some strange tendencies remain like the secretive GATA forum, single-elimination at many tournaments, the lack of stat-keeping, and an attitude against the promotion of some good quizbowl tournaments. Strong Chip presence still in the Macon area and few teams from the Savannah and Augusta areas also keep GA from fully reaching its good QB potential.
Hawaii: D+
At least one tournament is better than none, but doesn't seem like much in the way of organized good quizbowl competition exists on the islands. Let's hope that something can come together to build on Iolani's small tournament this year.
Idaho: C-
The Idaho circuit remains alive but hanging by a thread. Outside of the Boise area, there seems to be pretty much nothing and in Boise only a few schools remain consistent quizbowlers. There also seems to be a lot of opportunity for improvement--there's not much getting in the way here it seems besides driving distances. But in a place like Idaho, those distances are considerable and the lack of cross-pollination with other states' circuits is a problem (though Eastern WA and Western MT are possibilities should they get circuits).
Illinois: A-
Illinois is probably the most active state in the country in terms of quizbowl, with hundreds of teams playing good quizbowl questions each year at the Kickoff and Turnabout tournaments. Years of hard work by coaches and players have made Illinois much, much better than it was even a few years ago. Unfortunately, the state championship run by IHSA still has major problems, which keeps IL from reaching a full A-level, as well as a few isolated holdout leagues on bad questions (thanks, Questions Galore). But an excellent NAQT state championship as well as the increasingly solid Masonic State tournament make up for most of Illinois' quizbowl flaws.
Indiana: C
Indiana is overall a bit of a quizbowl wasteland, but there are some bright spots. The Rotary State Championship is now run on good questions, even if it lacks attendance. The northern part of the state merges well with the Michigan and Chicagoland circuits, but otherwise there's little good to talk about a lots of bad leagues and questions. Again, there are out-of-state opportunities and in-state ones if people were willing to run them since there don't seem to be too many bureaucratic barriers, but a long period of dormancy will be hard to wake Indiana out of in the future.
Iowa: D+
Sadly, Iowa seems to have been in the decline over the last few years with the end of teams and tournaments at many of the local colleges (other than a unique ONLY NAQT Iowa Stateprogram) eliminating some of the few good QB hosts in the state. A few teams do attend good quizbowl nationals, but the dominance of Chip along the I-35 corridor hurts. This may change by next year though with the arrival of the former Greenville (IL) coach and some other intrepid individuals, who could easily build on Iowa's strong tradition of quizbowl participation to make a really solid circuit. I expect and hope to see this grade dramatically increase by next year.
Kansas, the "North Korea of Quizbowl": F
There's not much more to say about the sad state of quizbowl in Kansas other than what's been said in this thread, but like Arkansas (and North Korea), if the current regime fell there's a lot of potential there for a great state with high levels of participation and competition.
Kentucky: C+
Kentucky is maddening since it has many, many teams but the dominance of "Quick Recall" and KAAC always puts good quizbowl in danger of losing to bad quizbowl at nearly every school. This makes it hard to keep teams in good quizbowl from year-to-year since so much of the focus is on the bad quizbowl tournaments. Good quizbowl does have a fairly strong geographic footprint across the state, thanks to people at UK, WKU, and UofL, and there are plenty of opportunities to compete in nearby states as well. The Goldenrod Cup is a great idea and hopefully more progress will be made next year.
Louisiana: C+
The Pelican State features an increasing number of opportunities, with Louisiana Tech building a fledgling Northern circuit and Tulane and some of the NOLA schools working on the South. But it's still a Chip bastion and success in getting teams to good quizbowl tournaments doesn't seem to have translated into building an effective good quizbowl state organization or in pushing back some bad quizbowl tendencies still lurking among the bayous.
Maine: D-
No sign of any real competition. Somehow organized a Panasonic team to go to NTAE a few years ago. Perhaps the silence of the Maine Woods absorbs all communication about quizbowl?
Maryland: B-
It's Academic dominates a lot of the DC and Baltimore metro area, but there are a number of long-running solid quizbowl attendees that help break up the tyranny of goofy old-school bad quizbowl. Johns Hopkins running a good tournament and a number of northern MD tournaments playing on NAQT questions are both solid signs of progress. There's still a strong lack of penetration or a real statewide org, but the plethora of competition opportunities (almost too many in some cases) help make up for that.
