VCU Winter Tournament XIV (Richmond, VA - December 2, 2023)

[Matt Weiner]

This is the general announcement for the 2023 edition of the Virginia Commonwealth University Winter Tournament, which is a high school academic quizbowl tournament to be hosted at VCU in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday, December 2, 2023.

Registration form: https://forms.gle/wMeWfnwgSEW1TZoDA Please read the entire announcement before registering.

The tournament will begin at 8:30 AM and aims to conclude for all participants other than teams involved in the championship finals game by 5:00 PM.

Location
The tournament will take place in Grace E. Harris Hall, which is located at the intersection of Main Street and Harrison Street, in Richmond, Virginia. For GPS use, the address of the building is 900 W Main St, Richmond VA. Team check-in will run from 8:00 to 8:30 in the lecture hall (Harris 101) and all games will take place in the classroom wing of the same building.

A campus map is at http://www.maps.vcu.edu/monroepark/index.html. Parking information may be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2P ... wV2nmv/pub. The supplementary information about the Christmas parade will apply on December 2.

Questions:
This tournament will use the NAQT IS-224 question set. Teams that have played IS-224 at other tournaments are not eligible. Any person who has encountered the content of the IS-224 set, in any context including as a player or staffer at another tournament, is not eligible to play and is expected to disclose the fact that they have knowledge of set content if they are in touch with teams playing this tournament, e.g. as a coach or peer in a quizbowl club.

The question set will be of comparable difficulty to the Regionals level of VHSL Scholastic Bowl. The general style and subject distribution of the questions will be similar to Scholastic Bowl. The game format will be tossup/bonus, rather than Scholastic Bowl style, as described below.

All additional restrictions and policies imposed by NAQT on tournaments using their questions will apply to this event, in addition to VCU's usual rules for high school tournaments. Teams are responsible for being aware of eligibility and other rules and contacting NAQT and/or the TD of the VCU event with any requests for clarification in advance.

Format:
This tournament will use the tossup/bonus format. A round will consist of 20 tossups with correct tossup answers earning a team a bonus in which it can earn up to 30 additional points, broken into three parts each worth 10 points. There will be no math calculation tossups or bonuses; this does not preclude tossups or bonuses on mathematical concepts. Specific scenarios will be handled according to the ACF rules. All teams will be offered a minimum of 8 games, and we hope to increase that number once the final field size is determined. Trophies will be awarded to the top teams, and book prizes will be awarded to the top individual scorers.

Eligibility:
This tournament is for teams of eligible players representing a single high school. Full information on eligibility is found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2P ... XsoOdX/pub

Affiliation:

This tournament will be a qualifier for NAQT's High School National Championship Tournament (May 25-26, Atlanta area) and Small School National Championship Tournament (April 27-28, Chicago area).

This tournament will be a qualifier for the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence's 2024 National Scholastics Championship, which will occur on June 8-9, 2024 in Reston, Virginia. More information is available at this link.

Registration & fees:

To register for this tournament, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/wMeWfnwgSEW1TZoDA

base fee: +$80 per team to your school's total fee.

buzzer discount: -$5 to your school's total fee for each fully functional system (we defined a fully functional system in the same way that NAQT does, with the less strict exception that as long as eight total activators work, it's OK for our tournaments if they are not evenly divided into four of each color or team designation). There is no limit to the number of systems you can bring.
staff discount: -$10 to your school's total fee. This can be a coach, parent, student, or other person who is not playing. Team-provided staffers will most likely keep score for various games, but if you are capable of performing another role such as reading or statskeeping, let us know. Volunteer staffers must stay through all the games (excepting finals) in order to receive credit for their school. There is no limit to the number of staffers you can bring.

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.

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

Field size

There is an initial 32-team cap on field size at this tournament. There is no limit on the number of teams which may register from the same school. We hope to split this tournament into three experience-based divisions based on these guidelines: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2P ... pmrcuy/pub. If there is interest from more than 32 teams, then we will seek to expand the field size as we confirm staffers for the tournament.

