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What’s the Buzz? · News from NAQT
Videos About Online Tournaments
Videos from our December 2020 seminars about the online tournament experience are now available!
Panel Discussion on Inclusion and Racism in Quiz Bowl
NAQT, PACE, IAC, and ACF are organizing a panel discussion via Zoom webinar in early March, focusing on issues of systemic underrepresentation and racism in the quiz bowl community. There will be opportunities for people in the audience to pose questions and suggestions for discussion by the panel. We plan to record the discussion and make the recording available for anyone interested.
We aim to provide a platform for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) voices to discuss the state of quiz bowl, share their experiences, and raise awareness among community members and leaders. Most of all, we hope to spark community action during and after the event. While we want to talk about the problems that face underrepresented quizbowlers, we do not want to force anyone to share personal stories in the name of convincing majority quizbowlers that problems exist. We hope that our audience already knows this fact and wants to know more about how to combat these problems.
We are soliciting applications for panelists to speak about their experiences, and for a moderator to facilitate the conversation. The application for both roles is available here. Applications will be accepted through Monday, February 1, 2021.
2021 Sectional Championship Tournaments Canceled
NAQT regrets to inform the quiz bowl community that we have decided not to hold Sectional Championship Tournaments in 2021.
The Intercollegiate Championship Tournament (ICT) will still be held. We have not yet finished determining the details of how the ICT will be held (i.e., in person vs. online), nor how qualification and registration will work. We expect to announce further details by early February.
The Community College Championship Tournament (which has previously used the Division II Sectional Championship Tournament question set) will still be held (using a different question set).
Partnership with SKT Education Group
NAQT is excited to announce that we are partnering with SKT Education Group to bring middle and high school quiz bowl to a wider audience in China. SKT will support local tournaments run by clubs and run regional tournaments that will serve as qualifiers for a large national championship (which will in turn serve as a qualifier for NAQT’s championships in the United States). NAQT will provide the question sets for these tournaments.
In-Person Hosting Moratorium Extended to April 2, 2021
NAQT has decided to extend our moratorium on licensing questions for in-person quiz bowl tournaments in the United States through April 2, 2021.
We welcome proposals from hosts interested in using our question sets for online quiz bowl tournaments.
Update on Plans for 2021 National Championships
NAQT has signed contracts with hotels to host in-person versions of all of our 2021 national championships other than the Community College Championship Tournament. We have agreed with the hotels to review the public health situation in January, and we hope to have decisions regarding the 2021 championships by the end of January.
In the meantime, we are working on plans for in-person versions of our championships, and on backup plans for online versions. We will only run an online version of a championship if the in-person version is canceled. We will soon make determinations about the timing and general format each tournament would have if held online, then open registration for qualified teams.
We will not run in-person championships unless we believe we can run them safely and responsibly. If we are unable to run our championships in-person, we are confident we can provide superb online championship experiences.