Hosting Middle School Tournaments
As part of the middle school quiz bowl program that NAQT launched in Fall 2010, it is making middle school packet sets available for regular season tournaments. Each of those tournaments will serve as a qualifier for the Middle School National Championship Tournament (MSNCT). Any institution may choose to host an event, including middle schools, high schools, community colleges, colleges, as well as any other organization with an interest in middle school academic competition.
For the 2011-2012 academic year, NAQT will be producing two "Middle School Series" sets. Each set will contain ten question packets, with each packet having 24 tossups and 24 bonus questions. The first set will be ready by October 15, 2011, and the second set will be ready by January 15, 2012.
The cost of the packets has three components: a flat cost of $85 (of which $50 is rebated when we receive the results of your tournament); plus $10 per team in attendance; plus — if you claim geographical 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 (but tournaments drawing from only their home state have no 10-team minimum).
Schools wishing to host middle school events should contact NAQT at hosting@naqt.com or 888.411.6278 ("NAQT"). We will need the following information about your tournament:
Tournament name
Tournament site
Official tournament director (with contact information)
Tournament date (tentative dates are okay)
NAQT does not have a formal geographic exclusivity policy for middle school events, but will work with interested hosts to minimize date conflicts and field overlap. We anticipate instituting a policy similar to that for our high school sets in subsequent years.
As part of its program, NAQT will be creating a database of middle school teams. This database will be made available to hosts to help them locate and invite competitors.
In the past, a limited number of middle school events have been run on NAQT's Introductory Invitational Series, which are intended for a high school audience. Middle school tournaments may continue to do that, and such tournaments will be treated as qualifiers for the MSNCT. Note that Introductory Invitational Series sets will be noticeably harder than NAQT's Middle School Series.
If you have any questions about the hosting process, or would like advice on scheduling or organizing your tournament, please do not hesitate to contact us at hosting@naqt.com. We would like to see as many qualifying tournaments as possible this first year to ensure a thrilling national championship and to encourage even greater participation in future years.