GUIDELINES FOR THE YEAR 2007 BIBLE BOWL

The BIBLE BOWL has been selected by the West Virginia Baptist State Congress of Christian Education to encourage Bible study in our churches. It is competition on the Bible designed for Youth participants from every district in the State. Any District conducting a Bible Bowl contest MUST FOLLOW THE RULES SET FORTH HEREWITH so the winning team may participate in the state contest. No District Officer or Bible Bowl Coordinator may change the terms of these guidelines for their district contest.

Section I - CONTEST PARTICIPANTS

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SELECTION of TEAM PARTICIPANTS: This contest will require that each local Church school select a team of NOT MORE THAN SIX (6) youth, and NOT LESS THAN THREE (3) youth from the Juniors through High School age category (9 years through 18 years of age). No participant can exceed the age of 18 years. Youth who have graduated from high school are not eligible to participate unless they are immediate graduates (within the same year). All contestants must be MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH SCHOOL, BUT DO NOT HAVE TO BE CHRISTIANS to participate.

Each participant must be a pupil of a Church School that has represented financially, in the year 2006, in their district congress and in the State Congress; the Church of which must also have represented financially in the year 2006, in its Association and in the WVBS Convention.

In both the District and State Contest each Church School team will select a captain who may answer or may designate a team member who will give the team's answers. Each team will also have one or more adult coaches who will report and represent along with his or her team in both the District and State contests.

Transportation for participants to the District contest will be the responsibility of the Church School, while transportation to the State finals will be the responsibility of the District the team is representing.

Section II - CONTEST STUDY BOOK AND QUESTIONS

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One hundred questions and 10 tie-breaker questions will be provided by the State Congress to each District for use in their District competition. Another set of 100 different questions will be reserved for the state finals. Each set of questions will cover the study book in its entirety.

STUDY QUESTIONS - The 100 questions to be used in the District contests will be mailed, in January, to each Church School, Pastors and District Congress Officers by the State Congress Bible Bowl Committee. Questions will be restricted to factual information recorded in the book of the Bible studied. The questions will be scrutinized in advance by the Bible Bowl Committee (or its appointee) and questionable material may be deleted or revised at that time. DISTRICT QUESTIONS ARE NOT REPEATED IN THE STATE FINALS AND NO STUDY QUESTIONS ARE MADE AVAILABLE FOR THE STATE FINALS. AT NO TIME CAN QUESTIONS BE ADDED TO OR CHANGED BY INDIVIDUALS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.

Section III - PARTICIPATION IN THE DISTRICT CONTEST

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The teams of the District Church schools will compete against one another during the sessions of the District Congress or at some other time designated by the Congress and agreed upon by the majority of the member schools. In the event that a District does not conduct a Bible Bowl contest, the first two (2) Church School's Superintendents who notifies the District President, by mail on or before June 1st, of their desire to represent the District in the State contest will automatically become the District's representatives in the State contest. The Superintendents of such Church Schools should also notify, in writing, the State Congress Bible Bowl Committee of their eligibility to participate in the state contest.

Two weeks prior to the District contest (or before ) each school which sponsors a team to the District contest must submit to the District President or the District Contest Committee a list of its team members to facilitate the district's preparation for the Bible bowl contest. Each local Church school will be responsible for providing transportation for it's team to the District competition.

NO SCHOOL, DISTRICT OFFICER OR BIBLE BOWL COORDINATOR MAY CHANGE

THE GUIDELINES FOR DISTRICT CONTEST WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE STATE BIBLE BOWL COMMITTEE.

Section IV - PARTICIPATION IN THE STATE CONTEST

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NOTIFICATION:	The first place team MUST notify the second and third place teams and the District Bible Bowl Coordinator immediately ( on the same day) after the contest if they are not going to participate in the State finals. Failure to do this will forfeit the teams' first place position in the district contest and all awards that accompany the first place position.

ADVANCEMENT: The District Championship first and second place teams will advance to the state finals.

