Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence

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]

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

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 are allowed for bonuses. 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
YearLocationField sizeChampionRunner-upCooper AwardYoung Ambassador Award
1998[9]Case Western Reserve University29State College Area High SchoolHenry Ford II High SchoolSue Ikenberry, coach at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC, on behalf of Ben Cooper—
1999[10]University of Pennsylvania22[11]State College Area High School (2)Rockville High SchoolJoe Hermiller, coach at E.L. Bowsher High School—
2000[12]Furman University16State College Area High School (3)Eisenhower High SchoolRick Barry, James Garrick, and Hodges Lewis, operators of Academic Competition Enterprises—
2001[13]Bowling Green State University22State College Area High School (4)Georgetown Day SchoolRobert C. Grierson, editor of Scholastic Visions, the newsletter of the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association—
2002[14]The George Washington University40Richard Montgomery High SchoolDetroit Catholic Central High SchoolDouglas 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 University27Paul M. Dorman High SchoolThomas Jefferson High School for Science and TechnologyCarolyn Hawkins, coach at Cookeville High School—
2004[16]University of Maryland, College Park40Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International StudiesThomas Jefferson High School for Science and TechnologyPaul Cain, coach at Ysleta High SchoolMatt Weiner, Virginia Commonwealth University and David Bykowski, formerly of Furman University and University of Michigan
2005[17]Valencia Community College31Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (1)State College Area High SchoolSue Korosa, coach at Copley High SchoolThomas Egan, coach at Maine South High School, formerly of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
2006[18]North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics29Raleigh Charter High SchoolRichard Montgomery High SchoolBob Weiser, coach at Solon High School and Dr. John Barnes, coach at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International StudiesEric Grunden, coach at Raleigh Charter High School
2007[19]University of Michigan36Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies (2)Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High SchoolJulie Gittings, coach at State College Area High SchoolEvan Silberman, It's Academic co-captain at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
2008[20]George Mason University48Walt Whitman High SchoolThomas Jefferson High School for Science and TechnologyMatt 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 University64Charter School of WilmingtonState College Area High SchoolEric Huff, coach for Paul M. Dorman High SchoolChristian Carter, player from Minneapolis South High School and webmaster of quizbowlpackets.com
2010[23]George Mason University64State 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 University60State College Area High School (6)Hunter College High SchoolMatt Weiner, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityCharlie Dees, Jeffrey Hill, Paul Nelson, and Christine Whelehon, on behalf of the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance
2012[25]Washington University in St. Louis60Hunter College High SchoolBellarmine College PreparatoryDavid Riley, coach of Loyola Academy and Linda Greene, coach of Auburn High SchoolLily Chen, player from Hunter College High School
2013[26]University of Maryland, College Park72Ladue Horton Watkins High SchoolLiberal Arts and Science AcademyChris Chiego of University of California, San Diego and Dwight Wynne of University of California, IrvineMax Schindler, player from Ladue Horton Watkins High School
2014[27]Washington, D.C.96Liberal Arts and Science Academy (1)Western Albemarle High SchoolJeff Hoppes of NAQTMatt Bollinger, player from the University of Virginia
2015[28]Washington D.C.96Detroit Catholic Central High School (1)Liberal Arts and Science AcademyJoshua Rutsky, coach of Hoover High SchoolNicholas Karas, player from the University of California, Berkeley
2016Chicago, Illinois96Liberal Arts and Science Academy (2)Adlai E. Stevenson High SchoolSheryl and Michael Cvijanovich of Matt's BuzzersAnkit Aggarwal, player from the University of California, Berkeley
2017Chicago, Illinois96Detroit Catholic Central High School (2)Westview High SchoolFred Morlan, University of KentuckyJackie Wu, player from Downingtown High School East
2018Washington, D.C.96Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (2)Dublin Scioto High SchoolChad Kubicek, National Academic Quiz TournamentsKady Hsu, player from Rancho Bernardo High School
2019Washington, D.C.96Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (3)James E. Taylor High SchoolMatt Albert, Justin Sharp, and Paul Villaluz, Las Vegas Quiz Bowl AllianceConnor 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
2021Virtual80Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (4)Hunter College High SchoolBen Herman, Greater Pennsylvania QuizBowlEm Gunter, player from Salem High School
2022Chicago, Illinois72Lambert High SchoolThomas Jefferson High School for Science and TechnologyKristin Strey, Scholastic Community Outreach ProgramKevin Kodama, player from the University of Washington
2023Chicago, Illinois72Barrington High SchoolThomas Jefferson High School for Science and TechnologyJay Winter, Iowa Quiz Bowl League and coach at Waukee Northwest High SchoolJoy An, player from Choate Rosemary Hall

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. "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. 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.
  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.
  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.
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