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Tournament and Contests

All elementary, middle, and high school teachers who are members of CAV are encouraged to have their students participate in any or all of the contests listed below. Please contact the individual chairs for more information.

The 2008 CAV Latin Tournament
The 2008 CAV Classical Essay Contest
The 2008 CAV Latin Essay Contest

THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL LATIN TOURNAMENT

OF THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF VIRGINIA
March 31-April 4, 2008

Examinations:

The exams are designed to test the student's mastery of the Latin language and, in the case of the upper level exams, some basic literary matter at that particular level of study. Exams will consist of questions on vocabulary, forms, syntax, and (where appropriate) rhetorical and poetic devices; and reading passages for translation to show active and accurate comprehension. Each exam will include 75 multiple-choice questions and a 25-point Latin passage for translation into English.

Tests Offered:

Latin I

Latin II

Advanced Latin Prose: 3-4-5+ for non-AP, non-Cicero students

Vergil: based upon AP syllabus of Aeneid, levels 3-4-5+

Catullus: based upon AP syllabus of Carmina, levels 3-4-5+

Complete syllabus for the CAV Tournament

Basic Rules:

1. Students in secondary and intermediate public ("alpha") and independent ("beta") schools in Virginia are eligible.
2. All teachers entering contestants MUST be members of the CAV. Membership of ALL teachers entering students will be enforced. Non-members may join by sending in dues with the Registration Form. After November 1, 2007, dues are $15 per person. ***If this is your first year teaching Latin in Virginia, you are eligible for one year's free membership.

Fee:

$3.00 per student, non-refundable.

Entry Deadline:

The registration form with entry fee must be postmarked no later than February 23, 2008. Only the CAV Tournament Registrar may waive this deadline, which will be done graciously ONLY if there is time to accommodate the request.

Registration Form: Click here

Changes:

Any arrangements for a change in the date or location for administering the exam must be made directly with the CAV Tournament Director. The only acceptable reason for a change in dates shall be (1) a school's vacation, in which case an earlier exam date will be granted, or (2) inclement weather on the scheduled date, in which case the exam must be administered April 7 or 8. If your school has spring vacation March 31-April 4, please schedule your testing for March 24-28 (or earlier).

Administration:

The exam will be given at the school of the participants and may be given on any ONE (1) of the days from March 31-April 4, 2008. Schools on vacation that week may request to take the exam the previous week. All students in the same level of Latin MUST be tested at the same time. The Latin teacher MAY administer the exams this year.

Between Registration and Testing:

1. By March 7 you (the Latin teacher) will receive an e-mail or fax confirmation of your registration. If you do not receive one, call, e-mail, and/or fax the CAV Tournament Registrar IMMEDIATELY.
2. Expect the tests and testing directions to arrive by March 21 (or earlier if you request an earlier testing date) OR notify your test administrator of their arrival date. Check with that person on that date.
3. If materials have NOT been received, call, e-mail, and/or fax the CAV Tournament Registrar IMMEDIATELY.
4. Before the exam, get the "Teacher-Prepared List of Students Being Tested" from the examination packet. Type or neatly print a list of each student's name, which exam he/she is taking, and (for Advanced Latin Prose, Vergil, and Catullus students) his/her level of Latin (and return it to the test administrator, if you are using one). This provides a testing roster, which will be mailed with the tests for accurate spelling of names of award recipients.
5. If there is bad weather on your prearranged date of testing, contact the CAV Tournament Director IMMEDIATELY for permission to give the test within the next three class days back in school. She needs to plan for late-arriving results.

TOURNAMENT REGISTRAR:

Linda Hart Wagstaff

642 Spirea Drive

Richmond, VA 23236

Phone: 804-794-9554

E-mail: Linda_Wagstaff@ccpsnet.net

TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR:

Susan S. Schearer

316 West Whitlock Avenue

Winchester, VA 22601

Phone: 540-667-2945

E-mail: sscheare@ntelos.net

Awards:

First place winners will receive an engraved Jefferson Cup; second and third place winners will receive medals. Certificates of Honorable Mention will also be awarded as the Tournament Director deems appropriate. If there is a large number of students registered on an advanced level of testing, awards may be subdivided by year of Latin. If the number is small, there may be fewer than three awards. Awards will be announced at the spring meeting of the CAV; if for any reason the awards themselves may not be available at that meeting. they will be mailed as soon as possible.