EXPENSES:	Each district congress will be responsible for providing "pool"transportation for its District Championship Team to the state competition and the cost to cover meals and team participation during the contest.

DRESS CODE:	All team members, coaches and sponsors must abide by the dress code of the Hilltop Baptist Center which includes long pants and dress shirts for boys and dresses/skirts for girls. Appropriate Tee shirts may be worn to identify church school teams if desired. Anyone who is not dressed appropriately will not be allowed to participate in the State completion.

*Note on Large Districts and Sub-Districts: In the larger District, with several regional divisions, those sub-
districts which represent separately into the State Congress have the privilege of holding individual competitions within their local regions. This is in addition to sponsoring teams in their overall District Congress competitions. They may also sponsor a team in the state contest if they so desire. Because of individual taxation, these sub-
districts must be given equal opportunities to sponsor a team in the state contest.

TEAM REGISTRATION:	District teams must register their team with the Bible Bowl Committee of the State Congress by Monday after the first Lord's Day in June. Any team that does not register by this time will automatically disqualify themselves for participation in the state contest.

STATE NOTIFICATION	(1) Name of participants and their coach or coaches, (2) Age of each team member, (3) Name of the District the team represents and its president, (4) Name of winning teams' Church School and the telephone number of its Pastor Superintendent and coaches.

REPRESENTATION:	Financially represent all team members and coaches with the Congress during the annual session and present to the Bible Bowl Committee the receipt and receive Bible Bowl participant badges for each team member and coaches.

they will forfeit their opportunity to participate in the state finals.

In the event that some emergency makes substitutions in team membership necessary between the time the district contest was held and the time of the state contest, the coaches must submit to the State Congress office, in writing, the names and ages of each substitute at least one hour prior to the start of the state contest.

Section V - CONTEST PROCEDURES

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The following procedures MUST be followed by all those conducting a Bible Bowl contest so that the competition will be fair and equitable.

REQUIRED PERSONNEL:	The following personnel must be available on the day of the contest:

Title	Tasks
QUIZMASTER	This person puts the questions to each team.
MONITOR	This person keeps a record of which team answered the last question and which team is eligible to answer the next question.
SCORE KEEPERS	Two score keepers are needed to keep accurate record of the points earned by each team. One score keeper records the scores on paper, and the other records the scores on the blackboard.
TIME KEEPER	A time keeper keeps time for each team's response and calls "Time" or rings a bell when the 15 seconds allowed for each team to respond is up.
RESEARCHERS	Three researchers are needed to reject or accept the answer given by the team captains or designatee.

STATE MONITOR:	This person monitors the procedures of the contest to assure that the guidelines set forth in this document were followed. A state monitor will be assigned to each district contest by the state Bible Bowl Committee. Expenses of this Monitor shall be paid by the District.

JUDGES:	The above persons, in addition to the District and State President, will compose the PANEL OF JUDGES for the contest. All decisions of these judges will be final.

COORDINATOR:	Each district shall appoint a Bible Bowl Coordinator who will (1) select and instruct the above personnel except the State Monitor; (2) meet with the researchers 2 hours before the start of the contest to allow them to review the contest questions and for last minute instructions; (3) prepare the contest site, including the provision of paper, pencils, stop watch, bell, registration forms, signs etc. and arranging for proper seating to discourage distractions and coaching from the audience; (4) report the results of the Bible Bowl to the State Congress Bible Bowl Committee (using the form provided in the contest packets) and (5) return the contest packet back to the State Congress office.

The Coordinator is responsible for assuring that the researchers have read the study book prior to the contest.

CONTEST PACKETS:	At least two (2) weeks prior to the start of the contest the Coordinator shall make a request, in writing, to the Congress Bible Bowl Committee for a contest packet. The name and address of the person who is to receive the packet must be part of the written request. The Bible Bowl Committee will be responsible for seeing that the identified person receives the contest packet in time for the contest. Included in this packet is: 4-Sets of official contest questions with answers; a list of any corrections or changes that must be made, 1-Set of contest questions for the Quiz Master, 1- set of questions for each researcher, a winning Team Report Form, 1-Set of Bible Bowl Guidelines and, 1-Set of 10 Tie-breaker Questions.

