2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Old college threads.
Locked
User avatar
armitage
Wakka
Posts: 196
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:52 pm

2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by armitage »

This is the official announcement for ACF Fall 2015. The tournament will be happening the weekend of November 7, 2015.

Editors
Richard Yu and Gaurav Kandlikar will be overseeing the production of the set.

This year, we introduced open applications for ACF Fall editorship. The application was found at the open call for editors thread, which is located here.

The set will be edited by Joey Goldman (University of Oxford), Eddie Kim, Dylan Minarik (Northwestern University), Ryan Rosenberg (University of North Carolina), Andrew Wang (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), and Nathan Weiser (Stanford University).

Changes in Packet Submission
Last year, teams were given the option of writing half-packets instead of full packets, in order to give more teams the opportunity to have their questions used, and reduce the glut of unused questions sent in past years. This year, the full packet option will be removed, and half-packets will be mandatory for packet-submitting teams. Discounts will also be adjusted accordingly. As before, half-packet distributions will be assigned by the editors to each team. The intent of this change is to further cut down on unused submissions.

Hosting
New England: Yale University
Mid-Atlantic: University of Pennsylvania
South: University of North Carolina
Southeast: University of Florida
Texas: Rice University
Southern California: The Claremont Colleges
Northern California: Stanford University
Upper Midwest: University of Minnesota
Great Lakes: Northwestern University
Lower Midwest: University of Louisville
Great Plains: Kansas State University
Canada: University of Toronto
United Kingdom: University of Warwick

High School Sites
Northern Illinois University
University of Maryland
Bellarmine College Preparatory (Sunday, November 8)
Yale University

Beginning this year, high school teams are not eligible to participate in ACF tournaments, including ACF Fall, that are designated as collegiate mirrors. In regions with enough demand, we are interested in continuing to provide the Fall set for High School-only mirrors.

Packet Submission
Any team with at least one person on it who played a regular, collegiate, academic quizbowl tournament prior to September 1, 2014 is required to submit a packet, unless it is a high school team attending a high school-only mirror. Starting this year, high school players are exempt from this definition and pay fees as determined by their site hosts.

All submitting teams will be assigned a half-packet distribution upon registration, using this form. The assigned distribution is non-negotiable.

Please submit packets to [email protected] and use “ACF Fall 2015: [Team Name]” in the subject line.

Submission schedule
Please refer to the below submission schedule:

11.59 PM PST September 13: -$30
11.59 PM PST September 27: -$15 (-$30 if optional)
11.59 PM PST October 11: no penalty (-$15 if optional)
11.59 PM PST October 18: +$25
11.59 PM PST October 25: +$50
After October 25: +$10/day until October 31; teams who are required to submit a packet and do not submit one by November 1 will not be allowed to play.

Fees
Base fee: $120 for one team from a school, $240 for two teams from a school, etc.
Buzzer systems*: -$5 each
Staffers: -$10 each No maximum.
Laptop: -$5 each Maximum 1 per team.
Travel: -$10 per 200 miles traveled one way
International**: -$20
New to ACF teams***: -$25
New quizbowl teams****: -$75

* No discount for broken buzzers; no maximum.
** For teams representing schools located in a different country than the tournament host.
*** For schools which haven't played an ACF tournament between September 2013 and August 2015, and have no one on the team(s) claiming this discount who played those tournaments for another school.
**** For schools which did not send a team to any regular collegiate academic tournament since September 2013, and have no one on the team(s) claiming this discount who played those tournaments for another school. May be combined with new ACF team discount for a total new-team discount of $100.

Packet Penalties
We have clear guidelines on what your submissions can or cannot be, with information on penalties for flouting the guidelines. Please follow them. We will enforce penalties.

Friendly Reminders
Please follow the processes and guidelines laid out by the editors and ACF.
Don't talk about your submitted questions with anyone else until the editors tell you it's okay.
Please follow past iterations of ACF Fall, e.g. the 2008, 2009, 2012 versions, for an idea of what your submissions should be like.
If you think a particular topic you want to write on is too hard, it probably is. Write on something easier.

