Reach for the Top

Reach for the Top

Final moments of an episode of the Montreal version of Reach for the Top, as aired on CBMT-6 in the late 1970s
Genre Quiz
Country of origin Canada
Original language(s) English
Release
Original network CBC
Original release Original series:
1966 (1966) – 1989 (1989)
Revival series:
2000 (2000) - 2009 (2009)

Reach for the Top (also known just as Reach) is a Canadian academic quiz competition for high school students. In the past, it has also been a game show nationally broadcast on the CBC. Teams qualify for national rounds through several stages of non-televised tournaments held at high schools throughout Canada during the year which are known as Schoolreach.

History

The televised Reach for the Top series was first shown on CBC Television affiliate CBUT in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1961. It was based on the BBC programme Top of the Form. In that first year, a team from three high schools in Burnaby, British Columbia - Fred Affleck, Robert French, Lynne Mader and Marilyn Pelzer - defeated every other team and took all the prizes. The first national Reach for the Top tournament took place in 1965, and was won by Vincent Massey Collegiate Institute from Etobicoke, Ontario. The series was filmed at locations across Canada with the national championships held in Montreal, Quebec. In 1968 joint effort by CBC and BBC led to the short-lived Trans-World Top Team in which teams from the United Kingdom played teams from Canada.

Alex Trebek hosted the Toronto version for several years. In Vancouver, the show was hosted by Terry Garner (1961-1982). In Windsor, the show was hosted by Don Daly. In London, the show was hosted by Mark Lade, with judge Steve Officer. In Montreal, the show was hosted by Bob Cadman and by Marc Coté. Shelagh Rogers, later a host for CBC Radio, was a contestant on the original broadcasts of the show. Bill Guest hosted the National Finals on CBC from 1969 to 1985.

The CBC stopped airing Reach for the Top in 1985, but it continues to be shown under the aegis of Reach for the Top Inc. CFPL-TV, the former CBC affiliate station in London, continued to air local competitions for several years, and hosted the provincial and national competitions. From 2000-2008, the national finals were aired by CLT (now OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network), hosted by Graham Neil of CFRN-TV in Edmonton. In 2009, the national finals were not aired except for the final game, which was filmed in the TVOntario studio. It is unknown whether or not TVO will air the 2010 national finals in its entirety. Until 2009, games at the provincial level were broadcast on stations unique to their respective provinces, among them Ontario on TVO with Nicole Stamp of TVOKids (and produced and directed by Sidney M. Cohen), British Columbia with Tamara Stanners on Knowledge, and Alberta with Graham Neil on Access. However, only Ontario provincial level games are now aired (by TVO).

In 1985, Reach for the Top Inc., a private company, was established by Sandy Stewart, on agreement with CBC. Mr. Stewart then joined with his wife, Patricia Stewart, in partnership with Robert Jeffrey and Paul Russell of Paulus Productions Inc. to create Schoolreach, an in-school version of Reach for the Top available across Canada by subscription.[1] Schoolreach is organized among the different school boards in Canada, and monthly tournaments are played, culminating in a district final each spring. The winner in each district participates in the provincial finals (which are televised in Ontario), and the provincial winner competes in the national championship.

Reach for the Top Inc. produced a season of programming in Toronto in 1986 and 1987. The Reach for the Top National Finals were revived in 1988. In 1995, Sandy and Pat Stewart retired from Reach For The Top. Reach for the Top and Schoolreach were then taken over by Paulus Productions Inc. under the direction of Paul Russell and Robert Jeffrey.

CBC created a similar program, Smart Ask, which aired for three seasons before being cancelled in 2004. From 1973 to 1997 the CBC's French language network, Radio-Canada, aired a program called Génies en herbe ("Budding Geniuses"), which was the French language equivalent of Reach for the Top. Competitions continued after the cancellation of the program, and teams from other francophone countries around the world often participated.

