The goal is to write a high-quality regular-difficulty (3 on Ophir's scale) set each year, and for the set to be mainly written by newer writers. In other words, we want to provide an annual opportunity for newer writers to get experience with and detailed feedback on regular-difficulty questions, and for quizbowlers to get experience working on administration, logistics and finances.
We welcome participants in high school and above. Writers should expect to contribute a minimum of 5 tossups and 5 bonuses to the set.
Applications are now closed; those still interested in working on the set or future iterations can contact us via email below.
The Team (Spring 2020)
Logistics: Alex Damisch
Literature: Olivia Lamberti
History: Jakob Myers
Science: Adam Fine (chem, physics), Kevin Wang (bio, other)
Arts: Jacob Reed
Religion: Jacob Reed
Philosophy: Jacob Reed
Social Science: Will Holub-Moorman
Geography/Other: Jakob Myers
Other Academic: Will Holub-Moorman
The Set
14 packets plus tiebreakers
Length caps: 7 line tossups (before powermark), 8 line bonuses (not including answerlines)
Distribution
4/4 Literature: American, British, European, World
4/4 History: American, European, World, Ancient/Archaeology/Other
4/4 Science: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Other
3/3 Arts: visual, audio, other
1/1 “Legends” including at least .5/.5 traditional “religion”
1/1 Philosophy
.5/.5 Other Religion
1.5/1.5 Social Science
1/1 Other (roughly two-thirds geography and current events
Payment Structure
We will set aside 25% of all proceeds for set-wide work: dealing with mirrors, keeping track of payments, billing hosts, proofreading, packetizing, wrangling writers (enforcing deadlines) etc.
For questions, we'll use a “points system”:
- 5 points given out per tossup, 4 points per bonus
- 2 point to the writer for writing a tossup, 1 point for a bonus
- 1 point to the writer if the question needs minimal editing (roughly: “25% or less of question text needs replacement” with some discretion)
- 1 point per question to the writer if they consistently make life easier for the editors (writing a lot, writing on time)
- The remaining points will go to the editor of that question
Conservatively, we expect to be able to pay about $5 per question, so responsible, good writers will receive $3.75 per question, while editors who have to put major work in would also make $3.75 per question. (It's likely that payments will be higher than this!)
Planned Timeline
We anticipate having all question-writing done by Thanksgiving, and the set completed by SCT. We will accept writer applications until all question slots are claimed.
Questions? Concerns?
You can reach us at [email protected]