If you have any other questions, please contact us at [email protected].


Credit to Gautam Kandlikar for the majority of this announcement.
Last edited by armitage on Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:46 pm, edited 7 times in total.
Richard
gaurav.kandlikar
Forums Staff: Moderator
Posts: 290
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:12 am

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by gaurav.kandlikar »

If you plan to submit a bid to host a mirror of this tournament, please email us at [email protected] before Saturday, August 8th. Bids will be evaluated as they arrive, and we reserve the right to award bids before the deadline. If you would like to bid, we encourage you to do so sooner rather than later -- at the very least, drop us a line ASAP indicating your intent to submit bid.

We hope to have most sites lined up by mid-August.

Thanks.
Gaurav Kandlikar
UCLA
Member of ACF and PACE
Urech hydantoin synthesis
Tidus
Posts: 525
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 3:35 pm

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Urech hydantoin synthesis »

When can teams start getting half packet assignments? The first deadline is in pretty much exactly a month.
Ben Zhang

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell '23
Columbia University '18
Ladue Horton Watkins HS '14
User avatar
armitage
Wakka
Posts: 196
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:52 pm

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by armitage »

christino wrote:When can teams start getting half packet assignments? The first deadline is in pretty much exactly a month.
The registration form is now included in the announcement, under "Packet Submission".
Richard
User avatar
armitage
Wakka
Posts: 196
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:52 pm

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by armitage »

In light of recent discussions, we have decided to make these changes to the policy for high school participation in ACF Fall.

- High school teams will not be required to submit packets regardless of their history of playing in collegiate tournaments.
- Packets submitted by high school teams will not be accepted.
- ACF will offer the completed set for high school mirrors at a cost of $25 per team in attendance. Hosts will be free to set their own fees and discounts.

We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause teams already in the writing process. Please reach out to us if you have any concerns.
Richard
gaurav.kandlikar
Forums Staff: Moderator
Posts: 290
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:12 am

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by gaurav.kandlikar »

The fields for each site can be viewed here. Navigate between sites using the tabs at the bottom.

While I'm at it, there is now one week left until the first packet submission deadline! Looking forward to receiving your packets.
Gaurav Kandlikar
UCLA
Member of ACF and PACE
User avatar
armitage
Wakka
Posts: 196
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:52 pm

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by armitage »

This post will be updated with the list of packets received prior to 11:59 PM Pacific on the date given.

Sunday, 9/13/15: (-$30 deadline) 24 packets

Berkeley A
Berkeley B
California Polytechnic
Central Connecticut State
Central Oklahoma
Dartmouth A
Clemson
UGA A
UGA C
Lawrence A
Louisiana Tech A
McGill A
MIT A
Oxford A
Oxford B
Penn State A
Rochester A
Rutgers A
UCSD A
UCSD B
VCU A
Virginia A
Waterloo A
Waterloo B


Sunday, 9/27/15: (-$15 deadline) 10 packets

Johns Hopkins A
UC Irvine A
Berkeley F
Cambridge A
WUSTL A
Boston College (-$30)
South Carolina A
VCU B
UCLA B (-$30)
Berkeley D (-$30)

Sunday, 10/11/15: (no penalty deadline) 26 packets

SEMO
McMaster (Jay)
McMaster A
Eureka College
Georgetown A
Wofford A
Carnegie Mellon
Texas A&M A
Iowa State B
UL Lafayette
Ohio State A
Cornell A
Cornell B
Columbia B
Liberty A
Liberty B
Wright State A
Kentucky A
Kentucky B
Kentucky C
Vassar
Virginia Tech A
Virginia Tech B
NMU
Illinois
Virginia B
Chicago A
Berkeley E (-$15)

Sunday, 10/18/15: (+$25 deadline) 8 packets

Duke A
Michigan State A
RPI
Michigan A
MIT B
Chicago D
Edinburgh
Iowa State A

Sunday, 10/25/15: (+$50 deadline) 9 packets

Texas A
Wright State B
NYU A
Alabama A
Ottawa
Rochester B
NIU A
Tulane A
Amherst

Tuesday, 10/27/15:

