ACF Nationals 2020: August 8-9, Northwestern [CANCELLED]

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ACF Nationals 2020: August 8-9, Northwestern [CANCELLED]

Post by ryanrosenberg »

NOTE: Due to the ongoing outbreak of novel coronavirus, ACF Nationals 2020 has been cancelled.

ACF Nationals 2020 will be held August 8-9 at Northwestern University. I will be reprising my role as TD from last year's tournament.

COVID-19 Precautions
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ACF cannot guarantee that holding ACF Nationals on the currently scheduled date will be advisable. We strongly recommend that teams refrain from booking non-refundable travel or hotels until closer to the tournament date, in case the tournament needs to be rescheduled again.

Editing
This tournament will be head-edited by Ryan Westbrook and Matthew Bollinger, with support from Derek So, Jennie Yang, Eric Mukherjee, and Jerry Vinokurov.

Eligibility
Information on who is eligible to play ACF tournaments and details regarding packet submission can be found on the ACF website under Guidelines.

Qualification
This tournament will use the A-value qualification system, an explanation of which can be found here. Hosts of ACF Regionals 2020 should send information about the teams that receive bids to [email protected].

Packet Submission
The editors of ACF Nationals are planning on writing 12 packets this year. Like the past two ACF Nationals, packet submission will be optional for ACF Nationals this year. The editors of ACF Nationals will work with teams interested in submitting to arrange packet submission, looking to get around 15 submissions for 10 total submitted packets. Please fill out this form if you would like to submit a packet. Packets should be sent to [email protected].

The distribution for ACF Nationals submitted packets is posted on the ACF website.

Finalized tossups for 2020 ACF Nationals will be capped at 8 lines in 10 point Times New Roman. However, this cap does not apply to submissions; submitting teams are allowed and encouraged to submit longer tossups.

Like previous years:
ACF Nationals 2019 announcement wrote:Under this arrangement, packet submission will not be mandatory, but we're counting on teams capable of writing quality packets to work with us to ensure that we have enough submissions to edit the tournament. If we can't be sure that we'll have enough packets to make this work, we'll consider other options.
Additionally, if you submit a packet before registering for the tournament and subsequently do not attend ACF Nationals, whether because you do not qualify or because you choose not to attend, that packet can still be used for ACF Nationals. The discount the packet would have earned will roll over to the next ACF tournament that the school sends a team to. If the discount is greater than $70 (ACF's share of tournament fees), it can be spread among multiple teams from the same school, or the difference between $70 and the amount of the discount can be rolled over to a further tournament. Rolling over a discount does not preclude submitting a packet for the next ACF tournament, should that be required.

Fee Schedule
The base fee for ACF Nationals 2020 is $350.
  • -$100 packet submission discount: packet submitted by Sunday, January 19
  • -$50 packet submission discount: packet submitted by Sunday, February 23
  • -$25 packet submission discount: packet submitted by Sunday, May 3
  • Buzzer discount: -$10 per working system
  • Staffer discount: -$100 for each staffer capable of reading a round in 35 minutes or less
All packet submission deadlines are at 11:59pm Central Time on the given day. We will continue to offer an additional $50 dollar discount to any team that submits a packet with almost all questions usable with little to no editing.

Field Size
The field for ACF Nationals 2020 is 48 teams.

Staffing
If you would like to staff ACF Nationals, please send an email both to [email protected] and [email protected] with the subject line "ACF Nationals staffing".
Last edited by ryanrosenberg on Thu May 07, 2020 2:38 pm, edited 11 times in total.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by Cheynem »

But WHICH one of the Twin Cities????????
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by ryanrosenberg »

Cheynem wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2019 6:26 pm But WHICH one of the Twin Cities????????
Minneapolis, not Chicago.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by Carlos Be »

Will ACF Nationals 2020 target the same difficulty as last year?
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

justinfrench1728 wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:34 pm Will ACF Nationals 2020 target the same difficulty as last year?
We're targeting Nationals-level difficulty, but we're consciously aiming to rein in the bonuses and middle clues relative to the past few years. The goal is to allow for more buzzes in the middle of tossups while still providing an adequate challenge.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by ryanrosenberg »

The announcement has been updated with details on packet submission and the fee schedule for ACF Nationals 2020.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by ryanrosenberg »

Finalized tossups for 2020 ACF Nationals will be capped at 8 lines in 10 point Times New Roman. However, this cap does not apply to submissions; submitting teams are allowed and encouraged to submit longer tossups.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by ryanrosenberg »

I've updated the first post with a link to the ACF distribution page, which contains the distribution teams should be referencing when writing packets.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

Hey folks, just a reminder that the first packet deadline is a week from today. Make sure to get them in if you want that -$100 discount!
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by ryanrosenberg »

The editing structure for ACF Nationals has changed slightly; it will now be co-head edited by Ryan Westbrook and Matthew Bollinger.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

First submissions have come in! I'll keep a running list of packets in this post:

$-100
Columbia
Berkeley A
Chicago B
Minnesota A

$-50
Chicago A
UC Davis A
Florida A
Michigan A
OSU A
Last edited by The King's Flight to the Scots on Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by person361 »

According to the ACF website, this year the calculation for the Strength of Schedule component of A-value uses opponents' points per tossup heard. If this is correct, it's a very welcome adjustment. I'm glad that ACF made this change after last year's discussion!
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by ryanrosenberg »

I've edited the announcement with a link that teams can use to book hotel rooms in ACF's group block at the Hampton Inn & Suites Minneapolis University Area
.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by ryanrosenberg »

A reminder that teams that initially qualified have until 11:59pm Central on Saturday, February 15th to accept or decline their bids to ACF Nationals. After that deadline, all bids will be automatically declined and released to the waitlist.

