2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

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theMoMA
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2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

Post by theMoMA »

ACF is pleased to announce that the 2022 Carper Award winners are Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum! 

Matt's award is a result of the ACF membership's vote. Matt's contributions to college quizbowl are so broad that they're difficult to summarize, but a recurring theme is his integrity. Whether pushing for more tightly controlled regular-difficulty events or a better mix of fun, interesting, and worthwhile answers at higher-difficulty tournaments, helping to grow and sustain the Northeast circuit and mentor younger players, or working toward a common set of rules for quizbowl events, Matt has never been shy about advocating for what he believes or putting in the hard work to help put that vision into practice. With Matt, there's never been a question that he'll follow through on his promises or give you his best effort. That integrity is an extension of the determination that has made Matt one of quizbowl's great champions, leading public advocates, and most respected leaders. I'm glad the ACF membership has recognized Matt with the Carper Award.

Starting two years ago, ACF has empowered a committee of former Carper winners who are also ACF members to select a second winner each year. This year, the committee recognizes Chris Borglum. Few people have had such a long-term impact on the college game. Since 1993, Chris has taught at and coached Valencia Community College; his teams have won NAQT's community college championship nine times, and four of his players have gone on to become professors at Valencia themselves. Since 1997, Chris has produced the Delta Burke Invitational, making it the novice tournament in longest continuous production. Chris remains a stalwart of the open circuit as well; he's attended all but three Chicago Opens and won the event in 2003 with three other players from the Southeast. By directing so much of his energy into the community college circuit, Chris has done as much as anyone to make quizbowl available to students from nontraditional backgrounds, and I'm happy we're recognizing him for that work now.

We will celebrate Matt and Chris at Nationals, along with several past winners who haven't been able to attend in past years because of covid. Please join me in congratulating them for their accomplishments and thanking them for their great work!
Andrew Hart
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Re: 2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

Post by Cheynem »

These are very qualified and impressive winners, and congratulations to both of them. I especially like that Borglum is one of the few people still in quizbowl that can unironically call me a "young person."
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Re: 2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

Post by ValenciaQBowl »

I prefer "whippersnapper," Mike, but thanks for the kind words, and thanks to those former Carper winners who thought I was worthy of joining their ranks. Congratulations to Matt, who is an impressive person to be recognized with. I know it's customary to say that one is "humbled" by such recognition, but this is definitely going to increase my already intolerable levels of positive self regard.
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Re: 2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

Post by Mike Bentley »

Congrats to Matt and Chris!
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Re: 2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

Post by Skepticism and Animal Feed »

You can become a better quizbowl player just by spending 10 minutes with either of these gentlemen. Also a better human being.
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Re: 2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

Post by sonstige »

ValenciaQBowl wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 11:45 am ...this is definitely going to increase my already intolerable levels of positive self regard.
I was mulling posting something for a little while now, but finally wanted to take a moment to point out my appreciation that Chris was recognized here.

When I saw Billy's recent nomination of Chris, I probably should have seconded that (sorry!) --- since not only has Chris contributed amazingly to the world of CC quiz bowl in general, but has been fundamental in promoting quality quiz bowl in the state of Florida beyond just the CC circuit. I would argue that Billy and I, alongside many, many others from FL schools past or present (CC or otherwise) have really benefited from Chris's unwavering commitment to the game and the culture thereof.

Yes, I still remember those summer days when Billy and I would travel to whatever Valencia campus to get extra practices in or simply crash a "Geek Fest" or packet reading / play testing Chris would hold.

For those of y'all that maybe only know Chris from the open circuit or from staffing a nats tournament that he's at (or from his various posts here), I'd highly recommend making the trip down to Orlando for some Valencia event in the future. I imagine that Chris would be more than happy to host you. Just maybe plan it around a season that the Gators are having a winning record at football (joking, kind of --- although 2022 is going to be our year, right?).

And that, to me, is why I'm very much glad to see Chris acknowledged for the work he's done. Good job, committee!

(and of course, I want to congratulate Matt on this award as well --- the contributions he's made to this game and community cannot be understated)

Cheers.
Travis Vitello
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Re: 2022 Carper Award: congratulations Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum!

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

A more complete, but still non-exhaustive, list of thank-yous.

Mom: for everything.
David: for showing that one can be a “facts kid” and an “ideas kid” at the same time.

NAQT, PACE, ACF, HSAPQ (rip), this website: for being core institutions that keep this community going.

Sue Ikenberry, Stephanie Snyder and Evan Smith: for coaching and chaperoning.
Ian Eppler: I’ve never said as much to thank you as I should, and I owe you major apologies for many hurtful things I did say.
The GDS Performing Arts department: for casting me just enough that I could do quizbowl and theater.
Alex Nutman, Casey Ebner, Philip Gasperetti, Oliver Hudson, Alex Jiang, Daniel Brach-Neufeld, Jordan Cahn, Oliver Wellstein, Jared Cowan, Alex West, Adam Frank, Marcus Boorstin: for being teammates and friends.
Various parents: for chaperoning and supervising.
The greater Mid-Atlantic circuit of c. 2008-2010, incl. State College, St. Anselm’s, TJ, Richard Montgomery, Maggie Walker, James Monroe, Wilmington Charter, Caesar Rodney, State College, Walter Johnson, Gonzaga, Walt Whitman, Blake, and Hunter (incl. Graham Moyer, David Liu, Christoph Schlom, Martin McLaughlin, Aidan Mehigan, Matt Bollinger, Jacob Wasserman, Stephen Eltinge, Olivia Murton, Diana Gerr, Siddharth Hariharan, Daniel Hothem, James Bradbury, Chuhern Hwang, Henry Gorman, Sam Luongo, Raynell Cooper, Samantha Reback, Trey Taraila, Daichi Ueda, Kuo-Kai Chin, Ophir Lif, Dan Puma, Daniel Brezina, Doug Graebner, Isaac Hirsch, Guy Tabachnick, Lily Chen, Richard Yu, and York Chen): For being fun to compete against and fun to hang out with.
The era’s renowned coaches, including Julie Gittings, John Barnes, Bill Tressler, Father Meehan, Hajnalka Enzel, Jan Danis, Eric Huff, Jason Flowers, and Chris Fleitas: for supervising the madness, and for believing in not just your own school’s students, but in everyone else’s too.
Matt Weiner, Evan Adams, Janet Berry, and the clubs at Maryland, UVA, VCU, Penn, and Delaware: for anchoring the circuit.

