I.             About Online ROTOQUIZ 2021

A.         The 87-years’-young Rotary Club of Bangalore has been conducting a yearly General Knowledge ROTOQUIZ for 11th, 12th, Pre-University, Undergraduate and Post-Graduate students since 1959.

B.         ROTOQUIZ is sponsored by its creator/founder and ex-Rotarian, Late Ramnarayan Chellaram and his family.  For the Chellaram family, this will be the 61^st year of sponsoring ROTOQUIZ.

C.         For the first 56 years, ROTOQUIZ was conducted in Bangalore.  Participating students were from Bangalore’s educational institutions.

D.        For the last five years, in conjunction with the 71-years’-young Rotary Club of Mangalore, ROTOQUIZ is conducted, both in Mangalore and Bangalore.

E.         Last year, one of India’s doyens of Rotary, the 92-years’-young Rotary Club of Madras joined Mangalore and Bangalore in conducting ROTOQUIZ.

F.          This year, the 85-years’-young Rotary Club of Cochin honours Rotary Clubs of Bangalore, Madras and Mangalore in conducting the ROTOQUIZ.

G.        Ranging from institutes of higher learning to schools of management, law, technology, and medicine to a large cross-section of schools and colleges, the participation has been extraordinary and the winners, deserving.  The prizes have been sumptuous too.

H.        For the second time in its history, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, ROTOQUIZ will be conducted online.

I.           As has been conducted in all these years, the questions for all rounds will be about General Knowledge.  There is no defined preparation material for ROTOQUIZ.

II.            Eligibility

A.         Students currently enrolled and studying in classes 11 and 12 in schools (including but not limited to CBSE, ISCE, IB, IGCSE etc), pre-university schools/colleges, undergraduate and graduate educational institutions are allowed to participate.

III.          Participation

A.         Only team entries in pairs of two are eligible.  Both team members must participate from the same location for all rounds.  When participating, please ensure all precautions have been taken against the pandemic virus.

B.         Each institution is allowed up to four teams.

C.         Technology:

1.     It is mandatory to participate with a well configured computer desktop or laptop.  Participation from a phone is not allowed.

2.     There cannot be more than one computer screen in the participant’s room.

3.     Participants should declare and be in a location where a brownout or interruption in power supply will not cause a participation glitch and there will be continuity throughout the contest.

4.     The Internet connection must be very strong and no one else in the participant’s premises ought to be using the Internet during the contest to ensure there is no interruption in its proceedings.

5.     Participants are allowed to have their phones in the participation room but only for communication when something goes wrong.  The phones must be always visible on screen and away from the participants’ hands.

6.     The contest will be conducted on the Zoom platform for all rounds.

IV.          Registration

A.         Please ensure you read the rules and have all that is needed (including upload files for identification) before you start the registration process.  The team is encouraged to let one of the team members register for the team.  Accordingly, the registering team member should have for both team members:

1.     Copies of valid College/School/University identification

2.     Copies of personal identification (any of drivers’ license | Voter ID | Aadhar card)

3.     Consent letter from parent for participant if below 18 years of age with contact details of parents

4.     Currently used email ID (must be accurate)

5.     Currently used mobile phone number and complete contact address

B.         Registration will open on Tuesday, 31 August 2021 after 12 noon.

C.         For easy communication we request you to join the Rotoquiz whatsapp group ( Click here to join the whatsapp group or here to join the second group if the first group gets full)If there are any questions during registration that you have difficulty answering, please address your queries to us at ysc.rcb@gmail.com or call +91 98450 22397/+91 98450 57356/+91 95350 15025/+91 93422 53957/+91 98705 12000. 

D.        Registrations will close on Wednesday, 22 September 2021 at 12 noon.  Please be advised that registration will be on a first come first accept basis.  Accordingly, it is in your interest to register at the earliest.  The first 100 registrations will receive a surprise.

E.         Once registered, no changes shall be allowed in the team constitution.

F.          To repeat, please ensure all information is legible, visible and accurate as any error will result in the team’s inability to participate.

