2020 Entomology Games: A Virtual Version of ESA’s Annual Competition Sign-up

This year’s Entomology Games seek to ensure a fair, fun competition for all participants and an enjoyable event for virtual attendees! The ESA Entomology Games Committee has been adaptable and creative to develop the guidelines for our annual competition. Some aspects of the competition will feel familiar, but some will be quite different than the in-person competition. A single preliminary round with all teams competing will be conducted. The teams advancing from the preliminary round will compete in a final, synchronous round that will be showcased during the virtual ESA Meeting.

We have retained most of the eligibility requirements for the traditional Entomology Games. Currently enrolled students, or those who graduated less than a year ago, are eligible to participate. The minimum team size is two participants and maximum team size is five, however, only four participants can compete in any given round of the games (the fifth participant is designated as an alternate, to fill in for another team member who is unable to participate). All participants must be registered for the virtual annual meeting.

Traditionally a team is comprised of students from the same university or institution, but in the spirit of encouraging intercollegiate collaboration, we are changing this rule for the virtual competition. If a student attends a university that does not have enough participants to field a team, we invite them to form a team with students from other schools that similarly lack a full-sized team. These intercollegiate teams must be comprised of students from the same Branch.

Individuals and teams must sign up by Thursday, 1 October 2020. Registered teams will receive a link to a mock-quiz example that will take teams through the rules of the games and the virtual process of recording answers to questions. Answers will be recorded and submitted via the third-party website WikiQuiz.org.