Additionally, I've added ACF's policy on late drops from ACF Nationals to the first post; it is substantially similar to the policy from last year.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

Hi all,

ACF would like all teams to know that it is taking stock of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and monitoring the situation as it develops. We've also emailed teams to solicit their perspectives on the outbreak as it affects ACF Nationals. Currently, the plan is to go ahead with the event as scheduled; we will of course implement measures to hold as sanitary a tournament as we can, per recommendations from the CDC and the World Health Organization. In case the situation changes such that we can't hold Nationals as originally planned, we're working on finding a backup site and date that will be as convenient as possible to all teams.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by Cheynem »

(I am not part of ACF, am not running Nationals, and do not plan on being at Nationals)

As a faculty member at the U of Minnesota, I received an e-mail from the university president this weekend stating that the university is monitoring all situations, forming plans, but at this point has not formally advised things like halting the funding of domestic travel or cancelling classes. If you would like more information, https://safe-campus.umn.edu/faq-informa ... -and-staff is a good resource that explains in more detail what the president's e-mail was. At least from the university's end, barring major changes in Minnesota, I do not anticipate campus closures or the forcing of the event to be cancelled (by the school--ACF deciding to do so because of impacts on other schools is another matter altogether).
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

ACF would like to advise teams who haven't booked travel yet to hold off on doing so for now.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

Thank you to all teams that have provided us information and feedback by email. Unfortunately, due to concerns over the continuing spread of coronavirus, ACF has decided to postpone Nationals. We still fully plan on holding this event on a later, safer date - look out for an announcement of a new date, along with other important details, next week. For now, we would like to say that we are sorry for all teams affected by this change in plans, but we believe it's the best decision for the safety of participants.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota: POSTPONED

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

Also, since the original $-25 deadline is coming up: we'll be extending the submission deadline now that the tournament is postponed, look out for that next week.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota: POSTPONED

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

We've sent teams a survey regarding potential dates for a rescheduled ACF Nationals. We're currently looking into dates in late July and early August, as well as other potentially viable contingency plans.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota: POSTPONED

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

Hi all,

In order to allow the editors to complete Nationals in a timely fashion, I'm setting the new $-25 deadline at May 3, 2020. We still need more packets, so please submit by then!
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota: POSTPONED

Post by Kouign Amann »

Are we getting close to a definite idea about a new date? I'm sure I'm not the only one who got an email from United yesterday reminding me that I'll have to change or cancel my ticket soon if I don't want to lose it.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota: POSTPONED

Post by Mike Bentley »

Kouign Amann wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:13 pm Are we getting close to a definite idea about a new date? I'm sure I'm not the only one who got an email from United yesterday reminding me that I'll have to change or cancel my ticket soon if I don't want to lose it.
I believe most airlines these days let you cancel without a penalty so long as you rebook within a year or so. Given that ACF Nationals is definitely not happening in April, it would seem prudent to cancel now and get the credit. If there doesn't end up being an ACF Nationals 2020 you can at least save it for ACF Nationals 2021 (although this would be non-ideal for people whose eligibility runs out this year).
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota: POSTPONED

Post by Kouign Amann »

Mike Bentley wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:29 pm
Kouign Amann wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:13 pm Are we getting close to a definite idea about a new date? I'm sure I'm not the only one who got an email from United yesterday reminding me that I'll have to change or cancel my ticket soon if I don't want to lose it.
I believe most airlines these days let you cancel without a penalty so long as you rebook within a year or so. Given that ACF Nationals is definitely not happening in April, it would seem prudent to cancel now and get the credit. If there doesn't end up being an ACF Nationals 2020 you can at least save it for ACF Nationals 2021 (although this would be non-ideal for people whose eligibility runs out this year).
Right, yes, but staffers were asked in an email from going on three weeks ago to please hold off on doing anything until more info was announced, and most people's original flights are scheduled for just over two weeks from now. I'll do my own thing if I have to, but I thought I'd check in to see if the promised update is coming soon.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: 4/18-19, University of Minnesota: POSTPONED

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

Kouign Amann wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:45 pm Right, yes, but staffers were asked in an email from going on three weeks ago to please hold off on doing anything until more info was announced, and most people's original flights are scheduled for just over two weeks from now. I'll do my own thing if I have to, but I thought I'd check in to see if the promised update is coming soon.
Apologies for the delay here; we are (and have been) working on it and should have a response soon.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: August 8-9, Northwestern

Post by ryanrosenberg »

2020 ACF Nationals has been rescheduled to August 8-9 at Northwestern University. The feasibility of this rescheduled date is still tentative due to the ongoing pandemic, and teams and staff have been instructed to not make concrete plans for attending ACF Nationals on this weekend until the prospective public health situation becomes more clear.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: August 8-9, Northwestern

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

Given ongoing developments in the COVID-19 situation, ACF is cancelling 2020 ACF Nationals. We are sorry to all teams affected that the August postponement was not feasible. More information will be forthcoming soon. For now, please do not spoil any questions from submitted packets, since we would like to give teams the option to resubmit for Nationals 2021.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: August 8-9, Northwestern [CANCELLED]

Post by Aaron's Rod »

In the interest of keeping announcement threads tidy, I've split subsequent discussion about cancelling ACF Nationals to this thread.
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Re: ACF Nationals 2020: August 8-9, Northwestern [CANCELLED]

Post by The King's Flight to the Scots »

Just as a reminder: again, please do not share any content from your submitted packets. This isn't set yet, but we'd like to work out a way for you to be able to resubmit.
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