Organizations » Quiz Team
Quiz Team
Rome Catholic is part of WCNY’s high energy, fast-paced academic quiz show, “Double Down”.
RCS advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" for the competition year 2011!
Go Redwings! View Round 1 on January 8th at 6:00 pm
Link to: http://blogs.wcny.org/getting-to-know-your-top-16-schools/Team
Members: Dominick Provenzano, Jamie Fayette, Anna-Rose Stokes and Brooke Costello
Double Down Host Bill Baker
“Double Down” begins with 36 teams from across Central New York and the champion is crowned in March. In each episode, two teams square off to test their knowledge of science, math, literature, history, current events, arts, and sports.
WCNY 24.1 is a private, tax-exempt, nonprofit organization, and member-supported affiliate of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
WCNY-TV’s Televised High School Academic Quiz Show
Team Participation Guide
2011-2012
Season 7
Purpose
The goals of WCNY-TV’s academic game show Double Down are to:
- spotlight area high school students who are academic achievers
- attract younger viewers to public television
- establish an educational and fun television experience for Central New York viewers
Basic Information
What is Double Down?
Double Down is a half-hour weekly game show for teams of high school students from WCNY’s 19-county viewing area. The show is media and technology rich, fast-paced and fun. The show is taped at WCNY’s studios. Teams of 9th through 12th graders may participate.
Double Down’s Game Overview
Each Double Down match of two teams features three segments of varying lengths. The first segment is designed to make the players more comfortable on TV and to enable teams to quickly accumulate points. A fast-paced and interactive second segment allows teams, rather than just individuals, to answer questions and to wager points. It’s called the Double Down segment. The third and final segment is a single question that will determine the show’s winner. For all segments the host reads the questions and the teams (and viewers at home) are able to see the question on-screen. The score is always visible to the teams in the studio.
How Do Teams Advance in the Double Down Competition?
This season, in Round One competition, although teams will be competing against each other, the ultimate team goal is to accumulate as many points as possible. The 16 highest-scoring teams from Round One will advance to Round Two – the Round of 16. Beginning with Round Two, through to the final match of the season’s competition, all games will be played in a head-to-head single elimination format.
Is There a Live Studio Audience?
Due to space and time constraints, there is no live studio audience for Double Down shows. Each show is taped without interruption in approximately a half-hour, with as many as three Double Down shows taped daily. In addition, other WCNY productions may also take place later in the day requiring the Double Down studio set being taken apart or moved. So school advisors and chaperones are welcome to attend but will be seated in WCNY’s Green Room to watch the Double Down action on a TV monitor.
Double Down Game Format & Rules
Round One Segment
- 20 questions (approx. 8 minutes)
- each question worth 10 points
- no penalty for wrong answer
- questions are for individual players only and alternate back-and-forth between the participating teams
Round Two Double Down Segment
- approx. 13 minutes
- each question is worth 20 points
- a question is asked and the team converses about the response. The student who was questioned provides the answer that the team decides is correct. The questions rotate team-by-team.
- a correct answer to a question allows the team the opportunity to “double down”— that is, the team can choose to take a second (more difficult) question to answer. The team can also converse if they decide to take a double down question. Taking a second question means a team can double the point value of the question, (answer “double down” question correctly and receive an additional 40 pts.). If the “double down” question is answered incorrectly, the team loses the 20 points earned from answering the first question correctly.
- each team is allowed three Double Down opportunities in this segment
Final Round Segment
- approx. 4 minutes
- the final Double Down question’s “Category” will be given and the team will discuss how many points they want to wager. A member of the team will write the points down on an electronic screen.
- the host will read the final question and the question will be displayed for both the team and viewing audience.
- the team can discuss their answer and then the captain will write the answer on the electronic screen that will be hidden from view.
- the team that has the fewest points will start, and the host will display the answer and then the points wagered.
- the winning team is the one with the most points at the end of the final Double Down round.
Tiebreaker
In the event the Final Round Segment ends with both teams having the same score, the team that missed the least number of questions throughout the entire game will be the declared the winner.
Double Down Game Content
Double Down’s questions are created by a panel of educators in the community and WCNY’s Double Down production team. Questions are intended to be educational, interesting, and fun. They are drawn from the following categories:
Ø ELA/Literature (famous authors, books, plays, language, grammar skills…)
Ø History/Geography (important events, famous people, historic dates, places…)
Ø Science (biology, earth science, chemistry, and some physics…)
Ø Math (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and some calculus…)
Ø Arts (famous artists/composers/musicians, famous works of art/musical compositions, genres of art/music, art techniques, musical theory…)
Ø Current Events (news events and some pop culture within current calendar year…)
Ø Sports (game rules, current major sports champions, all-time major sport history…)
How Questions Are Asked
The host will ask the questions from cue cards and there will be a visual display of the question as well for the contestants and viewing audience. Some questions will have images, sound, and/or video clips as cues. Our intent is to make the show fun and competitive for the participants but also visually entertaining for our television viewers.