V.           Organisation

A.         The contest is organized by Rotary Clubs of Bangalore, Cochin, Madras and Mangalore – the oldest Rotary Clubs in the four cities and among the oldest clubs in the country.

B.         The preliminary and semi-final rounds will be conducted on Sunday, 26 September starting 8:30 am.  For a variety of reasons, there could be delays in starting the quiz on time – please make sure you have the time to participate and that it will not clash with any other event you need to attend on the day.

C.         At the end of these two rounds, the best two teams (each) will get selected from Bangalore, Cochin, Madras and Mangalore.  No institution can have more than one team making it to the finals.  Many elements will come into play including the speed at which the questions are answered to determine which teams will come on top.  Back up teams, two each from Bangalore, Cochin, Madras and Mangalore will also get selected in case the selected teams are not able to make it to the finals.  All teams will be the top four from the participants affiliated to each participating Rotary Club’s city/vicinity.

D.        The final round will be held on Monday, 27 September 2021 starting at 6:30 pm.

VI.          Participation Logistics and Expenses

A.         The technology platform for participation must be made available by the team – continuous power, room with only one computer and screen for team in same location, chairs and a table so that we can see the hands and mobile phones of the participants, stable, high speed, uninterrupted internet connectivity, power supply and an excellent sound system.

B.         The cost for the logistics to participate, the room set up and the technology set up shall all be borne by the participants as they best deem fit.

VII.        Preliminary and Semi-finals Contests

A.         Only registered teams shall be allowed to take part.

B.         To repeat, please register fast as there is an outer limit for participation.

C.         This will be an online multiple choice round and must be taken on-screen with each participant/team visible to the organisers.

D.        The teams are allowed to discuss and make their choice in this multiple-choice, timed round.

E.         The participating team member’s faces, hands and eyes should be always visible on screen.

F.          If ties emerge to select the teams going on to the semi-finals, additional tiebreaks will be conducted until the correct number of teams for the semi-finals (including backups) are selected.

G.        In an identical fashion, a semi-finals round shall be conducted to select the two teams and the two back up teams for the finals.

VIII.       Finals Contest

A.         The selected teams must be present on Zoom at exactly 6:30 pm.  If a team does not show up on time, the backup teams shall be called in sequence to replace the team that did not show up on time.

B.         The final will be an all vocal, live, online contest.

C.         The final will be interspersed with short breaks of equally fun and invigorating quiz rounds for the audience.  The audience will be requested to put up their hand (Zoom button) to participate.  A judge will select a person from the audience that put up their hand to unmute and answer.  There will be fun goodies for the audience answering correctly.

IX.          Assessments, Judgments, Claims, Tiebreaks and Declarations

A.         The preliminary round will get assessed automatically as it is designed for an auto correction process.

B.         Similarly, the semi-finals will get assessed automatically as well.

C.         The Quiz Master will be the judge in the final round.  The Quiz Master may choose to confer with his team to make that judgment.

D.        All decisions by the organizers for all sections of the contest are absolute and cannot be refuted or recounted.  No claims shall be allowed.

E.         Tiebreaks will be conducted if the decision to select has equal scores.

F.          The organisers have the right to disqualify any team caught cheating.

G.        All decisions/declarations as a result, are irrefutable and final.

X.            Prizes

A.         All finalists will be rewarded.  Each participating team will receive the following prizes:

1.     Winner                                INR 50,000

2.     1^st Runner up                     INR 25,000

3.     2^nd Runner up                    INR 15,000

4.     3^rd Runner up                    INR 10,000

5.     4^th Runner up                       INR 5,000

6.     5^th Runner up                       INR 2,500

B.         These cash prizes will require for the winner to provide accurate banking and mailing details of the participants so anything physically mailed to them will be received on time.  Please make sure you give these at the beginning of the final round to the organisers.

C.         There will also be certificates and trophies to go along with the cash prizes.

XI.          Recording and dissemination

A.         The entire preliminary and final rounds will be recorded, and the three Clubs retain the right to use these recordings as they deem fit.