Michael Bilow and Rich Mason (not the Caltech one): for leaving the Yale program in a state for me to step into.
John Lawrence: for showing me what true competence looks like.
Kevin Koai: for being extremely dependable.
Ashvin Srivatsa: for knowing science.
Spence Weinreich: for keeping things in perspective with the intense realness of your reading and scholarship, and for challenging my ideas both in quizbowl and elsewhere.
Sam Spaulding: for your repeated insistence that I “take the online test.”
Grace Liu: for letting me believe in you.
Danila Kabotyanski, Denise Alfonso, Linna Duan, Isaac Park, Stephen Leh, David Steinberg, Daniel Berenson, Kevin Lai, Matt Hoffer-Hawlik, Stewart McDonald, Ben Horowitz, Michael Garn, Robert Batista, Damian Stobierski, Jacob Wasserman, Basil Smitham, Anthony Tokman, Rain Tsong, Daniel Lee, Nicholas Wawrykow, Haohang Xu, Fred Muth, Alex Tafur: for being teammates and friends.
Ivy Noodle, Yorkside Pizza: for tolerating "post-practice food" sessions.
The c. 2010-2014 squads at UVA, Minnesota, Penn, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, and Chicago, and the legitimate players of Harvard and MIT (incl. Matt Bollinger, Evan Adams, Tommy Casalaspi, David Seal, Dennis Loo, Daniel Hothem, Andrew Hart, Rob Carson, Gautam Kandlikar, Mike Cheyne, Eric Mukherjee, Saajid Moyen, Patrick Liao, Chris Chiego, Mike Sorice, Ike Jose, Aaron Rosenberg, Billy Busse, Austin Listerud, Kurtis Droge, Libo Zeng, Will Nediger, Saul Hankin, SteveJon Guth, Brian McPeak, Dan Puma, Chris Manners, Jordan Browstein, Selene Koo, Marshall Steinbaum, Sam Bailey, Daichi Ueda, Charles Tian, John Lawrence, Max Schindler, Dallas Simons, Ted Gioia, Stephen Liu, Andy Dibble, Graham Moyer, David Liu, Will Holub-Moorman, Mark Arildsen, Sriram Pendyala, Neil Gurram, Stephen Eltinge): for intense competition in-game and immense cooperation out-of-game.
Stephen Eltinge and MIT: for your excellent work to help revive the high school and collegiate circuits in the Northeast.
Eric Mukherjee: for being a Friend of YSAC at a rough time for the program, for co-shouldering the madness of #NHBBlitz, and for modeling what genuine atonement to this community can look like, to a degree that I don't recall anyone else doing before.

Matt Bollinger -- my “Aaron Burr, sir”, the Gary Oak to my Ash(vin) Ketchum: for pushing me to my limits, for your empathy toward the challenges of being so pushed, for calling me out when warranted, and for modeling a way to be great at the game and good to other people, two traits that need not trade off with one another. Looking forward to playing again soon.

Maggie Speak, Corina Nusu, Aimee Seligstein, and Glenn Kagan: for taking a chance on me.
Ken Jennings, Bob Harris, Ben Ingram, Arthur Chu, the staff of J-Archive, and Anki: for strategy advice.
Everyone who watched: for watching.

Fred Morlan, Dennis Loo, Grace Liu, Charlie Dees, Tanay Kothari, Bruce Arthur, Danielle Arthur, Will Alston, and JinAh Kim, among others: for staying in touch and/or getting back in touch.

Joon Pahk, Will Nediger, Nate Cardin, Evan Birnholz, Andy Kravis, and David Plotkin: for welcoming me to CrossWorld.
David Steinberg, Diyang Tang, “Team Emoji,” Mark Halpin, and Benji Nguyen: for welcoming me to puzzle hunting. (It is also interesting to see a certain other person excel at this activity, in which Googling and Web scraping are explicitly allowed.)
Andy Kravis, Liz Maynes-Aminzade, and Sara Ries of The New Yorker: for bringing pyramidality to its widest audience yet.
Shayne Bushfield, Steve Bahnaman, Brian Lipinski, Mehrun Etebari, Mark May, Marty Butterick, O’Brien’s Irish Pub, G. Paul Bailey, Lee Ann Whitlock, Lynn Yu, the British Quiz Association, Will Jones: for hosting events that reward knowledge and thinking.

DARPA, Tim Berners-Lee, and Al Gore: for the Internet, about which I am sorry.

You: for being part of this community and contributing something unique to it. I hope you enjoy your time here.
Matt Jackson
University of Chicago '24
Yale '14, Georgetown Day School '10
member emeritus, ACF
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