Massachusetts: C+
While Mass. teams have made a lot of progress, thanks to some concerted outreach efforts by college folk in Cambridge, there's still quite a long way to go. One unique thing that's helpful in the Boston area is that the local bad quizbowl TV show people seem to want to encourage good quizbowl rather than oppose it (even if they won't change their questions). There are an increasing number of options of tournaments to attend, from MIT to Harvard at the college level to Lexington and others at the HS level. Almost nothing outside of the Boston area, however, and at lot of potential to expand still in the Boston area. I expect them to be on the upswing next year though, especially if a solid state organization can come together.
Michigan: B
A solid B for Michigan, which has tons of teams with a lot of good quizbowl, but an unusually high amount of bad quizbowl as well. The state championship unfortunately seems to have gone back to being a bad quizbowl fest and there remain a stunning number of local schools and leagues still doing bad quizbowl. Across much of the Detroit area, however, good quizbowl dominates and solid yearly tournaments in the area give plenty of opportunities for teams. The Upper Peninsula and the far north tip of the Panhandle have some TV tournaments that run NAQT (albeit only a few games for most teams), but most teams seem to attend bad quizbowl invitationals and nationals. It's odd that there's a lack of an effective state organization here with a large number of long-running programs here.
Minnesota: B-
Within the Twin Cities area, it's an A thanks to the efforts of NAQT and others in MNQB to have a solid slate of tournaments, even if a few are so big they have to be run on single-elim. But outside the metro area, somehow, the AUK has taken root. This has resulted accordingly in a lack of good quizbowl tournaments outside the Twin Cities and a stubborn insistence from the rural areas to stick to bad quizbowl. Will be interesting to see if good quizbowl can take root outside of the Twin Cities in the future--perhaps if more college teams could help host.
Mississippi: D+
Murrah's annual tournament is about the only good quizbowl tournament consistently held in Mississippi, but there are some teams that go compete out of state. Unfortunately, within the state the major tournaments that draw dozens of teams are almost all horrible bad quizbowl, with hoses and misdirection and trivia as well as a lack of transparent rules. A lot of potential though, like some of its fellow Southern states, if these teams switched to good questions. Hopefully more schools will start to host good QB tournaments here in the future to take advantage of the large number of active teams.
Missouri: B+
MSHSAA is still a drag, but the questions have improved and there's good coverage throughout much of the state of good quizbowl, including in some rural areas. The Missouri River valley is still the most fertile source of teams (though St. Louis seems to have oddly declined in recent years from some very tall heights a few years ago) and the work of the MOQBA has helped coordinate a large number of good QB tournaments across the state. Overall a good situation to be in and with a few more changes in MSHSAA and some continued geographic expansion to other areas of the state, a good shot at moving up.
Montana: D
One tournament on good questions that kind of sort of reports stats? No teams besides Frenchtown that seem to know good quizbowl? AUK tournaments or worse everywhere else? Yep, it's a bad state of affairs in the Big Sky state.
Nebraska: D+
Another state with massive potential in terms of the number of teams, but also near-blanket coverage of bad quizbowl thanks to our good friend the AUK. Omaha North attending HSNCT this year was neat to see as was their league using NAQT questions during the year. There's not much potential for NE teams to really go out of state though unless Iowa gets some more good tournaments going on along the Missouri River.
Nevada: D+
Varsity Quiz in Vegas, Academic Olympics in Reno, many random local leagues that don't seem to use very good questions...oh wait, Academic Olympics may be using NAQT questions and more teams are learning a bit about NAQT in the area? There may be hope at last for Nevada. There are many teams here who currently play bad speedcheck questions, so the Las Vegas and Reno areas seem ripe for expansion if they got some dedicated good quizbowl people in there to get those teams to good tournaments or to reform the leagues more fully.
New Hampshire: D-
A couple of schools seem to have achieved awareness of good quizbowl, but the state tournament remains poor, good quizbowl teams (outside of honorary Vermont team Hanover) few, and not much else is going on in the Granite State.