Two plaques will be awarded: one to the public ("alpha") school with the most points for first-second-third places, and one to the independent ("beta") school with the same distinction.

Nota Bene I: Please be advised that the CAV will not publish in its newsletter or on its website the names of student winners whose families do not wish to make that information public. If your school or school system maintains data on which students may or may not allow their names to be published, please advise Susan Schearer. Students themselves will be able to opt out of any publicity by affixing their signatures to that effect on the CAV exam. If you have a winner/honorable mention who opts out of publicity, you  the teacher will, nevertheless, be informed. Many students last year signed their name to "do not print my name in CAV media" without reading what they were signing!

Nota Bene II: Susan Schearer is willing to send past issues of CAV Tournament Exams by e-mail to anyone indicating what (s)he would like: Latin One, Latin Two, Advanced Prose, Vergil, and/or Catullus. Just e-mail Susan at: sscheare@ntelos.net. There is no charge for past issues sent this way.

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THE 2008 CAV CLASSICAL ESSAY CONTEST

• The contest is open to students in the public and private middle and high schools of Virginia whose teachers are current members of the Classical Association of Virginia.
• Essays shall be submitted in English in the following divisions:
  • Open to students in First Year Latin (Division A for students in grade 6-8; Division B for grades 9-12): Roman Travel
  • Open to students in Second Year Latin: Roman Education
  • Open to students in Third Year Latin: "The Last Bloody Century": Political Violence and the End of the Roman Republic
  • Open to Advanced Latin (Latin III and above*):
    • Vergil: Memory in the Aeneid
    • Ovid: Lover as Soldier in Amores 1.9
    • Lyric: "Vale, Puella": Letting Go in Catullus 8 and 11

                      *N.B.: Students who are in their third year of Latin may choose to do the regular, general third year topic or one of the advanced topics. This is so that we do not prevent students who are in their third year and doing one of the advanced authors from writing on the author they are currently studying.

• Essays should be roughly 1000 words in length, typed on single sides of the page.
• The first page of the essay may include a title. The student's name should not appear on any page of the essay, and the pages of the essay should be numbered.
• Each entry should come with a COVER PAGE that shall include:
  • name and home address of the contestant
  • name and address (with city or district) of the school
  • name of the teacher
  • year of Latin studied in 2007-2008 (First, Second, etc., AP is NOT a level)
  • student's grade level
• No help may be received from any person in the research, preparation, and/or writing of the essay. Books and electronic sources may (indeed, generally should) be consulted, provided that all research is completed by the student and proper acknowledgement of intellectual property is given. A list of sources and works cited should be provided at the end of the essay on a separate page. A good on-line source for help in the formal preparation of an essay is Purdue's online writing lab (OWL), which can be found at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
• Teachers, of course, are allowed to guide students toward the types of reference material to consult, and provide general instruction on the writing of a good essay. However, teachers should not provide any editorial feedback to the students. That is, they should not be reading and commenting on their students' essays before the final form in which they will be submitted.
• Essays should present a clear, coherent synthesis of material researched. A lively and well-organized essay is better than a laundry list of facts. Judges look for verve and imagination in the writing, and not merely quantity of research. To this end, it has been the policy to accept essays that are closer to creative writing exercises than to the traditional expository essay. It is to be understood, however, that the same amount of factual content and critical thought must be in evidence in whatever form the essay takes. It should be noted as well that what appears to be a creative approach to writing an essay begins to look less and less creative when essay after essay is written in the same pattern.
• The fee is $2.00 per student. Teachers who are not members of CAV should send their dues of $12.00 with the entrance fee. Make checks payable to the Classical Association of Virginia. Ineligible entries will be discarded.
• Please note that by entering this contest you are giving the Classical Association of Virginia consent to publish your name in its official publications.
• The contest closes on February 18, 2008. Entries postmarked after February 17 will be discarded. Winners will be announced and prizes awarded at the Spring meeting. All entries should be sent to:

