Note: This announcement is identical to the one found on the Quizbowl Resource Center.
The Columbia University Quiz Bowl team is pleased to announce the 2016 Columbia Fall Tournament, which will be held on Saturday, October 8, 2016, in Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall. This tournament will be the first of three that comprise the second-annual Columbia Cup series. More information about the Columbia Cup, as well as a copy of this announcement and further details about the tournament, can be found on the Columbia Cup website.
Nationals: Teams finishing in the top 25% of the National division at this tournament will qualify for the National Scholastic Championship sponsored by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence, which will be held in Chicago on June 10th and 11th, 2017.
Questions: The questions for this will be written by members of Columbia University’s team. The set will be 20/20 ACF-format, powermarked, and have 14 packets.
Tournament format: Morning check-in for this tournament will run from 8:00 to 8:30 AM. The introductory meeting will then follow, and the first round will start as soon as possible afterwards. All teams will be guaranteed around 9 or 10 matches, depending on the final number of teams attending. Most teams should be done at around 4:00 to 4:30 PM.
New in 2016-2017: This year we will be dividing our Fall and Winter tournaments into a National division, for teams with highly experienced and competitive players, and a Standard division, for all other teams. Please note that this is not a Varsity/JV split – you are encouraged to register varsity teams in the Standard division if you feel like that will be a better fit for them. For now, we are capping the National division at 18 teams and the Standard division at 24 teams, though the exact numbers may change if demand for one is much higher than demand for the other.
Teams: Each school may register as many teams as they would like in either division or in both divisions. Each team’s roster may contain no more than six players, four of which will be playing at any given time during a game. You are encouraged to register novice and JV teams as well in the Standard division. In addition, we encourage schools to register additional teams instead of putting alternates as 5th or 6th players on existing teams. We reserve the right to change a team’s division – for example, we will ask a team with a nationals all-star player in the Standard division to join the National division instead.
Registration: To register for this tournament, please fill out the registration form on the Registration page of the Columbia Cup website. We will email you to confirm your registration promptly. Please note that registration for this tournament will not open until September 6th, 2016 and will close on October 2nd, 2016. Before registration opens, we encourage you to gauge the availability of the students on your team, so that you know how many teams to register once registration opens.
When registering teams for the Columbia Fall Tournament, you can also opt to register some or all of those teams for the entire series of tournaments in the Columbia Cup. Doing so will save you at least $30 per team, as compared to registering those teams for each tournament separately. Dates for the other Columbia Cup tournaments can be found here.
Tournament fees and discounts:
The following table is a summary of the entry fees for this tournament and the Columbia Cup:
| Cost per team | Cost per team, for new schools* | |
| For one tournament | $70 | $45 |
| For all 3 Columbia Cup tournaments | $180 ($60/tournament!) | $100 ($33/tournament!) |
*New schools are defined as schools in NY, NJ, or CT that have not attended a quiz bowl tournament at Columbia University before the 2016-2017 school year.
There are also discounts for bringing buzzers and staffers, or being a participant in Regional Quiz Bowl. In addition, we also offer financial assistance for schools in need of it. Please see the fees and discounts page of the Columbia Cup website for a more complete overview of fees and discounts.
Payment: All entry and registration fees must be paid either in advance or during morning check-in. If you are registering teams for all tournaments in the Columbia Cup series, the entire registration fee must be received by the morning of the Columbia Fall Tournament. If the upfront cost for registering for the Columbia Cup is a burden for your team, please let me know and we can offer financial assistance.
If you are paying by check, please make it payable to “Columbia University,” with “Quiz Bowl” on the memo line. We will also accept cash on the day of the tournament. If you are mailing a check in advance, we recommend that it be sent no later than two weeks before the tournament, and the check should be mailed to:
Huzefa Diwan
1919
70 Morningside Drive
New York, NY 10027
We wish you the best of luck this upcoming season, and hope to see you at our Morningside Heights campus on October 8! If you would have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact quizbowl@columbia.edu.
Columbia Cup 