New Jersey: B
NJ is a bizarre patchwork of good and bad quizbowl existing side-by-side in some areas, with an array of bad quizbowl from ancient Jeopardy!-style tournaments to Chip teams to "Academic Challenge" and others. A few parts of the state have almost no competition, such as Atlantic City. However, where good quizbowl is popular it's very popular--Northern NJ has many big tournaments and plenty of opportunities for teams to compete around most of the state and within easy driving distance out of state. There's a strong NAQT state tournament, but not much in the way of coordinated quizbowl organization besides that.
New Mexico: D
Earth to New Mexico--do you read us? It's quizbowl. We exist. Please verify your existence. Some AUK-friendly stuff around Las Cruces, along with occasional overlap to the El Paso NAQT stuff there, but besides that there's little info.
New York: C+
The Chip Presence is strong here, throughout Long Island and into Westchester County still. There are good quizbowl teams and tournaments, but the overwhelming stench of Questions Unlimited covers most of the NY Metro area. I'm still astounded at how few teams there are in the NYC area considering the sheer number of schools, but there is a solid, if unspectacular, circuit and a good number of good tournaments in the region. Masterminds is making improvements upstate, though there's still a ways to go in the Hudson Valley with many schools and in getting Masterminds teams to good quizbowl.
North Carolina: B
There are opportunities across the state, but Western NC and Eastern NC seem to have fewer competitions, with the majority in the Charlotte and Research Triangle area. The state organization is, by many accounts, a little weird and restricting, but perhaps somewhat useful to promoting new competition. Perhaps the most limiting thing here is the number of teams--there just don't seem to be as many as there ought to be for a state of this size, especially in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg area.
North Dakota: D
Another state mostly lacking in competition opportunities and pretty far from any other competitions. There doesn't necessarily seem to be a lot of bad quizbowl, just a lack of competitions outside of every now and then something in the Fargo area. Previous NAQT attempts to run things here didn't seem to stick.
Ohio: B-
I'll stand by something I said a long time ago: "Ohio has a somewhat fractured quizbowl circuit, with a few small pockets of intense competition (like in Mahoning County) and with the rest scattered around the state." But those previously very fractured subcircuits have lately started to come together a bit more often, thanks in part to people working on OAC to add more participation even if a lot of weird practices remain. There's still a lack of coverage in areas like the Southwest and even in relatively active areas the circuit isn't as deep as it should be outside of maybe the Cleveland area--a few key departures of coaches and some whole circuits could collapse.
Oklahoma: C
A fair number of good quizbowl tournaments, but also many bad tournaments and teams plus a terrible state organization that encourages bad quizbowl and the NAC in particular. Still, there are opportunities here for teams to play and a few of the better teams appear to have seen the light, though the loss of some college teams here has hurt the hosting circuit and left tournament sizes fairly small.
Oregon: D+
A couple of tournaments sort of materialize around Grants Pass using NAQT questions, but nothing seems solid yet. The Willamette Valley would seemingly be fertile territory for good quizbowl expansion and Westview, an HSNCT attendee, could get something going in the Portland area. Can we get hipsters to take a liking to quizbowl?
Pennsylvania: B-
By far the most diverse state in terms of levels of quality quizbowl, ranging from the offensively horrendous Pennsylvania State Academic Competition to a number of excellent good quizbowl tournaments and burgeoning circuits. Some areas have strong leagues that play on good questions, others have almost nothing or just bad quizbowl questions and even some NAC holdouts. Pittsburgh and the Philly suburbs anchor the two most active areas, but there are an increasing number of pockets of good competition across the state.
Rhode Island: D
Brown seems an island of amid an Ocean State of quizbowl nothingness. There are driveable tournaments nearby and I'm sure Brown would love to host more high school events, but until something changes there ain't much here.
South Carolina: C
SC quizbowl has seen better days. Still some decent good quizbowl coverage upstate, anchored by Dorman and occasionally some college or other programs, but the central area of the state around Columbia has little going on (a decline from the glory days of Aiken and Irmo years ago). The coastal areas are curiously lacking in good quizbowl both here and in NC and GA, so it's a little hard for burgeoning teams from those areas to get to good tournaments. No sign of an effective state organization here either.
