Who seeks the National Quiz Bowl Championship, must answer thee, these questions three, before the trophy you shall see…What is your name?…What is your quest?…What is the scientific name of the European Swallow?
O.K., it may not be the Holy Grail, but the National Quiz Bowl Championship does come with some hefty bragging rights. You won’t have to pass a bridge-keeper or a killer rabbit to get to it, but you will have to answer challenging questions about wildlife biology, ecology, management, and policy, among other topics.
The Quiz Bowl, part of the 2010 Annual Conference in Snowbird Utah, will be held Tuesday evening 5 October 2010 beginning at 6:00 pm. The complete student quiz bowl rules, including team eligibility, are listed below.
If you are interested in registering for the competition, please contact Frank Howe at
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by 15 September 2010. Put “Quiz Bowl Registration” in the subject line and let me know which college or university you will represent.
By the way, it’s a trick question, there is no species called the European Swallow, neither is there an African Swallow nor a Coconut-laden Swallow. Perhaps Monty Python is not your best quiz bowl study guide.
Quiz Bowl Rules
The Quiz Bowl (the wildlife version of jeopardy) is a fun and exciting event where you can watch schools compete in wildlife trivia.
Participation is open to teams composed of either: (a) members of a single student chapter of TWS or (b) student members of TWS (dues-paying members of the national/international organization) from a single university or college that doesn’t have a student chapter. Only one team is allowed per university or college.
Each team may consist of up to five players with no more than four participating at once. The fifth team member serves as an alternate. Only undergraduate students may serve on the teams.
Competition is in the form of a single elimination tournament. Team pairings are chosen at random.
Each match lasts ten minutes. The final match lasts fifteen minutes.
When the final bell rings, the match is over. If the match ends while a question is being asked, the match ends at that point. If the bell rings while a toss-up or bonus question is being answered, the match ends after the allotted time for the answer has expired. Players who have signaled but who have not yet been acknowledged will be allowed to answer. Should time expire while a toss-up question is being answered correctly, a bonus question is awarded if it has bearing on the outcome of the match.
Once a question is read completely, it is not repeated.
On all questions, the first answer given is the one accepted (i.e., there are no second thoughts). The moderator reserves the right to ask the respondent to “be more specific.”
If the pronunciation of the answer to a taxonomic or other type of question is unclear to the moderator, the respondent may be asked to spell the answer. If spelled incorrectly, the answer is considered incorrect.
Team members are allowed to use a small notepad during the match. Team members also are allowed to view the questions on a screen as they are asked.
The team with the highest score at the end of the match is the winner.
If the score is tied at the end of a match, the match is extended an additional five minutes. If after five minutes the match still is tied, a sudden death round is held in which the first team to answer a question correctly wins.
A judging committee comprised of faculty members, professional wildlife biologists, etc. serves as referees for any challenges that may arise.
In order to maintain a professional and studious atmosphere suitable for eliciting the best performances from the teams, no alcohol will be allowed in the room. Teams, members of the audience, judges, and the moderator are asked to refrain from drinking alcohol during the course of the event.
Matches begin with a toss-up question open to both teams. Each toss-up question is worth ten points. Full points are earned for a correct answer. No points are lost for an incorrect answer.
Following the reading of a toss-up question, five seconds are allowed to signal for an answer. If no one signals within the allotted time, the question is answered by the moderator and the next question asked.
Only one person may answer a toss-up question. The first team member to respond is indicated by his/her individual light.
The moderator acknowledges the signal by verbally announcing the team member’s school and name/number. If the player answers before being acknowledged, the moderator states the answer cannot be accepted and the opposing team is given a chance to signal (five seconds), be acknowledged, and answer. This rule applies irrespective of whether the unaccepted answer given is correct or incorrect.
The team member acknowledged has ten seconds to answer the question. If any discussion occurs between members of a team on a toss-up question, that team forfeits the right to gain points and the other team gets a chance to answer after being acknowledged. If at any point the answer is heard from the audience, the question is discarded.
Should a team member give a wrong answer to a toss-up question, the opposing team has a total of five seconds to signal. The opposing team member who signals first is acknowledged and allowed ten seconds to answer the question.
A team member may signal to answer a toss-up question as it is being asked. When this occurs, the moderator stops reading at that point. If, after being acknowledged, the answer given is wrong, the team loses five points and the entire question is repeated for the opposing team. As in all toss-up questions, a team member must signal and be acknowledged before answering the question. In the event that a member of the opposing team signals before the question has been repeated or repeated completely, the moderator stops reading the question and acknowledges that team member for an answer. Once the question is read completely, it is not repeated.
The team that answers a toss-up question correctly is given a bonus question.
A bonus question consists of up to four parts. Bonus questions are worth a total of twenty points with points divided equally among the parts. Points are earned for each part answered correctly according to the value of the part. No points are lost for incorrect answers.
Bonus questions are a team effort, but the answer decided upon for each part is only accepted from the team captain. The team has a total of thirty seconds to answer all parts of the question after it has been read.
Bonus questions may reference carry-on specimens, slides, or audio.
For toss-up questions: If an answer ruled incorrect is believed to be correct by a team member, the team captain may challenge the moderator’s ruling by appealing to the judging committee. Challenges may be made only after the opposing team has had an opportunity to answer. Also, if a member of the opposing team believes an answer ruled correct to be incorrect, the team captain may challenge the moderator’s ruling by appealing to the judging committee. The clock is stopped until the judges make their final decision. Challenges must be made before the bonus or next toss-up question is read.
For bonus questions: If an answer ruled incorrect is believed to be correct by a team member, the team captain may challenge the moderator’s ruling by appealing to the judging committee. Also, if a member of the opposing team believes an answer ruled correct to be incorrect, the team captain may challenge the moderator’s ruling by appealing to the judging committee. The clock is stopped until the judges make their final decision. Challenges must be made before the next toss-up question is read.
