2020 NASAT Call for writers and editors

[The Sawing-Off of Manhattan Island]

Hello! Since I'll be head editing this year's NASAT, I wanted to put out a post for anyone interested in writing or editing for the 2020 IQBT NASAT set. Note that to be eligible to write, you must have graduated high school. If you are planning on coaching or organizing a main site NASAT team, you should not apply for these positions. More specific instructions are below:

(Please send all emails to me at 18vshanmugam dot stem at gmail dot com.)

Writers:
-If you have written for a previous NASAT, just send me an email expressing interest and indicating which NASAT you wrote for.

-If you this is your first time writing for a NASAT - no worries! Please send me an email consisting of your name, affiliation(s), any previous question writing experience, and 2-3 collegiate regular difficulty tossups or bonuses that you have not shown to anyone else (i.e. questions that could conceivably used in this year's NASAT.) Aim for 750 characters or less for tossups, and 2-3 line bonuses. Don't consider this a tryout - this is simply to demonstrate a soft commitment to writing for the set and limit the number of writers who have access to questions but do not write. If this is a major problem, please let me know - I don't want this to be a barrier for an interested writer who is busy at the moment!

-If you are interested in writing chemistry, physics, mathematics, or economics, those categories will receive a bonus per question written due to a typically constrained writer pool, so you are doubly encouraged to apply. Note however that this year's mathematics distribution will be much lower than previous years.

Prospective Editors:

-Please email me your name, affiliation(s), previous question writing and editing experience, which categories you are interested in editing along with at least one sample question in each subcategory, and any major time commitments you have between now and NASAT's main site (roughly late June.) If you plan on applying, please at least inform me by December 1st, by which time I'll begin deciding the finalized editor team. Since the mathematics distribution will be lower this year, I don't anticipate there being a separate math editor.

I'm excited to get to work on this set this year, and I hope we'll get a vibrant and fun writing and editing team! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me over email or otherwise and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

[The Sawing-Off of Manhattan Island]

Just a reminder - if you're interested in editing for this set please get an application in by the end of the day this Sunday, December 1st. If this date is problematic for you, please reach out and let me know when you can get something in by. If you're interested in applying to write, feel free to get an application in after this - I don't anticipate setting a hard cut-off date for that.

[The Sawing-Off of Manhattan Island]

Hey all,

After talking to some people, I've decided to change the deadline for editor applications to one week from now, December 8th. Additionally, since a lot of people had problems offering sample questions due to this being a busy writing season, I'm going to make sample questions (for editor positions only) optional - just link me to previous work you've done. If you did end up submitting sample questions or have written some up, that'll only look better on your application, but if you haven't, don't worry about it.