Commissioner's Academic Challenge
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The Commissioner's Academic Challenge (CAC) is Florida's statewide high school academic tournament. It is held at Walt Disney World each spring, usually in April. Each county in Florida is asked to send a team composed of six high school students. Participating counties are separated into three divisions based on their full-time enrollment numbers for grades 9-12.
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[edit] Tournament Format
Teams compete in up to four untimed matches, with each match consisting of a 5-, 10-, and 15-point round. Each round consists of a number of toss-up questions, followed by a "team question" or worksheet. The questions asked become progressively harder in each round and cover a variety of fields including English, math, science, social studies, art, music, foreign language (French and Spanish), and technology. The questions take a wide variety of forms, such as matching, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and free response.
Only four players may compete during a given round, but coaches are allowed to make substitutions between rounds. Most matches feature somewhere between four and six teams competing at the same time. A panel of judges is present in each competition room to deliberate if a challenge is declared by a team. These judges are experts in their field of study.
The CAC is unlike many other quizbowl tournaments in that it is a slower-paced, more team-oriented competition. Team members are allowed to converse with each other at all times, and instead of having individual buzzers, each team is provided with only one or two buzzers that they must share. The CAC also differs from most tournaments in that there is no "rebounding." This means that once a team has buzzed in on a question, that question is finished regardless of whether the team gave a correct or incorrect response.
[edit] Awards and Prizes
At the conclusion of the tournament, the top three teams in each division receive rings from Herff Jones, while the championship teams also receive trophies and medallions from the Florida High School Athletic Association.
In addition, one winning player from each of the three championship counties, and three other players selected "at large," are chosen to serve on Team Florida, which competes at the Panasonic Academic Challenge in June.
[edit] History of CAC
The tournament began in 1986 and changed names several times before settling on its present title in 1997. The following is a list of winning counties:
| Year | Division I | Division II | Division III |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Seminole | Suwannee | only two divs. |
| 1987 | Orange | Highlands | only two divs. |
| 1988 | Duval | Clay | Suwannee |
| 1989 | Polk | Bay | Suwannee |
| 1990 | Pinellas | Highlands | Suwannee |
| 1991 | Dade | Indian River | Suwannee |
| 1992 | Pinellas | Collier | Suwannee |
| 1993 | Duval | St. Lucie | DeSoto |
| 1994 | Pinellas | Bay | Suwannee |
| 1995 | Broward | Clay | Suwannee |
| 1996 | Leon | Osceola | Suwannee |
| 1997 | Duval | Indian River | DeSoto |
| 1998 | Seminole | Hernando | Suwannee |
| 1999 | Brevard | Indian River | DeSoto |
| 2000 | Escambia | Leon | Taylor |
| 2001 | Palm Beach | Indian River | Suwannee |
| 2002 | Escambia | Leon | Suwannee |
| 2003 | Escambia | Leon | Suwannee |
| 2004 | Brevard | St. Lucie | Hardee |
| 2005 | Manatee | Okaloosa | Gadsden |
| 2006 | Escambia | Santa Rosa | Hardee |
The 2007 Commissioner's Academic Challenge will be held from April 12-14.
