YSU Academic Challenge
Encyclopedia
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
area high school quiz bowl program that airs on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
station WYTV on Saturday nights and reairs on Sunday nights on MyYTV. Stan Boney, the chief meteorologist at WYTV, is the host of this program that premiered in 2002. In 2008 Academic Challenge changed its appearance but kept its old rules.
Original format
When it premiered, the show was taped at Bliss Hall on the campus of Youngstown State UniversityYoungstown State University
Youngstown State University, founded in 1908, is an urban research university located in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. As of fall 2010, there were 15,194 students and a student-faculty ratio of 19:1. It is recognized as being one of the premier schools in the country, comparable to Ivy League...
. Two teams of four students representing different high schools across the WYTV
WYTV
WYTV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Mahoning Valley of Northeastern Ohio and Northwestern Pennsylvania that is licensed to Youngstown. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter on Shady Run Road in Boardman Township...
viewing area compete in a game similar to that of the format of College Bowl
College Bowl
College Bowl was a format of college-level quizbowl run and operated by College Bowl Company, Incorporated. It had a format similar to the current NAQT format. College Bowl first aired on US radio stations in 1953, and aired on US television from 1959 to 1970...
.
In the first season, questions were restricted to ten categories announced by the host at the start of the show (e.g. Social Science, Sports and Leisure). One team was given a category and a question. A correct answer was worth 10 points, and the right to answer more questions until the team missed one. Upon an incorrect answer, the other team could attempt that same question, but its value was halved.
Towards the end of the match, the teams could wager any part of or all of their points to answer one final question, à la Final Jeopardy! on Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
A correct answer added the wagered points, while an incorrect answer deducted them. The team with the most points won the game and advanced through further rounds of an elimination tournament to determine the champion.
Current format
Prior to the start of the second season, production moved to the studio at the station. The format was also changed.Two teams of four still competed. The first round is called the Buzz-In round. A special category is announced by the host prior to the start of the match, and is in play throughout the game. In the Buzz-In Round, all players have buzzers in hand. A question is asked, and the first team to ring in gets to answer the question. A correct answer is worth 10 points. In the Buzz-In round only, 10 points are deducted for an incorrect answer. Only the team that buzzed in first gets to answer a question (no capitalizing on an opposing team's miss in this round).
Round two originally was the Lightning Round (more on this round below), but is currently the Volleyball Round. The team that is trailing starts the round. Each team takes turns answering questions. A correct answer is once again worth 10 points. If an incorrect answer is given, the other team gets the opportunity to attempt that same question, along with one of their own. No team can control the board for more than two questions. The special category is again in play. (In an earlier version of the Volleyball Round, a team kept control as long as they answered questions correctly.)
Round three originally was the Volleyball Round, but is currently the Lightning Round. In the Lightning Round, the team that is trailing starts the round by selecting a packet of questions marked either "A" or "B". The team will have 3 minutes to answer as many questions as they can. Correct answers are worth 10 points. A team can also elect to pass on a question if they do not know the answer. The special category is in play for this round. The process then repeats for the other team.
Round four is the Final Challenge Round, with buzzers. Correct answers are worth 10 points, but an incorrect answer gives the other team the opportunity to steal the points with a correct answer. The team with the most points wins the game and advances through further rounds of an elimination tournament to determine the champion. In the event of a tie at the end of the Final Challenge Round, an additional question is asked, following the rules of the Final Challenge Round. This "one-question playoff" was used during the game between Springfield and Lakeview on April 12, 2008. Lakeview buzzed in and answered the question correctly to win the game.
Throughout the school year, the teams competing are high school teams. A middle school tournament is also held during the summer.
Toledo version
A new version of this show premiered on December 11, 2010 on WNWO-TVWNWO-TV
WNWO-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Northwest Ohio that is licensed to Toledo. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter northeast of Oregon. Owned by Barrington Broadcasting, the station has studios on South Byrne Road...
in Toledo, OH and on December 12, 2010 on WBGU-TV
WBGU-TV
WBGU-TV is a Public Broadcasting Service member Public television station in Bowling Green, Ohio operated by the Bowling Green State University. Unlike its companion radio station, WBGU , WBGU-TV is not primarily operated by students at the university.The station was founded in 1964 and currently...
in Bowling Green, OH. This version is hosted by WNWO's chief meteorologist, Norm Van Ness, and uses the same rules as the Youngstown version, except that no special category is used.
Youngstown High School Champions
| Year | Winning Team |
|---|---|
| 2003 | Liberty |
| 2004 | Ursuline |
| 2005 | Howland |
| 2006 | Salem |
| 2007 | Boardman |
| 2008 | Cardinal Mooney |
| 2009 | Howland |
| 2010 | Cardinal Mooney |