2024 COOT: Announcement

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Restitutor27
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2024 COOT: Announcement

Post by Restitutor27 »

I am pleased to announce that for 2024 Oxford University and Cambridge University Quiz Societies will once again be combining forces to produce a housewritten set: Cambridge and Oxford Open Tournament (COOT). I (Abigail Tan) will be head-editing this tournament. The initial UK tournament will take place on 17th February 2024 in Cambridge, and we hope to see the set widely mirrored outside of the UK as well.

Subject Editors (categories are listed primarily by main editor, with significant contributions in other categories noted)

Abigail Tan: Pre-1000 History, 1000-1500 History, Belief, British Literature, Biology (+ Anglophone Literature, Chemistry)
Omer Keskin: European Literature, World/Misc Literature, 1500-1850 History, Philosophy
Delia Cropper: Physics, Other Science, Chemistry (+ Biology)
Rhys Lewis: Pop Culture/Other Academic, Auditory Fine Arts, Other Fine Arts (+ British Literature)
Mehmet Tatoğlu: Geography/Current Affairs, Post-1850 History
Harrison Whitaker: Visual Fine Arts, Anglophone Literature
Linus Luu: Social Science
Madeleine Lay: Auditory Fine Arts

Question Distribution

The set, which will comprise 13 packets, will have the following distribution.

4/4 Science:
1/1 Biology
1/1 Physics (inc. astrophysics)
2/2 "Chemistry and Other Science", broken down over the set as 11/11 Chemistry, 8/8 Maths, 3/3 Computer Science, 2/2 Earth Science, 2/2 Miscellaneous

4/4 Literature:
1/1 British
1/1 European
1/1 Anglophone (Ireland, North America and Oceania)
1/1 World/Misc

4/4 History (sub-subdistributed by geography, and including archaeology and historiography):
1/1 Pre-1000
1/1 1000-1500
1/1 1500-1850
1/1 Post-1850
Note that these periods are rough guidelines rather than a rigid stencil, and some questions will not fit exactly into these categorisations.

3/3 Fine Art:
1/1 Visual Fine Arts
1/1 Auditory Fine Arts
1/1 Other Fine Arts (opera, dance, musicals, jazz, architecture, photography, film)

3/3 Thought:
1/1 Philosophy
1/1 Social Science
1/1 Belief

1/1 Geography and Current Affairs

1/1 Pop Culture and Other Academic

Distributional Changes

We have made a few changes to the distribution from last year. We are changing the history temporal boundaries from 1100/1600/1900 to 1000/1500/1850; the reasoning behind this is to avoid separating as much of the earlier medieval history into a different category if it isn't particularly different in character to slightly later medieval history, and to fit certain topics into a broader "early modern" grouping which we have found creates fewer artificial dividing lines (certain divisions make more sense for certain parts of the world than others, and these boundaries are not set in stone). In addition, though (C)OOTs traditionally have aimed to spread myth content throughout other areas of the distro such as literature, we have also very slightly increased the amount of space in the Belief distribution for "Ancient/Defunct Belief or Mythology" since; these spaces will be used for content such as oral traditions and non-textual older religious practices that cannot easily go elsewhere (with the amount of space in previous tournaments it was often difficult to fit these into the distro), and not for disparate collections of anecdotes from often-contradictory sources.

Difficulty and Question Length

Our aim with the difficulty is similar to previous editions of COOT/OOT (roughly 3 dot). Tossups will be around 7-8 lines long (in 10 point Times New Roman).
We would like to see the set widely mirrored outside of this country as well, and will be looking for hosts (in-person or online) in the future.
Last edited by Restitutor27 on Tue Feb 13, 2024 12:20 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Abigail Tan
University of Cambridge (Mathematics, 2020-2023)
COOT 2023 History Co-Editor, COOT 2024 Head Editor
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Restitutor27
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Re: 2024 COOT: Announcement

Post by Restitutor27 »

An update that with about 2 months to go, the tournament is now 75% written. Signups will open at the end of December (most likely on 29/12).
Abigail Tan
University of Cambridge (Mathematics, 2020-2023)
COOT 2023 History Co-Editor, COOT 2024 Head Editor
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Restitutor27
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Re: 2024 COOT: Announcement

Post by Restitutor27 »

Signups are now open - there is a link to the form on the Facebook event here.
Abigail Tan
University of Cambridge (Mathematics, 2020-2023)
COOT 2023 History Co-Editor, COOT 2024 Head Editor
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Restitutor27
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Re: 2024 COOT: Announcement

Post by Restitutor27 »

Confirmed field list:

Barn, Tawny and Quizb
Historian, Chemist, Both, Neither
People of the Books
Bridge on the River Wear
Alexa Play the Seikilos Epitaph
CRABS
Broken Hearts
For whom the quiz bowls
The Winter of Our Quizcontent
This Charming Manchester
Old London Town
Nosferatu Cinematic Universe
Wangers and Mash
Hornets' Rest
(placeholder)
KCL
Literal Vampire Potbelly Goblins

The schedule can be found under Discussion on the Facebook event page.
Abigail Tan
University of Cambridge (Mathematics, 2020-2023)
COOT 2023 History Co-Editor, COOT 2024 Head Editor
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