Format

Reach questions include "snappers," which can be answered by any of the four players on either team. There are also "Who am I?" or "What am I?" questions and "shootout" questions, also open to any player. "Relay" questions are directed at only one of the teams, and "assigned" questions are directed to a single player. Questions are typically worth ten points, but can be worth up to forty points. Points are not deducted for a wrong answer.

Every game lasts for three rounds, with one-minute breaks in between. As of 2009-2010, each game consists of 86 questions, plus four sudden-death tiebreakers in the case of a tie game after regulation. Contestants may answer a question before the reading of it is completed; however, a correct, anticipated guess does not earn extra points.

The tournament is divided into three different levels. At the regional level, local high school teams compete against each other to determine who goes on to the provincial level. The winners of the provincial championships then go on to the National Reach for the Top tournament. The winner is then declared the national champions.

Some districts also have "Intermediate" level competitions, where the questions are written with a lower level of difficulty to provide experience to new, younger players. Intermediate level champions do not move on to national finals.

Types of questions

Eligibility

Participants must be "continuously enrolled in a secondary school" to be eligible for participation in Reach for the Top.[2] The age limit restricts participants to those who are 19 or younger at the beginning of the school year. There are no rules about the language of instruction in a school or that a school must be in Canada, but the vast majority of teams come from anglophone schools in provinces with established leagues.

Quebec colleges, distinct post-secondary institutions, by definition do not fit eligibility requirements. However, given that the first-year of college is effectively equivalent to Grade 12 in other Canadian provinces, the participation of year one college students in Quebec has been allowed in practice.

Notable teams

In 1978, Vincent Massey Collegiate Institute (now separately Michael Power/St. Joseph High School) became the first high school to win the National Championship twice. They played their first game in March 1978 against Richview Collegiate Institute and former Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper in the first game of the Etobicoke, Ontario flight. Vincent Massey Collegiate easily won by a score of 445-160, with Mr. Harper scoring 80 points for Richview Collegiate in his first and only appearance on the show. Interestingly, Nicole Stamp, who has been the host of Reach For The Top's Ontario Championships since 2004, is also an alumna of Richview Collegiate.

In 2003, the University of Toronto Schools, based in Toronto, Ontario, became the first school in Reach for the Top history to win back-to-back national titles. In 2012, it also became the first school to have won the competition three times. UTS then defended its title in 2013 successfully for a record fourth time.

In 2016, Kennebecasis Valley High School in Quispamsis, New Brunswick defeated Eric Hamber Secondary in Vancouver, British Columbia and became the second school to win three championships, with earlier victories in 2010 and 2011.

Schools that have won the championship twice include Cobequid Educational Centre in Truro, Nova Scotia (1981 and 2005), St. George's School in Vancouver, British Columbia (1991 and 2004), Saunders Secondary School in London, Ontario (1992 and 1996), Gloucester High School in Ottawa, Ontario (1998 and 2001), London Central Secondary School in London, Ontario (2007 and 2009), and Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Ontario (2008 and 2015).

In 1990, the champions from Memorial High School in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia defeated the National Academic Championship team from Collegiate School of Richmond, Virginia 305-280.[3]

Lorne Jenken High School in Barrhead, Alberta, which won in 1973 and made six other nationals appearances in the 1970s, was considered "the series' most successful competitors" in the 1985 edition of the Canadian Encyclopedia.[4]

St. George's High School in Vancouver, British Columbia, qualified for the national finals every year from 1989-2007, except in 1994 when Magee Secondary School represented British Columbia. In 1991 and 2004, St, George's were the national champions.

National champions[5]

Between 1984-85 and 1988–89, no national tournament was held.

Alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Lives Lived" by Wallace Immen in The Globe and Mail, 14 August 1998, page A16
  2. ↑ Reach for the Top national rules
  3. ↑ "They came, stayed and stayed, and conquered" (Factiva link) by Leeanne Morris in The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 16 June 1990, page 21
  4. ↑ The Canadian Encyclopedia entry on "Reach for the Top" from 1985
  5. ↑ "Reach For The Top | Champions". www.reachforthetop.com. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
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