National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC is pleased to announce the availability of questions for high school tournaments for the 2008-2009 competition year. NAQT hopes that high schools, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities will consider running high school tournaments, all of which will serve as qualifiers for the 2009 High School National Championship Tournament.

NAQT has sample packets from all of its kinds of packet sets available.

If you are interested in hosting a high school tournament using NAQT questions, here are the steps to follow:

1. Decide on a date, name, and contact person for the tournament. Among other things, you will want to schedule around other tournaments in the same state, SAT/ACT testing dates, and homecoming.
2. Decide on the geographic exclusivity for your tournament. If this isn't clear, feel free to contact NAQT for advice--we realize that the rules seem quite complicated.
3. Decide on whether the tournament will be an Official NAQT Event or an Unofficial NAQT Event. The requirements placed on you as a host are different in each case.
4. Decide whether you would prefer a regular invitational series (15 packets) or an A-level series (12 packets). The A-level series have easier and shorter questions and are targeted at early-year tournaments, tournaments for less experienced players, or tournaments with many teams that are new to the NAQT format.
5. Contact NAQT with the above information either by e-mail at hosting@naqt.com, by fax at 413.473.1617, or by phone at 1.888.411.6278 ("NAQT").
6. NAQT will confirm that questions are available on the requested date in the requested geographical area; until you receive confirmation, do not assume that we have approved your order and plan on shipping questions.
7. Proceed with other tournament plans. Your questions will arrive one week before your tournament begins. NAQT may or may not be able to accommodate requests for earlier delivery. NAQT will ship one printed copy of your questions; you will be responsible for making any necessary copies. NAQT will not normally distribute electronic copies of its questions.
8. You will be invoiced for the cost of the questions after the tournament has completed; send NAQT a check or purchase order for the appropriate amount.

If you have trouble deciding what to do about any of these issues, NAQT is always happy to provide expert advice; just e-mail hosting@naqt.com with your questions. In fact, if you have any questions about running a successful tournament, NAQT will do its best to answer them.

There are three components to the cost:

1. A flat cost of $85 (of which $50 is rebated when we receive the results of your tournament).
2. $16.00 per team in attendance. A-level packets are $12.50 per team (because there are fewer packets).
3. If you claim geographic exclusivity for a state other than the one in which the tournament is held but have fewer than 10 teams in attendance from that state, you must pay as if at least 10 teams from that state attended. Tournaments drawing from only their home state have no 10-team minimum.

Hosts may keep all of the money that they make selling copies of the sets used at the tournament to participating schools. Alternatively, hosts may give copies to participating schools. Note that no more than one (printed) copy may be sold or distributed to each school in attendance.

One important thing to note is that anybody may attend any tournament--geographic exclusivity does not affect who may attend a tournament! However, schools that travel to distant tournaments may find that they have to pass on a closer tournament that uses the same set of questions. Conversely, hosts that don't purchase geographic exclusivity may find customers opting to attend a closer tournament using the same set of questions. NAQT's invitational series are used on different weekends across the country; it is the responsibility of the hosts to clearly announce the name and number of the set that they will be using and the responsibility of teams to remember which sets they have heard that year or to look at NAQT's list of assigned sets to guarantee question security. NAQT has a full description of the various parties' responsibilities in maintaining question security.

The $50 that is refunded by NAQT after reception of the tournament results may be returned in cash, in practice questions, or be applied to future orders, according to the preferences of the purchaser.

Please note that NAQT offers discounts on the purchase of packets for tournaments run by or for Title I (previously Chapter I) schools.

To encourage the growth of quiz bowl, NAQT will also provide free questions for high school tournaments in 2008-2009 that are held in states/territories that did not have a high school qualifier in 2007-2008. Follow the link to see if your state qualifies; there is no limit on the nubmer of tournaments that make take advantage of this offer within a single state. This offer is open to all potential hosts: high schools, community colleges, colleges, and non-school institutions.

Also note that for the purposes of calculating geographic exclusivity, Northern California and Southern California are treated as separate states; Eastern and Western Pennsylvania are treated as separate states; Rhode Island and Connecticut are considered to be a single unit; and New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine are considered a single unit.

1. Top finishers will qualify for the 2009 HS NCT.
2. NAQT will happily help hosts with issues such as determining proper tournament formats, reaching out to new teams, and scheduling.
3. NAQT will provide access to its contact database for the tournament's area.
4. NAQT will advertise the tournament on its website and in its newsletter.
5. NAQT supplies rules, scoresheets, and other necessary forms ready for photocopying with every order.