CONDUCTING THE CONTEST: The following guidelines shall be followed the day of the contest:

A.	Drawing numbers - Prior to the start of the contest, each team shall draw a number to determine the order of the seating of the teams and which team will receive the first question.

B	Instructing the researchers - The researchers should be instructed to respond to the team's answer by using the terms, "Correct" or "incorrect" for clear communication. The research team should respond only after consultation with each other. TWO HOURS PRIOR TO THE START OF THE CONTEST THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SHALL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE CONTEST RESEARCHERS.

C. Instructing the teams/audience -	Prior to the first question being asked the following instruction will be given to the teams and audience:

1. 15 seconds will be allowed for each answer. If the team has not begun an answer by that time, or answers incorrectly, the question will be passed on to the next team in turn until the correct answer is given, or until all teams have had an opportunity to answer. A correct answer moves the following question to the next team.

2. NOT ALL TEAMS WILL HAVE THE SAME NUMBER OF QUESTIONS PUT TO THEM, because of the "round robin" nature of the contest (This is why, at the beginning of the contest, each team draws a number to see who goes first).

3. Each question will be read twice during the State Finals but may be read only once during the District contest (each District should determine how they are to handle this prior to the contest and make the announcement accordingly).

4. The maximum time to be allowed for the state contest will be three (3) hours.

5. The score will be recorded on the blackboard for the first 50 questions; after which the score will not be recorded on the blackboard. However, the total score for each team will be announced by the score keepers after each set of 25 questions.

6. Only the researchers may indicate if an answer is "correct" or "incorrect" and only after consultation with each other. The researchers must accept the first answer given by the team captain or other designated team member.

D. Breaking a tie -	In the case of a tie, the tie will be resolved in the following manner: 5 written questions will be given to each of the tied teams. They will answer in writing. The team which turns in their answers with the greater number of correct answers will be declared the winner. If the tie is not broken at this time, another set of 5 tie breaker questions will be given. If there is no winner after the second set of questions the Judges will determine the way the tie will be broken.

E. Returning materials -	All questions and packet materials must be returned to the State Monitor at the end of the District contest.

Section VI - FINANCIAL REPRESENTATION

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All Church Schools must have represented, in the year 2006, in their District Congress and in the State Congress; the Church of which must also have represented financially, in the year 2006 in its Association and in the WV Baptist State Convention.

Section VII - ANNOUNCEMENT OF STUDY BOOK OF THE BIBLE

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The State Congress will announce one year in advance, at its Annual Session in June, the Book(s)of the Bible to be studied for the next year's competition. The Original King James Version of the Bible will the only approved reference for contest questions and answers.

Section VIII - CONTEST AWARDS

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DISTRICT AWARDS:	Districts will provide certificates of participation and travel expenses for teams to the state contest such as expenses to cover one round trip to and from the state finals including fees for meals and for teams participating in the state finals.

Trophies are provided to the first, second and third place teams as part of the state finals and are not given at the district level.

STATE AWARDS:	All teams participating in the state finals and their coaches will receive a certificate to recognize their participation in the Bible Bowl. Additionally, the first, second and third place teams in the state finals will each receive a trophy. The First Place Church School will be awarded up to $2,000 towards expenses for a team member to attend the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., Congress of Christian Education. The amount of this award will vary depending on the estimated expenses which will be determined by the Executive Board of the State Congress, up to $2,000. This team member must inform the Bible Bowl Committee of their intentions to go to the National Congress. If more than one team member goes to the National Congress, all expenses over the allocated amount must be paid by the Church School.

Congress of Christian Education, Auxiliary, WVBSC	.

Bible Bowl Committee

P. O. Box 283

Hilltop, WV 25855