Vermont

Wednesday, 10/28/15:

Central Florida
Case Western
Michigan State B

Friday, 10/30/15:

Cambridge B
Princeton B
Princeton A
Carleton A
New College of Florida

Saturday, 10/31/15:

Miami
Columbia A
Last edited by armitage on Thu Nov 05, 2015 4:13 am, edited 22 times in total.
Richard
User avatar
Habitat_Against_Humanity
Rikku
Posts: 476
Joined: Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:51 pm
Location: Syracuse, NY

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Habitat_Against_Humanity »

Are the fields usually this sparse at the first deadline? It seems like there's a good number of mirror sites with very few signups.Just kind of curious. I know it's early in the year, which might be some of it, especially for quarter-system teams
Rachel
UChicago 09
User avatar
armitage
Wakka
Posts: 196
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:52 pm

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by armitage »

I imagine people are just being more cautious about signing up their teams when they aren't sure what the rosters will be, which is perhaps an unwanted side effect of the half-packet system.

--------------------------------------

Additionally, the following change was made to the announcement:

"11.59 PM PST October 11: no penalty (-$15 if optional)"

This originally read "(-$25 if optional)", but it should always have been -$15 to match the normal discount for the previous deadline. Hopefully interested parties have enough time to adjust.
Richard
gaurav.kandlikar
Forums Staff: Moderator
Posts: 290
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:12 am

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by gaurav.kandlikar »

We had 91 registrations before 14 September last year. We have 90 registrations as of this post on 13 September. Some mirrors might have fewer teams, but on the whole this is shaping up to be another exciting year for ACF Fall.

That said, we do hope that hosts are proactively contacting regional programs and are happy to help hosts with this process.

Looking forward to getting a few more submissions tonight!
Gaurav Kandlikar
UCLA
Member of ACF and PACE
gaurav.kandlikar
Forums Staff: Moderator
Posts: 290
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:12 am

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by gaurav.kandlikar »

A few formatting reminders, copied over from last year's announcement:
A couple of things to keep in mind as you finish up your submission:
1. Make sure you follow the Half-packet distribution we have assigned you.
2. Follow the ACF Formatting guidelines (link).
If your submission strays far from these guidelines, we will return it to you and ask that you re-send us a well formatted submission. These are the most common offenses:
a. Don't randomize your submission.
b. Group questions by category. That is, 5 lit tossups, then 5 lit bonuses; then 5/5 of history, then 5/5 of science, ...
c. Don't number your questions.
d. Write in TNR, size 10, 1 inch margins.
If you'd like to see an example of a well-formatted submission, drop us a line.
3. Include your team name and the names of all players who wrote questions for the packet at the top of your submission. E.g.
Berkeley A wrote: ACF Fall 2014
Packet by Berkeley A (Ankit Aggarwal, Lukas Vlahos, Ilyas Bayramov, Benjamin Gammage)
Gaurav Kandlikar
UCLA
Member of ACF and PACE
User avatar
Habitat_Against_Humanity
Rikku
Posts: 476
Joined: Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:51 pm
Location: Syracuse, NY

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Habitat_Against_Humanity »

gaurav.kandlikar wrote:We had 91 registrations before 14 September last year. We have 90 registrations as of this post on 13 September. Some mirrors might have fewer teams, but on the whole this is shaping up to be another exciting year for ACF Fall.

That said, we do hope that hosts are proactively contacting regional programs and are happy to help hosts with this process.

Looking forward to getting a few more submissions tonight!
Cool; I guess it's just all in my head then.
Rachel
UChicago 09
User avatar
Japanophilus Maximus
Lulu
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 3:00 am
Location: Sarasota, FL
Contact:

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Japanophilus Maximus »

I apologize for the stupid question, but is NAQT CCCT considered a regular collegiate tournament?

Edit: Nevermind, I found the information. <3
Naimul Chowdhury
New College of Florida '17
State College of Florida - Manatee '15
Self-projected CCCT All-Star of 2015 [Actually accomplished!]
User avatar
Gautam
Auron
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:28 pm
Location: Zone of Avoidance
Contact:

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Gautam »

All registered teams can expect an update about payments by EOD Friday.

