2012 NASAT: June 16-17 at Ohio State
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:19 am
High School Academic Pyramid Questions announces that it will be holding the third HSAPQ National All-Star Academic Tournament on June 16-17, 2012 at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The tournament will convene at 8:30 AM on Saturday, June 16 and run until about 6 PM, then conclude from 8:30 AM to about 3:00 PM on Sunday. We will announce details as soon as possible regarding the specific buildings on the OSU campus that will be used.
As the past two NASATs have been widely praised for their logistic smoothness and high-quality questions, our goal this year is to run an even bigger and better event with upwards of 20 teams participating.
This tournament will be open to all-star teams representing all states, the District of Columbia, all US territories, and all Canadian provinces and equivalents (as well as state or province-equivalent divisions of any other countries). Each state or equivalent may enter up to one team, with up to six players on its roster, up to four of whom may be playing at any one time. Any player who was enrolled in the 9th through 12th grade in a school physically located in that state during the 2011-2012 academic year is eligible to play on his or her state’s team. Generally speaking, home school students are also eligible; any questions about eligibility will be answered by HSAPQ as needed. This tournament is intended for states seeking an all-star event. We encourage single-school teams looking for national championships to investigate two such championships run by groups that are unaffiliated with HSAPQ: the National Scholastics Championship run by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (http://pace-nsc.org/) and the High School National Championship Tournament run by National Academic Quiz Tournaments (http://www.naqt.com).
We will continue to keep cost under control; in line with that, the tournament will not be held at a resort, but rather on a college campus, much like many other high school quizbowl events held throughout the year. Furthermore, we will use a normal format comparable to regular-season events: games will consist of twenty tossups, with a thirty-point bonus being played after each correct tossup answer. Teams will play head-to-head, two at a time. “Performance-based,” multimedia, calculation, and pop culture questions will not be used. Teams will play twelve to sixteen games, in line with other national championship events, over the two days of the tournament. Because this event will be played by highly skilled all-star teams, the question difficulty will be higher than that used at existing national championships such as the NSC and HSNCT. The style and subject distribution of the questions will be quite similar to existing HSAPQ sets. The entry fee is $525 per team with a $20 discount for bringing up to one buzzer system per team. HSAPQ will be issuing suggestions on nearby hotels, transportation and dining options, and so on, but will be neither providing nor selling such accommodations ourselves, with the exception of a possible Friday night event. Teams travelling by air are advised that Port Columbus International Airport (CMH) is the major airport serving the metro area.
All teams must submit an application to HSAPQ for entry into the tournament. In the vast majority of these cases, applications will be accepted outright. However, if more than one contingent from a state seeks to enter this tournament, HSAPQ will evaluate applications from each potential team and determine who may represent their state at the National All-Star Academic Tournament. The only criterion that will be used in this decision is our assessment, based on a review of the players’ achievements in the 2011-12 competition year, of which team is likely to perform the best at the tournament. Therefore, GPA, test scores, and non-academic extracurricular activities should not be included on any application; other academic extracurricular activities (e.g. Science Bowl) should only be included if there were limited opportunities for teams in the state to compete at quizbowl. HSAPQ plans to continue consulting with a regional network of advisors who will consult with HSAPQ on these decisions.
HSAPQ will once again use a rolling application procedure: teams who submit applications to HSAPQ on or before March 14 will be notified of HSAPQ’s decision no later than March 21. We may also approve an application submitted from this point onwards as soon as “immediately” if we find it unlikely that a stronger team from the state could be assembled. Teams who submit applications to HSAPQ between March 14 and June 1, inclusive, will be notified no later than one week after the application is received. In other words, March 14 is not a hard deadline, and you may still enter the tournament afterwards, though you are encouraged to start forming and fundraising as soon as possible so that a logistical problem does not cause an interested team to miss the tournament. Once a team from a state or state-equivalent has been approved by HSAPQ, HSAPQ will no longer accept alternate applications from that state, but will accept roster changes made by the official team contact (in most cases, the individual that submitted the application). Team applications will be handled by Matt Weiner ([email protected]).