Method of payment:
All teams must pay by the day of the tournament. We encourage either using electronic payment or mailing payment in advance, though day-of payment will also be accepted on site. Teams who do not pay by the day of the tournament will be charged a $25 penalty and will have two weeks to pay their total amount.

Venmo and Zelle information, as well as a mailing address for checks, will be shared with all registrants. In addition to the electronic payment methods, we can also accept checks in person or run physical credit/debit cards via Square at the tournament itself.

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 November 5, so that we can send you the paperwork in time. If you do not let us know about this requirement by November 5, and it causes you to come to the tournament without your payment, then you will be subject to the $25 late payment penalty.

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 half-time 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.

Code of conduct and chaperone policy:

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.

All schools participating in this event are expected to have at least one coach or other designated adult (such as the parent of a team member) who is present for the duration of the tournament and actively takes responsibility for the conduct of the school's players. One coach may suffice for multiple teams from the same school.

Photography notice:

Tournament staff may take pictures of ordinary situations at the tournament such as meetings, games, and presentations of awards. These images will be used to promote participation at future VCU events. Individuals who do not wish to be photographed may always step out of the room before group shots are taken, be exempted from any series of individual shots such as scoring prize recipients, or request to have photos containing their image removed from public albums, and these wishes will be respected by any tournament-affiliated photographers.

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. There are vending machines in the tournament building and several convenience stores and restaurants within 1-3 blocks, and the VCU campus is well-covered by various food delivery services. It will not be necessary to have access to a vehicle all day in order to purchase food and beverages.

Weather/safety information

*General guidance on VCU campus closures may be accessed at VCU Alert. This is where official decisions on closing the campus due to inclement weather and other safety concerns are published. 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.

*There are no special covid-related policies for the tournament at this time. We will follow whatever general guidance is mandated for the VCU campus, should this change between now and the tournament date.

We look forward to seeing a diverse field in December! Please contact the e-mail below if you have any questions about the event.

Matt Weiner
Advisor and Tournament Director, Quizbowl at VCU
[email protected]

[Matt Weiner]

Registered teams as of 11/29:

BASIS McLean - 3
Caroline - 2
Cosby - 1
Douglas Freeman - 2
Gunston - 1
Hermitage - 1
Huguenot - 2
Langley - 2
L.C. Bird - 1
Lightridge - 4
Luray - 1
Maggie Walker - 6
McLean HS - 3
Midlothian - 1
New Kent- 1
Norfolk Academic Guild - 2
Orange County - 2
Rappahannock HS - 2
Robinson - 1
St. Anne's-Belfield - 1
St. John Paul the Great - 1
William Monroe - 1

[Matt Weiner]

The field has been expanded to accommodate all 43 interested teams. We will contact teams who register from this point forward on a case-by-case basis about available spots in the field. We may cut off registration at any time, and the field will lock no later than 12PM on Thursday 11/30 in any case.

[Matt Weiner]

Thanks to everyone who competed this past Saturday. Congratulations to the top finishers at the tournament:

National division: 1. McLean A , 2. Maggie Walker A, 3. BASIS A, 4. Orange County A
Standard division: 1. William Monroe, 2. Douglas Freeman A, 3T. Caroline A, 3T. Midlothian
JV division: 1. Maggie Walker F, 2. Maggie Walker E, 3. Norfolk Academic Guild B, 4. Lightridge D

I will be sending out a link today for a survey about tournament efficiency and general feedback to everyone who participated in one or more VCU high school tournaments over the past calendar year.

Full stats may be found here: https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8 ... all_games/

Thanks especially to the staffers from UVa, George Washington, and James Madison as well as freelance outside staffers Brad Savage, Vasa Clarke, Ophir Lifshifz, Veer Rami, Jarrett Holmes, and Ean Casey, who enabled us to host the largest tournament we've ever done at VCU as well as the largest tournament by a host in Virginia since in-person quizbowl resumed.