St. Jerome Book Battle – Middle School Competition Rules
1. Each school will send the names of its participating students to a St. Jerome Book Battle Coordinator at least three weeks prior to the battle.
Each team may have up to twelve players but only six players per team will compete during a round. Substitutions are permitted between rounds only.
In the competition room, neither team players, coaches, or audience members may have copies of the books on the current St. Jerome Book Battle list in any format.
Team players should not have a cell phone, a timing device (including watches), or any other electronic device during the competition.
Order of play will be pre-determined by the competition coordinator(s), with each team having an opportunity to receive the first question in a round. A round will consist of twelve questions.
The moderator will read each question once and will repeat it once upon the request of the team player assigned the question. The clock will continue to run while the question is repeated.
The moderator will say the team player’s name, state the question, and repeat the player’s name to start the time (20 seconds). Questions will be answered by players in sequential order. The person answering may get help from the other active players on their team in the round within the 20 second time limit, but he/she may not confer until the moderator repeats their name a second time. Once the answer has begun, conferring is no longer allowed.
If any coach or member of a team confers or appears to confer at an inappropriate time, or displays unsportsmanlike conduct, the team will receive a verbal warning from the judges. The judge will state that it is an official warning.
Additional offenses will result in the offending team forfeiting its opportunity to respond. Judges will have a sheet marking the first warning to a specific team.
If there is audible prompting from the audience, the question will be disqualified and another question will be asked.
Two (2) points will be awarded for each correct book title as it appears on the official booklist. Judges will disregard articles such as “a,” "an,” and "the" at the beginning of all titles. One (1) bonus point will be awarded for the name of the author as it appears on the official booklist. A team cannot earn bonus points for the author's name unless the title has been stated correctly. Judges’ decisions are final.
If, at the end of 20 seconds, the player is unable to answer the question or answers incorrectly, the opposing team has 10 seconds in which to give the correct title. Rebound questions will not provide an opportunity to receive an additional point for the author.
Once the player has started the answer, he/she may finish even though time is called during the response. However, the player must clearly and succinctly state the title without pause before the answer may be accepted for two points.
The player with the rebound answer may offer the author’s name along with the title but will not receive an extra point for it.
Coaches will accompany their team and sit in their designated seating area while their team is competing. Except for tent cards and team posters, team members and coaches may not carry any coaching/competition materials into the designated competition area.
Conferences between team players and their coaches are prohibited during rounds. Conversation is allowed between rounds and scheduled breaks.
All students must remain in their seats during a round. There will be no entering the competition area during a round from anyone besides competition officials.
Only one challenge per team per round is allowed. A set of books for each St. Jerome Book Battle list will be available to settle challenges and a team will have 3 minutes to find their challenge answer.
Challenges (to questions, answers, procedures, or time) will be managed in the following manner:
a. A team member or coach will raise his/her hand and call out "TIME” immediately following the action that is challenged and before the question is redirected or the next question is asked. Only active players and designated coaches are allowed to challenge.
b. Coaches can only challenge time, scoring, or rotation. Coaches may not challenge question content.
c. Participating team players may challenge procedural issues and content of the question directed to their team during the 20 second answer period or immediately after providing an answer that has been rejected as correct by the judge.
d. If active players challenge the content of the question or the answer that has been provided, the active players will be given three minutes to locate verification. Timing should begin when the team has the book and the judge says, “BEGIN TIME.”
e. The coordinator will quietly confer with the team and report the concern directly to the judges, using the appropriate challenge form.
f. If verification is found within 3 minutes, full points will be awarded to the team that made the challenge.
g. If verification is not found in the allotted 3 minutes, a new question will be redirected to the next team and play will resume.
h. During the verification process, the challenging players may confer with only other active team players. There should be no talking, conferring, or appearance of conferring by opposing teams and any of the coaches.
i. Once the judges have reached their decision, the coordinator will relay the form to the moderator who will then announce the challenge and decision to the audience, and the battle will resume.
j. The judges’ decision is final.
The total points from the preliminary rounds for each team will be added together. The two teams with the highest score will advance to the championship battle. If there are two teams tied for points after the team with the highest number of points, a tie breaking round or rounds will take place between those two teams. The two opposing teams will compete until the team with the lowest score is eliminated.
In the championship round, there will be two rounds with twelve questions each. Scoring will start at zero. If there is a tie at the end of two rounds, rounds will continue until a winner is determined.
Flash photography and videotaping is prohibited. Non-flash photography is allowed by audience members. It will be at the discretion of competition officials to limit or stop any photography /videography that becomes a distraction to the competition and its participants. *Coaches will be responsible for informing competition officials if a player does not have a photo release within their school.
Cell phones, laptops or tablets, and all other electronic devices are permitted for spectators, however, competition officials have the right to request anyone causing a distraction to leave the competition room.