NAQT statement about recent ethics violations by a high school player

[Important Bird Area]

NAQT would like to inform the community that we have recently discovered evidence of ethical violations committed by a current high school player.

This player sent pseudonymous emails to the leadership of their own high school team, falsely claiming to be an NAQT representative and encouraging team leadership to add the player to the team's roster for the 2020 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament.

The same email address was used in attempts to acquire question sets used in upcoming tournaments. The author of these emails used multiple pseudonyms and made at least three false claims about their state of residence. The question sets involved included the 2019 NAQT Small School National Championship Tournament set and two non-NAQT sets. To the best of our knowledge, the author of these emails did not succeed in acquiring any of these sets; as a result, NAQT has not forfeited any game outcomes in reaction to this incident.

The player involved in these ethics violations has been permanently banned from playing, staffing, and coaching at NAQT events. In light of the circumstances of the case, including the age of the player, we have decided not to release the player's name publicly at this time. NAQT is privately providing various other quiz bowl organizations with information about this case, including the player's name. It is very reassuring that in all known cases, tournament organizers did not send out copies of live question sets, but we consider it worth posting this notice to remind the community to remain vigilant against this form of misconduct. If you have questions about our response to this incident or additional relevant information to share, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].