The Quizbowl Resource Center

This is the official global announcement for ACF Regionals 2014, which will take place on February 22, 2014.

Editors:
Head Editor: Evan Adams
Co-Editors: Carsten Gehring, Matt Jackson, Ashvin Srivatsa, Adam Silverman, and Will Nediger

Hosts:
Note that we are now actively seeking hosts in most regions - please contact us at [email protected] if you're interested. Bidding will be open until November 2nd. Editors have preference here so their schools may be granted mirrors before the bidding deadline. These regions are rough guidelines: bid if you're interested and we'll try to make the most practical distribution of mirrors possible.

California: UCSD
Pacific Northwest and online: University of Washington
South: Western Kentucky University
Texas: Rice University
Great Lakes: Michigan
Midwest: University of Missouri
East Canada/Niagara: University of Toronto
Mid-Atlantic: University of Virginia (this Regional will be held on SUNDAY, February 23)
Northeast: Yale

Packet Submission:
Every team with at least one person on it who played a regular, collegiate, academic quizbowl tournament prior to September 1, 2012 is required to submit a packet in order to play in Regionals. Please note that, like last year, this requirement also applies to eligible high school teams. Further information can be found at the ACF Packet Submission Guidelines.

The submission schedule for this tournament is: (note that these are Saturdays, not Sundays)
December 21, 2013: -$50
January 4, 2014: -$25 (-$50 for optional packets)
January 18, 2014: no penalty (-$25 for optional packets)
February 1, 2014: +$25
February 8, 2014: +$50
After that: +$10 for each additional day you're late. Teams that are required to submit a packet and do not won't be allowed to play.

Please submit your packet to [email protected]; the actual email with attached packet should include the phrase "[name of school + A/B/etc. if applicable) PACKET" in the subject line. In order to meet any particular deadline, your packet must be in our inbox by 11:59 pm PST on the stated day.

Packet Penalties: Be sure to fully read the information contained in the Packet Guidelines. Any cases of incorrect formatting, plagiarism, or prohibited question types will result in hefty fees. The editors also reserve the right to send back any egregious cases to be fixed by the team in question, so be sure to do it right the first time.

Please submit all questions/comments/etc. regarding this event to [email protected], or post them in the thread. Running packet list (with deadlines/penalties) will appear below as soon as packets begin to come in.

Distribution:

The distribution for this tournament varies slightly from the required 24/24 distribution on the ACF website.
Literature 5/5
History 5/5
Science 5/5
Religion, Mythology and Philosophy 3/3
Fine Arts 3/3
Social Science 1/1
Geography/Current Events: 1/1
Pop Culture: 1/0 or 0/1
Any Academic Category: 1/0 or 0/1

Running Packet List:

By -$50 deadline
MCTC
UCSD
Carleton University A
Dartmouth A
Notre Dame
Waterloo A
Caltech A
LASA B
Kansas State
Michigan State
Rice
Dorman High School
Vanderbilt (B)
Penn C

-$25 deadline
Maryland A
WUSTL
Colonel By A
LASA A
Brown A
Columbia B
Florida A
Penn B
Berkeley A
Caltech B
Truman State
Harvard A
Louisville A

No penalty deadline
UCLA
St. John's
Illinois B
Ottawa
Clemson A
Texas A&M
Virginia Tech A
Northmont
RPI
Ohio State A
J. Sargeant Reynolds
Carnegie Mellon
MIT A
Rutgers
Columbia C
Delaware
Johns Hopkins A
Minnesota
Berkeley B
Penn A

+25 deadline
University of South Carolina
McMaster A
Alabama A
William & Mary
Wright State A
Illinois A
Columbia A
Claremont

+50 deadline
Harding A
St. Olaf A
Chicago B
Chicago A
Cornell A
University of Texas
Centre A
North Carolina A
VCU
Cornell B
Arcadia
Berkeley C

+60
Oxford
UNC B

+80
Maryland B

+130
Princeton

+150
St. Charles CC

I still need bids from this. I'd love to hear from all regions but there are particularly gaping holes in the South, Florida, Texas, California, the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Remember, if you host you get paid AND you don't have to write a packet!

Mirrors of ACF Regionals are now scheduled for Yale, UVA, Michigan, Western Kentucky, and the University of Missouri. I'm in the middle of talking to potential hosts in Florida, Canada, California, and the Pacific Northwest. (So if you'e still interested in hosting from one of those locations, please email me soon).

If you've already written this part of your packet don't worry about this, but please note that the 24/24 distribution in the first post has changed. Instead of 1/1 pop culture there is now 1/0 or 0/1 pop culture required, and the other 1/0 and 0/1 is of any academic category.

