The AQBL accepts wildcard and standby bids for the ONCT on a discretionary basis.

The AQBL accepts bids for teams who did not otherwise qualify for the ONCT at our discretion. Meeting some or all of these guidelines will make your bid more likely to be accepted:

• Your team won or placed highly in a tournament or league of at least 10 teams, particularly at other online tournaments
• Your team repeatedly just missed out on qualification at our regional events
• Your team made the playoffs at another National Championship Quizbowl tournament
• Your team has some other exceptional circumstance (but your team still is capable of competing with the very best teams)

To submit a wildcard bid, send an email to Joe@aqbleague.com after February 1, 2020 with the subject line “Wildcard Bid”. Include the following information:

• Name of school
• The name of the person submitting the request and their position on the team
• A detailed description of the team’s season, all tournament and league finishes, particularly impressive opponents that were defeated, and anything else in this regard, along with links to the results of tournaments and leagues in question, if available, and contact information for the tournament or league director if not
• Any other information we should consider

Alternatively, you can submit this form.

Incomplete applications will be ignored. We reserve the right to accept or reject your bid at our discretion and ask for additional information or documentation.

Standby teams are teams that fill in for last minute drops. They do not know if they will be playing at the tournament until the registration deadline passes; however, standby teams play for free. When a team signs up to be a standby team, they are making a commitment to ready to play at a moment’s notice.

Any team can sign up to be a standby team on a first-come, first-served basis. The amount of standbys required may be zero and may expand or contract suddenly. Some Standby teams may enter the field on the morning of the tournament.

To sign up as a standby team, send an email to president@aqbleague.com after March 1, 2020 with the subject line “Standby Bid”. Include the following information:

• Name of school
• The name of the person submitting the request and their position on the team

The current list of standby teams will be below.