Rules

2004 Southeastern Wildlife Conclave (18-20 March 2004)

Rules

Creative and Talent Competitions

Entries for the creative and talent competitions must be submitted upon registration. Materials will be on display until judging. Individuals must be present to accept the award. The decision of the judges will be final.

Essay: The essay topic is "Wildlife and human interaction: The consequences of ecotourism and how it applies to the future of wildlife management." The essay must be a typed, double-spaced, and no more than three pages in length not including the literature cited. ASU professors will perform judging. To eliminate biases, please do not put your name or school name on the essay. Instead each essay will be assigned a unique number

Art: Categories include drawing, painting, and "free form" (e.g., sculptures, carving, etc.). Entries must have a wildlife-related theme. Each individual may enter only one item over 14" x 18".

Photography: There will be 3 categories: black and white, color print, and color slides. Pictures must contain a wildlife related theme. There is a limit of three entries per entrant per category. Entries that have previously published or have won any other competition will not be permitted.

Game Calling: A calling contest will be held at the Thursday night social. The categories are: duck, turkey, goose, other game, other non-game. The use of calling devises will be permitted. There is a limit of two callers per category per school.

Individual Competitions

Obstacle Course: Each school must enter a team of 4 members. Each team will be responsible for completing a series of tasks. The team to complete the course in the least amount of time will be the winners. Contestants must be prepared to get wet and muddy, a change of clothes is recommended.

Archery: Compound, Recurve, or Long Bow only. Be prepared for 10-15 targets. Limited to 5 arrows. Must use your own equipment. No sharing. Limit 2 shooters per school.

Canoe Competition: Each team must consist of two members. Once the competition begins, each team must complete one or more tasks prior to return trip to shore. Contestants will be using canoes and personal flotation devices that will be provided. The school completing the course in the least amount of time will be the winners.

Water Quality: Teams of two will be required to compete. Teams will be charged with determining, calculating, and analyzing the physical and chemical properties of a body of water. Equipment needed to perform the analysis will be provided. The team with the most correct answers will be the winners.

Dendrology: This competition will consist of up to 20 trees. Scoring will be as follows: one point per correct name: family, genus, species and common name. Due to regional variation in common names, Petersons Guide to Eastern Trees will be utilized to determine the correct common name. Up to two representatives may participate from each school, but only the highest score will count.

Radiotelemetry: Up to two participants per school. Equipment will be provided. Participants will have to locate transmitters by triangulation. Stations will be set up with receivers and teams will take bearings on transmitters from these stations. This event will be timed, so speed plays a role. The team that has the lowest error in the estimated location of the transmitters will be declared the winners.

Team Competition

The team competition will include all representatives from the schools. Stations will be set up along a trail and will include but not be limited to species identification, equipment usage, and habitat assessment. Some of the stations will be timed so getting from station to station quickly is recommended. Teamwork is a must. All members should wear appropriate clothing and footwear. Scores from each station will be totaled and the team with the highest score will be declared the winners.

Quiz Bowl Rules

	Each team (1 team/ school) may consist of up to five players with no more than four participating at once (i.e., 1 team member will be an alternate). There may be no more than two graduate students per team. A graduate student is defined as a person that does not hold an advanced degree, thus Ph.D. students are not eligible to compete in Quiz Bowl.
	Quiz bowl is a double elimination tournament. Team pairings will be chosen at random for the first round. Pairings in subsequent rounds will be determined by a team’s ability to win. If a team advances to the final round unbeaten, the challenging team (winner from the loser’s bracket) must beat the undefeated team in two consecutive rounds to win first place.
	Matches will be 10 minutes, except for the final round, which will be 15 minutes.
	When the final bell rings, the game is over. If the game ends while a question is being asked, the game ends at that point. If the final bell rings while a toss-up or bonus question is being answered, the game ends after the allotted time for the answer has expired. For the purpose of this rule, players who have signaled, but have not been acknowledged, will be allowed to answer. Should time expire while a toss-up question is being answered correctly, there will be a bonus question awarded if it has bearing on the outcome of the game.
	On all questions, the first answer given will be the one accepted (i.e., there will be no second thoughts). The moderator reserves the right to ask the respondent to "be more specific."
	If the pronunciation of the answer to a taxonomically related question is unclear to the moderator, the respondent may be asked to spell the answer. If spelled incorrectly, the answer will be considered incorrect.
	If the score is tied at the end of the match, the match will be extended an additional 5 minutes.
	The team with the highest score at the end of the match will be the winner.
	A judging committee of the host school faculty members, professional wildlife biologists, etc., will be the referees of any challenge that may arise.

Specific Rules for Toss-up Questions

	Matches begin with a toss-up question open to both teams. Each toss up question is worth ten points
	Only one person may answer a toss-up question. A team member signals to answer by pressing a button that activates a buzzer and light. The first team member to respond is indicated by their individual light.
	Following the reading of a toss-up question, 5 seconds will be allowed for a team to signal for an answer. If no one signals within the allotted time, the moderator will give the answer and the next question will be asked.
	The moderator will acknowledge the signal by verbally announcing the team member’s school and number of the player. If the player answers before being acknowledged, the moderator will state the answer cannot be accepted and the opposing team will be given a chance to signal (5 seconds), be acknowledged, and answer. This rule applies irrespective of whether the unaccepted answer given is correct or incorrect!
	The team member acknowledged has 10 seconds to answer the question. If the answer is heard from the audience, the question will be discarded. 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. This applies regardless if an answer was heard or not.
	Should a team member give a wrong answer to a toss-up question, the opposing team has a total of 5 seconds in which to signal. The team member will then be acknowledged and allowed an additional 10 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 will stop reading at that point. If, after being acknowledged, the answer given is wrong, the entire question is repeated for the opposing team. One team member must signal and be acknowledged as in all toss-up questions. In the event that a member of the opposing team signals before the question has been repeated, the moderator will stop reading the question, and acknowledge that team member for the answer. If the question was completed, it will not be repeated.

Specific Rules for Bonus Questions

A bonus question will consist of 1, 2, or 4 parts. The bonus question, a total of 20 points, will be divided accordingly.

Bonus questions are a team effort, but the answer decided upon for each part can only be accepted from the team captain. The team will have a total of 30 seconds in which to answer all parts after the question is completely read.

All bonus questions will be oral, audio, video/slide, or carry-on specimen(s).

Challenges

Toss-ups: If an answer ruled incorrect is believed to be correct by a team member, the player can challenge the moderator’s ruling by appealing to the judging committee. Challenges can 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 is incorrect, a challenge to the judging committee may be made. To challenge, a team member should activate the buzzer/light and wait to be recognized! When a challenge is made, the clock will stop until the judges have made their final decision. Challenges must be made before the bonus or next toss-up question is read.

Bonus: Challenges of bonus question rulings must be made before the next toss-up question is read.