Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence

Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
AbbreviationPACE
Formation1996
TypeNGO
Legal status501(c)(3) non-profit organization
PurposePromotion of quiz bowl
ServicesNational Scholastic Championship high school quiz bowl tournament
Membership
50 members
President
Mia McGill
Websitewww.pace-nsc.org

The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE) is a United States–based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization[1] that promotes high school quiz bowl and runs the National Scholastic Championship (NSC), an end-of-year national tournament for high school quiz bowl teams. PACE was founded in 1996 by a group of quiz bowl players and coaches who were dissatisfied with the quality of high school quiz bowl at the time.[2] The NSC has been run in the June of every year since 1998. Beyond running the NSC, PACE offers advice and staff assistance to high schools and colleges who run high school quiz bowl tournaments. PACE does not currently supply questions for regular season tournaments or offer a collegiate competition program, unlike NAQT or Questions Unlimited.[3]

In addition to running a national tournament, PACE awards the Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award each year at the opening ceremony of the NSC. The award is chosen by PACE members to honor "a high school academic competition team member, advisor, or organization whose character best promotes the spirit and honor of quiz bowl competition". It is named for Ben Cooper, who, as the captain of the It's Academic quiz bowl team at Georgetown Day School, worked with the PACE founders to provide a player's perspective on the plans for the inaugural NSC. Ben Cooper died in an automobile accident just before the start of his senior year. In 2004, PACE expanded its recognition program to include a "Young Ambassador" Award to recognize individuals or recent alumni from high school or college quiz bowl programs for "valuable and significant contributions to the high school academic competition community".

National Scholastic Championship

PACE runs the National Scholastic Championship, a tournament for high school quiz bowl teams. Teams that attend the PACE NSC are mainly from schools in the United States, with teams from Canada and Singapore having also attended.[4] Teams qualify by placing well at a PACE-certified tournament. There are three levels of qualifier events, with higher levels allowing more teams to qualify from that event. A number of teams can also qualify via a wild card bid.[5] There is no limit to the number of teams from a single school that can qualify or attend. In order to qualify multiple teams from one school, multiple teams must concurrently qualify at the same tournament.[5]

On March 18, 2020, PACE announced that the 2020 NSC would be cancelled due to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic.[6]

Format

See also: Gameplay of quiz bowl

The tournament takes place over two days during the weekend. On Saturday, teams are grouped into pools for preliminary rounds and play a round robin within that group, then are regrouped for playoff rounds based on their win–loss record in their preliminary group. On Sunday, teams are again regrouped into "superplayoff" brackets. Usually, a final will be played between the top two teams, though specific circumstances can make a final match unnecessary. Following the final rounds, an All-Star game featuring the top individual scorers is played and the closing ceremony is held.

Each round consists of two halves of ten tossups and ten bonuses.[7] Tossups are worth 10 points for a correct answer, though 20 points may be awarded if they are answered early. Teams are not penalized for incorrect answers.[7] Bouncebacks were allowed for bonuses until 2023. In the event of a tie, a sudden death tossup is read.[7]

From 1998 to 2009, the NSC used a slightly different gameplay format that was distinct from most other quiz bowl tournaments. The old format had three rounds with varying gameplay, the Related Tossup-Bonus round, the Category Quiz round, and the Stretch round.[8]

