The Theme Awakens

Check out a growing number of subject spoilers for 2015 at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alpacascholars. 

Flagbearers for the ToC Closing Ceremony

Country	Name
Australia	James Naylor-Pratt
Bahrain	Ahmed Abdulhameed
Bangladesh	Punnava Al
Canada	Ashley Howard
China	Yige Liu
Czech Republic	TBD
Egypt	Yara Shafik
Eithiopia	Hanny Muguleta
France	Simon Lindinger
Ghana	Clarence
Hong Kong	Angus Fong
Hungary	TBD
India	Prsiah Singh
Indonesia	Shania Esmeralda
Japan	Tomofumi Nakata
Jordan	Jude Afieh
Kenya	Ruth Nyaga
Korea	Minseok Choi
Lebanon	Karl Sacca
Malaysia	Muhammad Zaris
Pakistan	Sachal Dhillon
Philippines	Jared Lawrence Go
Portugal	Angelo Borges
Qatar	Rhea Arora
Russia	Natalia Essad
Singapore	Ashley Chew
South Africa	Sebastian Menealou
Sri Lanka	Alifya Sohail
Sweden	TBD
Switzerland	Ruth Scharff-Hansen
Syria	Mayla Razzouk
Taiwan	Stephanie Cham
Thailand	Siri Asdathorn
UAE	Mohammad Salman
UK	Meryam Benaichouche
USA	Mackenzie Berryman
Vietnam	TBD

Preview the ToC Schedule

For those of you who'll be joining us at Yale in two weeks, be sure to check out the preview schedule to know what to expect. Please note: there wasn't enough room on the page to include events such as complaining about the cold, buying jackets, and drinking hot chocolate. 

Pwaala Lumpur

Somehow, we neglected to announce our 2015 Global Round site on this blog! Apwaalogies to all.

Looking for Spoilers?

We've started posting previews of the 2015 curriculum at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alpacascholars. 

Remember the Global Round

Be sure to check out these two new video recaps of the Singapwaa Global Round -- you might spot yourself in them! They're also a great preview of what lies ahead in the 2015 season.

A quick highlights montage:

And the longer version!

The Best-Kept Secret in Alpacaland

Check out the unofficial WSC tumblr. Not only is it pwaa-some, it also has much cuter alpaca emoji than we do.

(While you're at it, if you're not already part of the completely non-secret unofficial Facebook group, you should be!)

The 2015 World Scholar's Cup Theme

The World Unbound

#letitpwaa(la)

Register for the ToC

Complete details on the Yale University Tournament of Champions, including the registration form and hotel booking information, can now be found on the World Scholar's Cup website at www.scholarscup.org/tournament-of-champs. 

If you haven't applied for a berth yet, don't worry: you still have time. Please complete the application here and let us know if you don't hear back from us within 72 hours.

Phenomenal Pwaalunteers

This post is long overdue. Toward the end of the Global Round Awards Ceremony, I dashed backstage to see if more Senior Division slides were available to project; by the time I returned the ceremony had concluded in my absence. As a result, I was not able to thank from the podium the absolutely selfless volunteers who worked on the event all week long. Their efforts made every difference. Some (but not all) of those volunteers are pictured below; others were already unconscious. One endless day after another, they earned my gratitude and that of our entire community.

Yale ToC Application

It's finally live! Thank you all for your patience in the aftermath of what our entire exhausted team nonetheless wishes could have been an endless Global Round.

Yale ToC Application

A few things to keep in mind:

• If your team is prequalified, you still need to submit the application by August 30 to confirm your attendance. This will help us know how many more spots are open for non-prequalified applicants.
• If your team is not prequalified, please apply as soon as possible but no later than September 15.
• Due to venue restrictions at Yale, there are limited spots available. Please apply only if you are reasonably certain you'll be able to attend if accepted. 
• All World Scholar's Cup teams that participated this last season can apply, even those who did not attend the Global Round, though priority will be given to those that did. 
• Participants at upcoming regional rounds between now and the ToC will be qualifying for next year's Global Round, not the 2014 ToC. 
• The tentative (95% certain) dates of the ToC are November 21-24, which check-in on the evening of November 20.
• If you don't hear back from us right away, don't worry. We need time to receive and review many applications before we can start answering any of them. Pre-qualified teams that apply on time can of course safely assume they'll be able (and expected!) to attend.

Regional and Primary Winners in Singapwaa

There was no time to honor these extraordinary accomplishments at the closing ceremony. Congratulations to all our regional winners, and to our first place primary team from Brighton College in Abu Dhabi -- which was also the highest-scoring team from the Middle East in the entire junior division! While these slides are also part of the final Closing Ceremony PDF already in circulation, we wanted to draw some well-deserved special attention to them with this separate blog post.

Additional ToC Pre-Qualifiers | Where Have All the Wildcards Gone?

Many scholars have asked if we will have "waves" of wildcard qualifiers for the ToC as we did in past seasons. This year, we'll be using a (soon-to-be-posted) application process instead. Pre-qualified teams that submit their applications on time will be accepted automatically. 

To better understand the reasons for the change, please consider the junior division, with over 400 teams participating:

• The 100th place team scored 26,027 points.
• The 163rd place team scored 25,011 points.
• The 225th place team scored 24,042 points. 

In other words, 125 teams were clustered within 2000 points of one another. We would feel uneasy drawing an arbitrary line within this range and saying, "Teams above this line can go to Yale. Teams below cannot." The application process will allow teams below the pre-qualification threshold to apply for well-deserved berths if their reasons for attending are strong and space remains for them to register. 

At the same time, over the last week, we have exhaustively reviewed the Global Round results, leading to some modest updates, especially in the senior division, where certain individual overall awards were presented last Friday on the basis of only one or two events. (We are so sorry for any confusion or discomfort caused.) In recognition that these updates have adjusted some of the final standings, we have both increased the number of medalists in certain events and pre-qualified additional teams for the Tournament of Champions. Please see the updated PDF below:

Global Round Results 2.1 KitKat

Age Division Realignment

For regional rounds in the second half of 2014, to help keep our two main divisions in closer balance, the following updated age-related restrictions will apply:

• Scholars who will turn 15 before July 1, 2015 will be considered senior division scholars.
• Younger scholars will also continue to be welcome to participate in the senior division if they have senior teammates. 

The same rule will apply to all rounds in the first half of 2015, including the 2015 Global Round. 

Scholars joining us at Yale, please note: the Tournament of Champions is excluded from these new divisions.