I would like to propose an alternative for tournaments that want to give out a non-standard prize such as the neg prize. My understanding is that some tournaments may already award this prize but if they exist, it hasn't caught on nationally.
I suggest giving out a prize for the Buzz of the Tournament.
The rules are simple: anyone who is not among the top individual scorers is eligible. If the tournament doesn't give individual awards, anyone is eligible. The prize goes to the player who makes the best buzz, as subjectively determined by the tournament staff. Some examples of a potential winner might be:
- The 25 ppg player who grabs a tossup after eight words
- The 6 ppg player who wins a playoff match with a just-before-FTP buzz on the last tossup
- The C team player who powers a tossup in a 630-25 loss to the best team in the tournament
Could this prize be gamed? Probably, but that would likely involve guessing one answer and going on a study binge, which would probably make that person the most dangerous player on that answer line at the tournament. And realistically, would you rather award a "humorous" prize to the person that studied the heck out of Garcia Marquez or the person who heard "candy animals" and buzzed in with "Peeps"?
Why do I think this prize is a good replacement for the Neg Prize?
- Similarly lighthearted and humorous - you'd probably have to recount the anecdote of the buzz to explain the winner - but much more positive in tone
- Similarly rewards a player for aggressive play
- Not an in-joke
- Cannot be awarded to a player for doing something stupid (someone who buzzes in on the first line 8 times and is wrong 7 of them is not winning the prize)
- Can be given even if a tournament does not keep individual stats
- Winning via "gaming the system" would almost certainly entail doing some sort of "studying for quizbowl" that would in theory benefit the player in future tournaments
- Every player who is invested in winning the prize has an interest in trying to buzz all the way through tossup 20 of the last match
- Can potentially give the winner a newfound confidence in his or her buzzer skills
Has anyone on the board run a tournament with this sort of prize? Was it feasible? For high school players/coaches, do you think it would be the kind of thing you'd want to see a tournaments you run/attend?