Thanks for your patience as we work out how to best implement a new Odyssey of the Mind season in the world of 2020! We now have more concrete information for you, and we wanted to pass it along. This year, there will be no regional tournaments in the State of Virginia and everyone, including primary teams, will be eligible and encouraged to participate in a statewide virtual tournament.
First, make sure you’ve gotten your membership to get access to the problem information at https://www.odysseyofthemind.com/join/. Tournament registration will also be through that website similar to previous state tournaments starting in December and closing in mid-January. We will provide that link when available.
We have not yet established the registration fee for participating in the state tournament, but we expect it to be reasonable and similar to previous tournaments. Detailed instructions will be provided for submitting virtual submissions on the information sessions.
If you know an experienced judge who is interested in volunteering to help with the virtual tournament, we would be thrilled to take them. However, unlike previous tournaments, teams will not be required to provide a judge and a tournament helper.
An information session about the virtual format is scheduled for December 9 and problem specific sessions are in the works but not firmly scheduled yet. We will pass along information as we receive it.
This is new but exciting for us, and we know there will be lots of questions. We are here to help, and will build resources for coaches and teams as we learn more about how this is going to work and the timeline. We hope that even if this format does not work for your needs this year that you’ll keep us in mind next school year when hopefully the virus is under control! We are working to update our website (www.novanorth.org) and email system currently to prepare for the new season, so please check for updates!