Canadian Novice Mirror @ VCU (Richmond, VA 03/25/2023)

[savicevic]

This is the general announcement for a mirror site of the "Canadian Novice" tournament, to be held at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday, March 25, 2023. Our latest schedules start time will be 9:00 a.m., and we hope to conclude at or before 6:00 p.m. We plan to host this tournament as an in-person event. See the end of this announcement for further information about covid safety.

The registration link is here. Please read the entire announcement before registering.

Location
The tournament will likely take place in Grace E. Harris Hall at 900 W Main St, Richmond VA, with registration being in room 2108 and all games on the second floor of the classroom wing of the building. We will confirm the tournament location as soon as possible.

Parking
Parking on Main Street directly in front of the building or on other nearby surface streets is, usually, free and available on Saturdays. In the event that the on-street parking is closed or full, you can use the West Main Street Parking Deck one block east of the tournament building. The parking deck has entrances on Cherry Street and Laurel Street and is nominally located at 801 W Main St for GPS purposes. A campus map is accessible here.

This tournament is for teams of eligible novice players representing a single university, community college, or other post-secondary institution of higher education. Reference the original announcement post for exact eligibilty requirements. Edge cases regarding eligibility will be handled according to the ACF guidelines. No "mixed" or "open" teams are permitted at this site. As per normal practice with events aimed at collegiate novices, this tournament is not appropriate for high school teams that wish to play college tournaments, and high school teams are thus not eligible to participate.

Games will be conducted in a 24/24 tossup/bonus format; other than the inclusion of power tossups, the ACF rules will be used. The tournament format will endeavor to offer each team the maximum number of games possible within a reasonable timeframe, and will be determined in specific based on the number of teams who register.

Registration & fees:
base fee: +$120 per team to your school's total fee.

buzzer discount:
-$5 to your school's total fee for each fully functional system. There is no limit to the number of systems you can bring. A fully functional buzzer system is defined as follows:
A buzzer system that clearly indicates which player has buzzed.
The control unit and at least 8 activators work, including lights on either or both of the 8 activators and control unit.
If the activators plug into a control unit via a modular connector, such as a telephone plug, tape must be provided if any latching tabs are broken.

staff discount:
-$40 for a competent moderator (as determined solely by the TD of this tournament) and -$10 for any other staffer (who may be asked to keep score, assist with stats, or perform other duties for the event). The discount may be applied to your club's entry fee for anyone staffing the tournament who meets one or more of the following conditions:
1) Is physically transported to the tournament, from outside the greater Richmond area, as part of your team's travel arrangements to the event.
2) Is recruited to staff the tournament by a member of your club rather than by the TD or the VCU team, or
3) Is a member of your club/student body who would otherwise be eligible to play the tournament, but chooses to staff instead.

A staffer who meets none of the above three conditions may not be claimed for a discount by any team playing this tournament.

travel discount: -$10 to your school's total fee for every 150 miles traveled one-way from your school's address to VCU, according to Google Maps.

new to quizbowl discount: -$30 to your school's total fee for schools that haven't played any tournaments between Fall 2021 and Fall 2022.

minimum fee: The minimum fee is $0. You can bring enough buzzers and staffers to eliminate your fee, but you cannot have a negative fee.

To register for this tournament, fill out this form. Once you have submitted the form, there is no further action needed on your part in order to be officially registered. There will be periodic updates in this thread and by e-mail indicating who has registered. Posts made in this thread do not count as official registrations. Contact [email protected] if you need to modify your registration.

Please feel welcome to share this announcement with any schools that you think would be interested in attending.

Field size

There is an initial 20-team cap on field size at this tournament. There is no limit on the number of teams which may register from the same school. If there is interest from more than 20 teams, then we will update the thread with information on expanded capacity as we recruit staffers to accommodate. Waitlisted teams will be added to the field based first on whether they can provide readers, and thereafter on a first-come, first-served basis.

Method of payment:
All teams must pay by the day of the tournament. We encourage either using electronic payment or mailing a check in advance, though day-of payment will also be accepted on site. Venmo and Zelle information, as well as a mailing address for checks, will be shared with all registrants. For on-site payment, we can accept checks or cash, or run physical credit/debit cards via Square.

All checks must be made out to "Quizbowl at VCU". If you require an invoice or W-9 form in order to have a check cut, you must let us know by April 6, so that we can send you the paperwork in time.

Team & roster size:
There may be a maximum of six players on one team's roster, up to four of whom may play at one time. There will be no exceptions to this rule. If you bring more than six players, you must register a second team to have all of them play. There is a halftime substitution opportunity in each game. Each player may appear on only one team's roster throughout the day; there is no switching from the B team to the A team, etc. Teams may play shorthanded, with fewer than four players, but there is no discount for doing so.

Code of conduct:

All participants in the tournament are expected to be familiar with the code of conduct designed to provide a safe and inclusive environment at Quizbowl at VCU events.

Food:
Neither breakfast nor lunch will be provided by the tournament. We will provide a list of suggested eateries for the lunch break, which will be at some time after 12 PM.

Safety plan:

General guidance on VCU campus closures may be accessed at VCU Alert. This is where official decisions on closing the campus due to weather emergencies and other concerns outside of covid may be found. In the event that there is an emergency situation near the date of the tournament, we will go by what is published on VCU Alert and will run the tournament if the campus is open.

All participants in the tournament are expected to be vaccinated against COVID-19 through at least the fall 2021 booster. This applies to anyone who is physically attending the event (players, staffers, coaches, spectators, etc.)

We will be following VCU's campus policy on masks as posted here. As of the date of the announcement, masks are not required in any of the facilities being used for this tournament. We will advise registrants if there is any change to this policy as the tournament approaches.

[savicevic]

A few things to note ahead of the tournament:

I did not clearly indicate this before, but teams should arrive ready for the opening meeting at 9:00 a.m., not at 8:30 as previously stated. We're still confident the tournament can run efficiently so long as everyone is ready by 9:00.

The teams which have registered so far are one team for each of North Carolina, Virginia Tech, William & Mary, and George Washington. I have been told that Virginia will also send at least one team, but that is yet to be official.

I will be sending logistics emails in the next few days to the emails that were given to me during registration. Please keep in touch if you have any questions or concerns from here on out.

[savicevic]

UVA has registered two teams, bumping us up to six total non-VCU teams in the field. Barring any dropouts, we will aim for either a six or eight team final field, each option having 10 total rounds of play.

[savicevic]

After an exciting final, William and Mary emerged overall champions with a comeback victory over Virginia A. Congratulations to Duncan, Jerome, Sara and Brian.

Thanks again to the creators of the Canadian Novice set for all their work in making the packets we used. If you'd like to send the writers feedback, please do so at this link: https://discord.gg/AucAXEJk.

VCU is also soliciting moderators to help staff a high school tournament on April 15th. Any additional staffers would help allow us to go beyond the 32 team field, so your assistance would be greatly appreciated. You can sign up to staff at this link.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who attended last Saturday. As tournament director I strived to create the best tournament experience I could, and I hope it made a difference to your time at VCU.