CNYQuA is committed to the spread of low-cost, high-quality, single-day regional academic quizbowl tournaments:
Low-cost – CNYQuA tournaments will generally cost only around $80-90 per team to participate, with discounts available for bringing working buzzer systems and/or capable readers, or for traveling long distances.
High-quality – players and coaches at CNYQuA tournaments can expect an efficiently-run experience with few delays and fair competition. They can further expect questions to be of a difficulty and read in a fashion consistent with national standards of speed and clarity.
Single-day – any CNYQuA tournament will take place during a single day, most typically on a Saturday starting at around 9:00am and ending around 5:00pm. Participants at CNYQuA tournaments can expect to play in 8–10 matches over the course of the day.
Regional – we are focused on the central Finger Lakes region of New York, though we regularly welcome teams/schools from anywhere else in the state, or even out of state, at our tournaments!
Academic quizbowl is a game in which two teams — usually featuring four students on each — compete head-to-head to answer questions from all areas of knowledge, including literature, science, history, fine arts, mythology, social sciences, philosophy, geography, and more. See our What is Quizbowl? section for more.
Most CNYQuA tournaments are oriented for high school players and teams. See our Tournament Calendar page a list of events.
Founder: Benjamin Kirk (Formerly Ithaca, now Albany, NY) — As the coach of the Ithaca High School "Brain Team" from 2009 through 2023, Ben Kirk oversaw the growth of the team from a strong local team to a nationally-recognized powerhouse, finishing as high as 5th place in the 2017 and 2019 NAQT High School National Championship Tournaments. He has long sought to increase the quantity and quality of quizbowl in Central NY. Ben has been a member of the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE) since 2022.
Co-Founder: Maxine Babcock (Syracuse, NY)
Co-Founder: Victoria Lehman (Geneva, NY)
Co-Founder: Daniel Kolodny (Syracuse, NY)
Please contact us at cnyqua@gmail.com with any questions.