This year’s NASAT will be directed by Fred Morlan ([email protected]). All communication about the tournament except for team applications should be sent to Fred. We can also answer questions about the event in this thread.
We look forward to a diverse field and another excellent event in Columbus this year!
If you're looking for a field update, click here.
As the past two NASATs have been widely praised for their logistic smoothness and high-quality questions, our goal this year is to run an even bigger and better event with upwards of 20 teams participating.
This tournament will be open to all-star teams representing all states, the District of Columbia, all US territories, and all Canadian provinces and equivalents (as well as state or province-equivalent divisions of any other countries). Each state or equivalent may enter up to one team, with up to six players on its roster, up to four of whom may be playing at any one time. Any player who was enrolled in the 9th through 12th grade in a school physically located in that state during the 2011-2012 academic year is eligible to play on his or her state’s team. Generally speaking, home school students are also eligible; any questions about eligibility will be answered by HSAPQ as needed. This tournament is intended for states seeking an all-star event. We encourage single-school teams looking for national championships to investigate two such championships run by groups that are unaffiliated with HSAPQ: the National Scholastics Championship run by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (http://pace-nsc.org/) and the High School National Championship Tournament run by National Academic Quiz Tournaments (http://www.naqt.com).
We will continue to keep cost under control; in line with that, the tournament will not be held at a resort, but rather on a college campus, much like many other high school quizbowl events held throughout the year. Furthermore, we will use a normal format comparable to regular-season events: games will consist of twenty tossups, with a thirty-point bonus being played after each correct tossup answer. Teams will play head-to-head, two at a time. “Performance-based,” multimedia, calculation, and pop culture questions will not be used. Teams will play twelve to sixteen games, in line with other national championship events, over the two days of the tournament. Because this event will be played by highly skilled all-star teams, the question difficulty will be higher than that used at existing national championships such as the NSC and HSNCT. The style and subject distribution of the questions will be quite similar to existing HSAPQ sets. The entry fee is $525 per team with a $20 discount for bringing up to one buzzer system per team. HSAPQ will be issuing suggestions on nearby hotels, transportation and dining options, and so on, but will be neither providing nor selling such accommodations ourselves, with the exception of a possible Friday night event. Teams travelling by air are advised that Port Columbus International Airport (CMH) is the major airport serving the metro area.
All teams must submit an application to HSAPQ for entry into the tournament. In the vast majority of these cases, applications will be accepted outright. However, if more than one contingent from a state seeks to enter this tournament, HSAPQ will evaluate applications from each potential team and determine who may represent their state at the National All-Star Academic Tournament. The only criterion that will be used in this decision is our assessment, based on a review of the players’ achievements in the 2011-12 competition year, of which team is likely to perform the best at the tournament. Therefore, GPA, test scores, and non-academic extracurricular activities should not be included on any application; other academic extracurricular activities (e.g. Science Bowl) should only be included if there were limited opportunities for teams in the state to compete at quizbowl. HSAPQ plans to continue consulting with a regional network of advisors who will consult with HSAPQ on these decisions.
HSAPQ will once again use a rolling application procedure: teams who submit applications to HSAPQ on or before March 14 will be notified of HSAPQ’s decision no later than March 21. We may also approve an application submitted from this point onwards as soon as “immediately” if we find it unlikely that a stronger team from the state could be assembled. Teams who submit applications to HSAPQ between March 14 and June 1, inclusive, will be notified no later than one week after the application is received. In other words, March 14 is not a hard deadline, and you may still enter the tournament afterwards, though you are encouraged to start forming and fundraising as soon as possible so that a logistical problem does not cause an interested team to miss the tournament. Once a team from a state or state-equivalent has been approved by HSAPQ, HSAPQ will no longer accept alternate applications from that state, but will accept roster changes made by the official team contact (in most cases, the individual that submitted the application). Team applications will be handled by Matt Weiner ([email protected]).
This year’s NASAT will be directed by Fred Morlan ([email protected]). All communication about the tournament except for team applications should be sent to Fred. We can also answer questions about the event in this thread.
We look forward to a diverse field and another excellent event in Columbus this year!
If you're looking for a field update, click here.