Patrick Bradley

Director of CAV Classical Essay Contest

Rockbridge County High School
143 Greenhouse Road

Lexington, VA 24450

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THE 2008 CAV LATIN ESSAY CONTEST

INFORMATION AND TOPICS

1. The contest is open only to students in high schools and preparatory schools in the state of Virginia whose teacher is currently a member of the Classical Association of Virginia and whose dues for 2007-2008 have been paid in full at the time when the entry is submitted.

2. No fee is charged for essays entered in the Latin Essay Contest.

3. All entries must be submitted through the Latin teacher. No entries sent directly by the student, or received from any other source than the teacher, will be accepted.

4. Each entry must be accompanied by a written statement from the teacher, specifying

a. Both the level of Latin which the student is taking at the time of submittal of the essay and the number of years the student has been taking Latin.

b. The author(s) and title of the basic textbook being used in the course which the entrant is taking.

5. All entries must be received on or before April 1, 2008, and should be sent to:

John F. Miller

University of Virginia, Dept. of Classics
B018 Cocke Hall, P.O. Box 400788

Charlottesville, VA 22904-4788

6. Essays must be written entirely in Latin, and must be on the subject prescribed for the level of Latin the contestant is taking. The subjects for 2007-2008 are:

First Year Latin: De For Romano (100-200 words)

Second Year Latin: De Illo Inimicissimo Imperatore Hannibale (150-250 words)

Advanced Latin: De Regionibus Infernis Mythologicis (200-300 words)

7. If the number of contestants warrants it, there will be separate competitions and awards for students in third-year Latin and for students in fourth- or fifth-year Latin, but this shall be entirely at the discretion of the judges.

RULES

1. The first page of each entry shall be blank, except for

a. The full name and home address (including the zip code) of the contestant. Nick-names should not to be used.

b. The full name (including the middle initial) of the contestant's Latin teacher.

c. The name and post office address (including zip code) of the school in which the contestant is enrolled.

2. The contestant's name shall appear in the upper right-hand corner of every page submitted, except for the first page (see Rule #1, above).

3. The name of the Latin teacher and the name of the school shall not appear anywhere except on the first page of the entry, as prescribed in Rule #1, above).

4. Contestants may write only on the subject specified for the level of Latin in which they are enrolled. The limitations on the number of words for each subject should be carefully observed.

5. No help from any person is permitted in the preparation of this essay. Reference books on Roman literature, Roman life, and Roman history, books about Roman religion, Latin dictionaries, and Latin grammars may of course be used, but a bibliography identifying books that have been used should appear at the end of the essay.

6. Judging will be based both upon the content of the essay and on Latin usage, but the correctness of the Latin will be the most important single factor. Contestants should make a conscious effort to incorporate as many as possible of the new syntactical features of the Latin language that they have encountered for the first time on the level of Latin for which they are currently enrolled. The syllabi for Latin I, Latin II, and Latin III that have been prepared for the use of students taking the Latin Tournament examinations should be consulted.

7. The names of the winners in each competition and of those receiving honorable mention will be announced at the spring meeting of the Classical Association of Virginia..

8. All entries become the property of the Classical Association of Virginia, and will not be returned to the writer after judging. Contestants who want to keep a copy should make one for themselves before submittal. The decision of the judges will in all cases be final.

***Nota Bene I: Students who plan to enter the Latin Essay Contest might find a visit to the following Latin chatroom amusing and instructive: http://chat.yle.fi/yleradio1/latini/index.php

***Nota Bene II: Teachers should inform students that, by entering this competition, they are giving the Classical Association of Virginia permission to publish their names in any of its official publications. This permission is given unless the students make written requests to the contrary.

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Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit ~ Vergil's Aeneid, I.203