-Gautam
Gautam - ACF
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.
User avatar
Gautam
Auron
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:28 pm
Location: Zone of Avoidance
Contact:

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Gautam »

Gautam wrote:All registered teams can expect an update about payments by EOD Friday.

-Gautam
Hi folks-

My apologies I haven't gotten this info out yet. Just haven't had a chance to work out a PO box arrangement, but I promise it will be done tomorrow. You can expect invoices over email beginning this weekend.

Thanks,
Gautam
Gautam - ACF
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.
User avatar
Gautam
Auron
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:28 pm
Location: Zone of Avoidance
Contact:

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Gautam »

Many teams should have received emails with a link to the invoice. If you have not, then we're either expecting packets from you or I just have not been able to enter your org's details into our new system. I'll continue to work on the invoices over the next few days, so you should expect it soon. If there are any questions about the invoice itself, please get in touch with me at [email protected].

If you have any updates to your registration itself, please continue to email the Tournament Director for your site and also keep your editors ([email protected]) in the know.

-Gautam
Gautam - ACF
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.
User avatar
Gautam
Auron
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:28 pm
Location: Zone of Avoidance
Contact:

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Gautam »

All team contacts should have received the following email as of a couple of minutes ago. If you didn't get it, just email me at [email protected]
I, in my email, wrote:
Team contacts to BCC
Editors to CC


Hi-

This is a long email, please bear with me. I will post a copy of the email on the ACF Fall announcement thread so you can always reference it in the future.

If you are receiving this email you are listed as a team contact for your team for ACF Fall 2015. I am the ACF treasurer Gautam Kandlikar. Please note: Many of you may have my private email address, I'm requesting that if you need to get in touch with me, use [email protected] for all communications.

First of all, thank you for signing up to play. We have 179 teams signed up, which is awesome! If you have any questions about signing up more teams, please reach out to your editors (who are CCd). The editors are putting in a ton of great effort, and I think you will really like the tournament when you play it in November.

I wanted to write to you about how payments are going to work this year. So if you have any questions about that, I hope this email clears. If you still have further questions, please reply to this email.

Canada/UK teams: The below may not apply to you. I will be emailing you separately about payments.

W9
If your institution requires that vendors fill out a W9 for reimbursement, please let me know ASAP. If you are not sure what this is, please talk to your club advisor or a representative from your student group/activities admin.

Invoices
We have fancy new invoices for ACF Fall and future ACF tournaments. About half the universities and schools registered should have received an invoice. For the rest of the teams - you should be receiving these over the next few days. If you need one ASAP just drop me an email.

If there is anything wrong in your invoice, or you notice any errors, just send me an email. I'll fix it and send you a new link.

If you need a physical invoice, you should be able to print one out from the link in your email. If you are not able to do that, drop me a line and we will work it out.

Payment formats
Old school checks sent via snail-mail are best for now. All checks should be made payable to "Academic Competition Federation" and mailed to the Houston, TX address listed on the top left of the invoice.

I've heard from a few teams that electronic payments are more convenient. If you are in the same boat, please drop me an email stating your preference.

Receipt of payment

If you need a receipt, just let me know via email, and we can arrange that.

Other questions?
If there are any other questions you about payments, or would like to work out the details for your payment arrangements... you know the drill: drop me an email at [email protected]

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy ACF Fall!
Gautam - ACF
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.
User avatar
Gautam
Auron
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:28 pm
Location: Zone of Avoidance
Contact:

Re: 2015 ACF Fall Global Announcement

Post by Gautam »

Hi, all teams attending a mirror in the US (excepting a couple of HS teams) should have received an invoice or an estimate for the fees in their inbox at this point.

The teams attending the Canada and UK mirrors can expect to receive some more instructions about payments by EOD today.

As always, please email me at [email protected] with any questions. Also, you can call me Gautam, no need to call me 'Mr. Kandlikar.' :smile:
Gautam - ACF
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.
Locked