National Academic Championship
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[edit] Origin and Early History
The National Academic Championship is a question-and-answer competition that was the creation of former high school quizbowl player Chip A. Beall, president of Questions Unlimited. He organized the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas Whiz Quiz program in 1977.
Beall and several associates formed the nonprofit National Academic Association in 1983 to encourage the development of high school academic competitions as a means of giving bright high school students the kind of attention that was then largely reserved for student athletes.
Initially, the National Academic Championship was held at Dallas Baptist College, now known as Dallas Baptist University. Later rounds were recorded for television broadcast at a Dallas television station, with Beall serving as on-air host. The competition was held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio for one year before Texaco sponsorship began in 1988.
[edit] The Texaco Star National Academic Championship
After Texaco began sponsoring the National Academic Championship, the tournament moved to The University of New Orleans for two years and then to Rice University in Houston, Texas, through 1994.[citation needed] Between 1989 and 1994, the final 16 games of the program were taped at the Houston NBC affiliate KPRC-TV with Beall as on-air host. They were televised nationally through syndication and on The Discovery Channel. In 1990, the program was nominated for a Cable ACE award.[citation needed]
In 1994 - its final televised year - the program was renamed Star Challenge and hosted by Mark L. Walberg.[citation needed] In some local markets, commercial stations purchased the syndicated episodes, while in others, the show aired on PBS stations.
[edit] Multiple-Location Format
In 1995, the National Academic Championship moved to a multiple-city format. The two initial program sites were the University of Dallas, Texas and Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. For the next few years, Loyola University hosted the first phase of the tournament, while Marymount hosted the final rounds.
Beginning in 2000, NAC added a third host site, ranging from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California from 2000 - 2002; The Drury Inn and Suites Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2003 and 2004; hotels in Chicago in 2005 and 2006, and a hotel in Orlando in 2007. Following Hurricane Katrina, in 2006 the second phase of the tournament moved to San Antonio, Texas.
[edit] Junior National Academic Championship
In 2007, the NAA introduced the Junior National Academic Championship, which was held at Marymount University in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the High School National Academic Championship. Eleven junior high and middle school teams from all over the country competed. Bate Middle School from Danville, Kentucky was the winner of this first Junior National Academic Championship after defeating the runner up, Manheim Township Middle School from Lancaster, Pennslyvania.
[edit] Qualifications
Teams qualify for the NAC by either winning a tournament of 8 teams or more, reaching the finals in a tournament with 32 or more teams, winning any preliminary QuizNet match, winning the Questions Unlimited "20 Questions" contest, or making the playoffs at the previous NAC.
[edit] Preliminary Rounds and Single Elimination Playoffs of the NAC
At each site, teams are assigned six preliminary matches, usually playing 2 per day. All teams with four or more wins are then put into a single elimination bracket.
The winners at two sites are transported, at the cost of the tournament, to the final site where they are automatically advanced into the semifinals to play for the championship. The teams who come only to the third site will play with the same preliminary round and single elimination process.
Recently, a new event, called "Who Wants To Be a Game Show Host?" was made part of the NAC, with the winners being offered jobs as moderators. All graduating seniors are allowed to try out, and the coaches of the teams who participated compete against each other.
[edit] Gameplay
The game is played in four quarters.
The first quarter (the "Warm-Up Round"), consists of relatively easy toss-up questions worth 10 points each in the preliminary rounds, and 5 or 10 points each in the playoffs.
The second quarter (the "Bonus Round"), consists of 10-point toss-up questions leading to four-part bonus questions. Each successive part of a bonus question increases in point value if the team answers correctly. The first correct answer is worth 5 points, the second is 10, the third is 15, and the fourth is 20. A wrong answer ends the bonus for the team that answered the toss-up and the opposing team is allowed to answer the part answered incorrectly.
The third quarter (the "Sixty-Second Round" or "Lightning Round"), consists of two sets of ten questions asked within sixty seconds. The losing team at the beginning of this round chooses one of four categories of questions and the winning team chooses one of the remaining three. Each question answered correctly is worth 10 points, and there is a 20 point bonus for answering all ten questions correctly within the time limit. In some cases, a team sweeping the category is also offered a small prize, such as a pack of candy cigarettes. After a team's sixty seconds has ended, any missed questions are given as 10-point bonus questions to the opposing team. This retaliatory period is referred to informally as the "bounceback" or "steal". One of the choices is frequently a "mystery" category; the final question of that category will sometimes be "Solve the mystery of the mystery category," meaning "how are all the previous answers related?"