NSC results and Cooper award recipients

Year Location Field size Champion Runner-up Cooper Award Young Ambassador Award
1998[9] Case Western Reserve University 29 State College Area High School Henry Ford II High School Sue Ikenberry, coach at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC, on behalf of Ben Cooper —
1999[10] University of Pennsylvania 22[11] State College Area High School (2) Rockville High School Joe Hermiller, coach at E.L. Bowsher High School —
2000[12] Furman University 16 State College Area High School (3) Eisenhower High School Rick Barry, James Garrick, and Hodges Lewis, operators of Academic Competition Enterprises —
2001[13] Bowling Green State University 22 State College Area High School (4) Georgetown Day School Robert C. Grierson, editor of Scholastic Visions, the newsletter of the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association —
2002[14] The George Washington University 40 Richard Montgomery High School Detroit Catholic Central High School Douglas Tyson, coach at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, and Sue Altman, producer of It's Academic, on behalf of the entire It's Academic program —
2003[15] Case Western Reserve University 27 Paul M. Dorman High School Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Carolyn Hawkins, coach at Cookeville High School —
2004[16] University of Maryland, College Park 40 Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Paul Cain, coach at Ysleta High School Matt Weiner, Virginia Commonwealth University and David Bykowski, formerly of Furman University and University of Michigan
2005[17] Valencia Community College 31 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (1) State College Area High School Sue Korosa, coach at Copley High School Thomas Egan, coach at Maine South High School, formerly of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
2006[18] North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics 29 Raleigh Charter High School Richard Montgomery High School Bob Weiser, coach at Solon High School and Dr. John Barnes, coach at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies Eric Grunden, coach at Raleigh Charter High School
2007[19] University of Michigan 36 Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies (2) Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High School Julie Gittings, coach at State College Area High School Evan Silberman, It's Academic co-captain at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
2008[20] George Mason University 48 Walt Whitman High School Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Matt Knupp of Russell High School (Award revoked on February 25, 2009[21]) Lee Henry, coach at Brindlee Mountain High School, and Chris Sewell
2009[22] George Mason University 64 Charter School of Wilmington State College Area High School Eric Huff, coach for Paul M. Dorman High School Christian Carter, player from Minneapolis South High School and webmaster of quizbowlpackets.com
2010[23] George Mason University 64 State College Area High School (5) Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies [nb 1] R. Robert Hentzel, President of National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) Sarah Angelo, player and tournament director at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies
2011[24] Northwestern University 60 State College Area High School (6) Hunter College High School Matt Weiner, Virginia Commonwealth University Charlie Dees, Jeffrey Hill, Paul Nelson, and Christine Whelehon, on behalf of the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance
2012[25] Washington University in St. Louis 60 Hunter College High School Bellarmine College Preparatory David Riley, coach of Loyola Academy and Linda Greene, coach of Auburn High School Lily Chen, player from Hunter College High School
2013[26] University of Maryland, College Park 72 Ladue Horton Watkins High School Liberal Arts and Science Academy Chris Chiego of University of California, San Diego and Dwight Wynne of University of California, Irvine Max Schindler, player from Ladue Horton Watkins High School
2014[27] Washington, D.C. 96 Liberal Arts and Science Academy (1) Western Albemarle High School Jeff Hoppes of NAQT Matt Bollinger, player from the University of Virginia
2015[28] Washington D.C. 96 Detroit Catholic Central High School (1) Liberal Arts and Science Academy Joshua Rutsky, coach of Hoover High School Nicholas Karas, player from the University of California, Berkeley
2016 Chicago, Illinois 96 Liberal Arts and Science Academy (2) Adlai E. Stevenson High School Sheryl and Michael Cvijanovich of Matt's Buzzers Ankit Aggarwal, player from the University of California, Berkeley
2017 Chicago, Illinois 96 Detroit Catholic Central High School (2) Westview High School Fred Morlan, University of Kentucky Jackie Wu, player from Downingtown High School East
2018 Washington, D.C. 96 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (2) Dublin Scioto High School Chad Kubicek, National Academic Quiz Tournaments Kady Hsu, player from Rancho Bernardo High School
2019 Washington, D.C. 96 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (3) James E. Taylor High School Matt Albert, Justin Sharp, and Paul Villaluz, Las Vegas Quiz Bowl Alliance Connor Mayers, player from Penn Manor High School
2020[29] Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.[30] N/A N/A N/A Chris Johnson, coach at Itawamba Agricultural High School Ashish Kumbhardare, player from the Pennsylvania State University
2021 Virtual 80 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (4) Hunter College High School Ben Herman, Greater Pennsylvania QuizBowl Em Gunter, player from Salem High School
2022 Chicago, Illinois 72 Lambert High School Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Kristin Strey, Scholastic Community Outreach Program Kevin Kodama, player from the University of Washington
2023 Chicago, Illinois 72 Barrington High School (1) Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Jay Winter, Iowa Quiz Bowl League and coach at Waukee Northwest High School Joy An, player from Choate Rosemary Hall
2024 Reston, Virginia 72 Barrington High School (2) Richard Montgomery High School Tracey Hickman, Oklahoma Quiz Bowl Camp Ben Weiner, player from University of Minnesota

Notes

  1. ^ Southside High School was initially the runner-up, but, after evidence of cheating by one of their players was uncovered, their place was forfeited.

Other ventures

In March 2009, PACE organized the second annual "The Weekend of Quizbowl", a regular season invitational tournament at George Mason University that drew teams from across the United States.[31] Part of the tournament ran on a custom question packets set that was also sold to other invitational tournaments. PACE did not run the tournament the following year. In 2014, PACE created an outreach fund to give monetary grants of up to US$200 to high school quiz bowl teams.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ Rosenberg, Ryan (August 28, 2014). "PACE 501(c)(3) Status". The Quizbowl Resource Center. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  2. ^ "About PACE | Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence". Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
  3. ^ "What Is Quiz Bowl?". Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance. Archived from the original on 2014-03-09. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  4. ^ Nagle, Maria (May 29, 2014). "'Underdog' BHS places 15th in national Scholastic Bowl event". Pantagraph.com. Archived from the original on August 22, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  5. ^ a b "2022 NSC Qualification Guidelines". Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  6. ^ "2020 PACE NSC: June 6-7, Chicago - The Quizbowl Resource Center". hsquizbowl.org. Archived from the original on 2022-08-22. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
  7. ^ a b c Pinyan, Jon. "Concise Rules of Tossup/Bonus Quizbowl". Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  8. ^ Jackson, Matt; Reinstein, David (July 22, 2013). "Old PACE format". QBWiki. Archived from the original on August 22, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2014.
  9. ^ "1998 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  10. ^ "1999 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  11. ^ "1999 PACE NSC". Archived from the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  12. ^ "2000 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  13. ^ "2001 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  14. ^ "2002 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  15. ^ "2003 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  16. ^ "2004 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  17. ^ "2005 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  18. ^ "2006 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  19. ^ "2007 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  20. ^ "2008 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on August 22, 2022. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  21. ^ Meade, Trygve (February 25, 2009). "PACE Revokes Matt Knupp's Cooper Award". The Quizbowl Resource Center. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2009.
  22. ^ "2009 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  23. ^ "2010 PACE NSC Results". Retrieved November 11, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  24. ^ "2011 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  25. ^ "2012 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  26. ^ "2013 PACE NSC Results". Retrieved November 11, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  27. ^ "2014 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  28. ^ "2015 PACE NSC Results". Archived from the original on August 1, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  29. ^ "2020 PACE NSC: June 6-7, Chicago - The Quizbowl Resource Center". hsquizbowl.org. Archived from the original on 2022-08-22. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
  30. ^ ""We regret to inform you that the 2020 National Scholastic Championship has been cancelled..." via PACE NSC Twitter". twitter.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-11. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  31. ^ Weiner, Matt (January 7, 2014). "Weekend of Quizbowl II (3/14 + 3/15/09, Fairfax, VA)". The Quizbowl Resource Center. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2014.
  32. ^ Rosenberg, Ryan (October 11, 2014). "PACE Outreach Fund". The Quizbowl Resource Center. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2014.