Judging Answers to the Questions
The studio control room will contain one or more individuals who will act as judges for answers given by students. If an error is made or something needs clarification, it will be done in the breaks between segments. All decisions made by the judges are final.
Team Selection & Preparation
Double Down team advisors may select team members in any fashion that they see fit. While only three students may actively participate (on TV) for any one show, a five person roster should be submitted to WCNY by the advisor, via the Team Roster Form. The school’s five person Double Down team may rotate throughout the season as necessary. Once the Team Roster Form has been submitted, only those students whose names appear on the roster may compete throughout the season.
No practice should be required for the students to answer questions on the show. Some advisors choose to have a club based on participation and/or to combine Double Down with another school activity and group of students. Again, that is up to the advisor/school.
Double Down Competition Required Paperwork
There are three forms that must be completed and submitted in order for teams to be eligible to compete in Double Down. They are:
Team Roster Form
This form lists the names of the five students who make up the school’s Double Down team. The school’s Double Down team advisor must submit this completed form to WCNY’s Director of Interactive Education, either electronically or via US Mail, at least one week in advance of the school’s first scheduled Double Down taping.
Team Member Information Form
Each student on a school’s Double Down team must complete a Team Member Information Form. This information may be used during a team’s appearance on Double Down. The school’s Double Down team advisor must submit completed forms for all team members to WCNY’s Director of Interactive Education, either electronically or via US Mail, at least one week in advance of the team’s first scheduled Double Down taping.
WCNY Release Form
Each student on a school’s Double Down team must have this form completed and signed by his/her parent or guardian signifying parental consent for the student to appear on Double Down and in Double Down promotions. Release forms must be submitted to WCNY’s Director of Interactive Education on the day of the team’s first scheduled Double Down taping. Only team members who submit this form may appear on Double Down.
Scheduling of Team Appearances
In early September, the production schedule for Double Down is sent to each competing school’s Double Down team advisor. In an effort to minimize the total number of trips a team may have to make in order to participate in Double Down, WCNY will host three games per day of taping. For Round One games, a team will only compete once during a day of taping. For subsequent rounds, however, teams may actually compete in up to two games per day of taping. (The winner of the first game taped will play the winner of the second game taped that day in that same day’s third taped game.) The maximum number of times a team would have to travel to WCNY for Double Down is three.
In order to get three games in and finished by 5:00 pm each day of taping, the first game would need to begin taping at 1:30 pm, which means an arrival time of 1:00 pm for teams assigned to a day’s first game. Later games to be taped that day have a team arrival time of 2:00 pm.
Rescheduling of Team Appearance Dates
Due to the challenges of coordinating the over 30 participating Double Down schools with WCNY’s active production schedule, if a school is unable to send its team on the scheduled date and time, it forfeits the game. The only exceptions to this are school closings, inclement weather or a serious extenuating circumstance to be reviewed and decided upon by the WCNY Double Down production team.
Contact Information for WCNY’s Double Down Team
Debbie Stack, Director of Interactive Education (315) 453-2424 x 242
Doug Moreau, Executive Producer (315) 453-2424 x 264
WCNY’s mailing address is: 506 Old Liverpool Road, Liverpool, NY 13088
Dressing for TV
PLEASE ADHERE TO THESE DRESSCODE GUIDELINES
Students are representing their school, district and community and should dress appropriately. WCNY reaches a viewing audience of 1.2 million viewers and we want you to look your best! Remember that for the most part, you are seen on camera from the waist up.
Men’s Options:
Jacket with dress shirt and tie
Jacket with a dress shirt
A dress shirt with a tie
A sweater with dress shirt
A sweater with dress shirt and tie
Women’s Options:
Suit
Skirt/Blouse/Jacket
Skirt/Blouse
Dress Slacks/Blouse/Sweater
Dress
NO: T-shirts
Jeans
Sweatshirts
Logo apparel
Sleeveless or spaghetti strap tops
Additional Tips
- Avoid white, as it causes glare
- Avoid skin color clothing as it will appear on TV as bare skin
- School emblems or crests are permissible if on clothing that complies with the above guidelines