Is this an ACF wide change for non Nationals tournaments?

Cheynem wrote:Is this an ACF wide change for non Nationals tournaments?

No, this is just for Regionals this year.

I think it should be 1/1 for what it's worth.

EDIT: Never mind, misread something.

vcuEvan wrote:Mirrors of ACF Regionals are now scheduled for Yale, UVA, Michigan, Western Kentucky, and the University of Missouri. I'm in the middle of talking to potential hosts in Florida, Canada, California, and the Pacific Northwest. (So if you'e still interested in hosting from one of those locations, please email me soon).

There are now sites scheduled for UCSD and the University of Toronto.

Is there any fee information for this? Are there still new team discounts for regionals?

Also, what's the approach to packet-writing when you have no science knowledge? Do your best and let the editors fix it, or just accept that your packet won't be used?

Mnemosyne wrote:Is there any fee information for this? Are there still new team discounts for regionals?

Also, what's the approach to packet-writing when you have no science knowledge? Do your best and let the editors fix it, or just accept that your packet won't be used?

Information about tournament discounts can be found here.

I recommend writing the best questions you can. We plan to liberally combine packets, so a packet having one weak area doesn't mean it won't be used.

The University of Washington is now mirroring in the Pacific Northwest. This will also be a Skype mirror if there is interest.

I'm still having trouble finding a host in Florida or in Minnesota. If anyone wants to volunteer from these places, please email me or post here. Any team that can't attend a mirror in person because of travel distances is welcome to play the Skype mirror.

Will the skype mirror be closed and packet-required?

Yes, check the details in the thread for more info, but yeah, it's following ACF rules on that.

We would host for Florida but we already did ACF Fall, and it wouldn't be fair to our senior members who haven't played so far this year because I keep making them moderate, and they will also be sitting out NAQT Sectionals to host. I hope someone in Florida or nearby volunteers soon.

vcuEvan wrote:I'm still having trouble finding a host in Florida or in Minnesota. If anyone wants to volunteer from these places, please email me or post here. Any team that can't attend a mirror in person because of travel distances is welcome to play the Skype mirror.

The Florida mirror will be at the University of Central Florida.

Who's editing the various subjects for this tournament?

gamegeek2 wrote:Who's editing the various subjects for this tournament?

Will is editing lit, music, and painting. Carsten is editing history. Adam is editing bio and chem. Ashvin is editing physics and other science. Matt is editing RMP. I'm editing SS, other arts, and geo/CE/trash.

Unless I have specifically told you otherwise, the -$50 deadline is over. Thanks everyone who submitted a packet. Everyone else has two weeks to make the next deadline.

Reminder: Closely follow the formatting of the sample packet posted here. Remember, improperly formatted packets can incur up to a $30 penalty.

Do high school teams have undergraduate status?

TedGan wrote:Do high school teams have undergraduate status?

We do indeed have undergraduate status. However, based on my ACF Fall experience, I do not believe we're eligible for DII?

Einhard wrote: We do indeed have undergraduate status. However, based on my ACF Fall experience, I do not believe we're eligible for DII?

Thank you for clarifying!

No, we're not eligible for DII.

The following teams have submitted packets for this tournament but haven't yet registered:

Dorman High School
LASA A
LASA B
Princeton
University of Texas

You can register for the tournament here.

The Texas site is a week later, correct?

I'd just like to verify whether the Colonel By A packet submission for the Jan. 4 deadline is a -$25 or a -$50 discount since they are a high school team.

adosreme wrote:I'd just like to verify whether the Colonel By A packet submission for the Jan. 4 deadline is a -$25 or a -$50 discount since they are a high school team.

The discount marker in the first post just indicates what date the packet was submitted by. High school teams and teams writing optional packets will still get the appropriate discounts.

Susan wrote:The following teams have submitted packets for this tournament but haven't yet registered:

Caltech A
Caltech B
Dorman High School
Florida A
Kansas State
LASA A
LASA B
Louisville A
Maryland A
MCTC
Notre Dame
Rice
Vanderbilt (B)
Waterloo A

You can register for the tournament here.

I'm confused, I registered for the tournament using the spreadsheet provided (as a result of which, my team's name appears here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... utput=html).

Is there something else Waterloo A needs to do in order to register?

odin_envy_me wrote:

Susan wrote:The following teams have submitted packets for this tournament but haven't yet registered:

Caltech A
Caltech B
Dorman High School
Florida A
Kansas State
LASA A
LASA B
Louisville A
Maryland A
MCTC
Notre Dame
Rice
Vanderbilt (B)
Waterloo A

You can register for the tournament here.