South Dakota: C-
There is a yearly tournament in Sioux Falls on NAQT sets that attracts a decent field, but none of those teams seem to have a desire to do more and the champion is often an Iowa team. Little going on here in the way of good quizbowl to the West, with some scattered bad quizbowl leagues including in the Black Hills. Distance is a big problem here--until Iowa gets a solid circuit going, the only consistent hosts of good quizbowl tournaments seem to be in Minneapolis or Kansas City--both just too far away.
Tennessee: B-
A tale of three regions. West TN is unfortunately mired in the AUKiness of Knowledge Bowl, but there are a few schools keeping the good quizbowl banner up there and hosting good tournaments. Middle TN is the most active region and contains pretty much all of the official "state" organization, TACA, that runs a limited state championship on good questions but with weird rules. There aren't many barriers to participating in good quizbowl in East TN, but there seems to be a lot of inertia keeping teams from fully embracing it and some ancient bad-quizbowl tournaments that haven't died. The loss of UTC as a consistent HS host was a blow to participation. Lots of potential if college teams can be re-started (at the UTs) or weened off a nasty trivia/trash addiction (Vandy).
Texas: B+
Texas Quizbowl has made great strides over the past few years by establishing solid circuits in the Houston, Austin, and San Antonio areas and a very well-organized state tournament, but there's still a lack of coverage in East Texas, North Texas, and West Texas. While the top teams are some of the best in the country, there's still not enough depth all the way down in terms of tapping the huge potential fields of teams. In the far west, El Paso is one of the most bizarre regions in all of quizbowl--lots of tournaments on NAQT questions, but the teams all go to ChipBowl and seem to not have any contact with the rest of the state, much less the quizbowl world. An increasing number of tournaments in the Dallas area bodes well for the future, but still much more that could be done to increase opportunities statewide.
Utah: D
There are indications of bad QB leagues scattered throughout some of the state, but no major barriers seem to exist if a school did want to run good quizbowl, especially in one of the more heavily populated areas. Whatever used to be at BYU and in a few schools the ventured up into Idaho seems to have dissipated.
Vermont: B+
The state format is odd with the many shortened after-school matches, but it seems to make sense for the largely rural state, with lots of schools far from each other and winter closings potentially affecting tournaments. Pretty much every tournament here seems to be on NAQT questions though there aren't that many tournaments throughout the year and almost no Saturday invitationals on housewrites or more difficult sets. Coverage seems to be fairly good in terms of participation overall for one of the smallest states.
Virginia: B
VHSL is great. But given that so many schools play at least some good quizbowl each year, the absence of those schools at circuit events is surprising. The circuit is very top-heavy with a few schools dominating many tournaments and a lack of depth of quizbowl in the NoVA area especially compared to the schools there. Perhaps even more surprising is that Virginia Beach seems to be lacking entirely in any form of good quizbowl. Outside of the Richmond-Charlottesville-Vienna axis, there's the Blacksburg/Cave Spring circuit, but that's somewhat isolated. Definitely much more potential here.
Washington: D+
Knowledge Bowl wraps the state of Washington in a warm blanket of bad quizbowl terribleness and only a few plaintive cries of good quizbowl can be heard around the Seattle area. The few UW tournaments do get some teams, but the field sizes are tiny and Knowledge Bowl's dominating stature and ties to the NAC help ensure that only bad quizbowl gets a hearing from the vast majority of schools in the state. Would be neat to see if something around Spokane could emerge to at least provide an opportunity beyond the Scablands.
West Virginia: C+
Somewhat of a backpedal from previous years that featured even larger fields and more good quizbowl tournaments, but there is still a state championship and there are multiple tournaments on good quizbowl questions. Unfortunately, there are also unique WV rules and a stubborn insistence on bad quizbowl in too many areas.
Wisconsin: C-
The Badger State is a sleeping giant potentially, with only a few bad QB leagues in some areas and a widely scattered circuit that's starting to see more good quizbowl tournaments every year. The Milwaukee area has easy access to Chicagoland tournaments and schools here seem interested. Good potential, but still no real organization at this point.
Wyoming: F
Similar story to the Dakotas and Montana--huge distances, a state org that uses AUK, and no sign of good quizbowl from the Tetons to Cheyenne. Interestingly, the AUK champion of the state plays the Montana AUK champion each year. Academic Hallmarks must be tickled.