The fourth quarter (the "Stump the Experts Round"), consists of relatively difficult toss-ups worth 20 points each in the preliminary rounds, and 15 or 20 points each in the playoffs. At the end of this quarter, the leading team wins; if necessary, a 5-point toss-up question is used to break a tie.
[edit] Winners of the National Academic Championship
- 1983 -- Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda, Maryland
- 1984 -- Wheelersburg High School, Wheelersburg, Ohio
- 1985 -- Skyline High School, Dallas, Texas
- 1986 -- Irmo High School, Columbia, South Carolina
- 1987 -- Walnut Ridge High School, Columbus, Ohio
- 1988 -- Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Greenbelt, Maryland
- 1989 -- Paul M. Dorman High School, Spartanburg, South Carolina
- 1990 -- Collegiate School, Richmond, Virginia
- 1991 -- Paul M. Dorman High School, Spartanburg, South Carolina
- 1992 -- Booker T. Washington High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- 1993 -- Torrey Pines High School, San Diego, California
- 1994 -- East Brunswick High School, East Brunswick Township, New Jersey
- 1995 -- Governor's School for Government and International Studies, now known as Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies, Richmond, Virginia
- 1996 -- Memorial High School, Hedwig Village, Texas
- 1997 -- Edison High School, Huntington Beach, California
- 1998 -- State College Area High School, State College, Pennsylvania
- 1999 -- James Island High School, Charleston, South Carolina
- 2000 -- Manheim Township High School, Manheim Township, Pennsylvania
- 2001 -- Irmo High School, Columbia, South Carolina
- 2002 -- Irmo High School, Columbia, South Carolina
- 2003 -- Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua, New York
- 2004 -- St. Thomas Academy, Mendota Heights, Minnesota
- 2005 -- Holland Hall School, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- 2006 -- Byram Hills High School, Armonk, New York
- 2007 -- William Henry Harrison High School, West Lafayette, Indiana
[edit] The NAC Hall of Fame
- Mike Keller (Irmo, 1985-1987)
- Eric Evans (Granville, OH, 1988-89)
- Jim Paluszak (Dorman, SC, 1989-91)
- Matt Bruce (Booker T. Washington, OK, 1989-92)
- Mark Staloff (East Brunswick, NJ, 1994)
- Brad Rutter (Manheim Township, PA, 1992-95)
- Brad Harris (James Island, SC, 1992-95)
- Amanda Goad (Governor's School, VA, 1993-96)
- Scott Petty (Houston Eisenhower 1995 and Houston Memorial 1996)
- Justin Powell (James Island, 1995-98)
- Ryan Cooper (James Island, 1995-99)
- David Madden (Ridgewood, 1998-1999)
- Jonathan Hess (Irmo, 1998-2002)
- Sara Sheer (Horace Greeley, 2001-2004)
- Matt Pargeter (Holland Hall, 2002-2005)
- Nate Mattison (Byram Hills, 2004-2006)
- Fuhe Xu (William Henry Harrison, 2004-2007)
- Ariel Schneider (William Henry Harrison, 2004-2007)
[edit] Criticism
The QU NAC has come under significant criticism from several players and coaches for a variety of reasons mainly, though not exclusively, related to format and question quality.
For example, one question in the 2007 NAC was (in its entirety), "According to Wikipedia, what was the purpose of the Spanish Armada?" Questions of this nature can be criticized due to: (1) the ever-changing nature of Wikipedia, (2) players having to have read an encyclopedia (as opposed to a history textbook or other scholarly work on the topic), and (3) the great potential for protests over the possibility of multiple correct answers.
Questions to which the answer is something concrete, like the Spanish Armada itself, Elizabeth I, and Francis Drake, are far less subject to interpretation on the part of players and game officials, and are thus far less subject to protests.
Another question was "Why are landfills subject to explosion?" The third reason applies even more here, as players are more or less required to read the mind of the question writer in order to provide a correct response.
In addition to potential problems with the question writing, short questions often become a test of reflex between two teams which are equally matched in terms of knowledge base. While some coaches and players prefer the feeling of excitement such matches can generate to some participants, other coaches and players prefer "pyramidal," questions which allow for a finer distinction between two teams with similar knowledge base levels.