I'm confused, I registered for the tournament using the spreadsheet provided (as a result of which, my team's name appears here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... utput=html).

Is there something else Waterloo A needs to do in order to register?

No--I left you on by accident. You are registered and good to go. Sorry about that.

Eligibility Question: One of the teams attending the Toronto site has a graduate student who finished his studies at the end of the fall term (Dec. 2013). Is he still eligible to play ACF regionals for his school?

adosreme wrote:Eligibility Question: One of the teams attending the Toronto site has a graduate student who finished his studies at the end of the fall term (Dec. 2013). Is he still eligible to play ACF regionals for his school?

Yes.

If I'm understanding you correctly, Aaron, this should be fine; the ACF rules say:

For collegiate tournaments, players must be taking classes for credit (or doing equivalent undergraduate or graduate work) in a degree program, during the academic year in which the tournament takes place, under the aegis of the school for which they are playing.

(emphasis mine)

If this student was doing work towards his degree in Fall 2013, he is eligible to play for the entirety of the 2013-2014 competition year.

Susan wrote:If this student was doing work towards his degree in Fall 2013, he is eligible to play for the entirety of the 2013-2014 competition year.

That's exactly what the situation is. Thank you very much for your help.

I just wanted to see if you have recieved an optional packet from Florida B. The member in charge has been unresponsive about it.

willis1 wrote:I just wanted to see if you have recieved an optional packet from Florida B. The member in charge has been unresponsive about it.

The only Florida packet we have received is Florida A.

My internet connection crashed tonight around the time that I was filling out Wright State's registration form, and so I just wanted to make sure that you got it.

quantumfootball wrote:My internet connection crashed tonight around the time that I was filling out Wright State's registration form, and so I just wanted to make sure that you got it.

Your registration was received.

vcuEvan wrote:

quantumfootball wrote:My internet connection crashed tonight around the time that I was filling out Wright State's registration form, and so I just wanted to make sure that you got it.

Your registration was received.

And it should be showing up on the spreadsheet linked in the Michigan site announcement.

Will we be invoiced by e-mail, and will we be told our fee total and an address to send the checks?

So I submitted Berkeley D's packet yesterday though the post shows that only up to Berkeley C has submitted and has been updated today. Is that a typo, or did you not receive our packet for some reason?

Ravi wrote:So I submitted Berkeley D's packet yesterday though the post shows that only up to Berkeley C has submitted and has been updated today. Is that a typo, or did you not receive our packet for some reason?

I received an e-mail from Nicholas Karas telling me there were only three Berkeley teams, and to treat Berkeley B as Berkeley A, Berkeley C as Berkeley B, and Berkeley D as Berkeley C. Is that not right?

vcuEvan wrote:

Ravi wrote:So I submitted Berkeley D's packet yesterday though the post shows that only up to Berkeley C has submitted and has been updated today. Is that a typo, or did you not receive our packet for some reason?

I received an e-mail from Nicholas Karas telling me there were only three Berkeley teams, and to treat Berkeley B as Berkeley A, Berkeley C as Berkeley B, and Berkeley D as Berkeley C. Is that not right?

Yeah, never mind, I was just updated with that information. My bad.

Hi,

I am looking to get information about how we will get our trophies for the Toronto mirror of ACF Regionals. Do you know what information we will need to provide for this?

adosreme wrote:Hi,

I am looking to get information about how we will get our trophies for the Toronto mirror of ACF Regionals. Do you know what information we will need to provide for this?

Actually, Jerry contacted me about giving them to CMU for us to bring (apparently shipping them to other countries is difficult). I don't have them yet, though.

Ndg wrote:

adosreme wrote:Hi,

I am looking to get information about how we will get our trophies for the Toronto mirror of ACF Regionals. Do you know what information we will need to provide for this?

Actually, Jerry contacted me about giving them to CMU for us to bring (apparently shipping them to other countries is difficult). I don't have them yet, though.

Yeah, sorry about that lacuna. The trophies will be coming with CMU.

grapesmoker wrote:Yeah, sorry about that lacuna. The trophies will be coming with CMU.

I figured that might be the case, as a similar thing occurred with Buffalo bringing the ACF Fall trophies to McMaster. Thanks for confirming.

I sent out the packets to all the hosts except Rice (we'll send this out next week in case any problems with the set are discovered over the weekend). If you haven't received them, or if there's some problem, e-mail me.

Which packets will be used?

This set is not yet clear, so please do not discuss it publicly if you have seen it.

There is a discussion group set up in the private forum "2014 ACF Regionals Discussion" for people who will not be playing the set in the future. A request to join the group can be submitted by going through the User Control Panel to the Usergroups section.