I.             About Online ROTOQUIZ 2021

A.         The 87-years’-young Rotary Club of Bangalore has been conducting a yearly General Knowledge ROTOQUIZ for 11th, 12th, Pre-University, Undergraduate and Post-Graduate students since 1959.

B.         ROTOQUIZ is sponsored by its creator/founder and ex-Rotarian, Late Ramnarayan Chellaram and his family.  For the Chellaram family, this will be the 61^st year of sponsoring ROTOQUIZ.

C.         For the first 56 years, ROTOQUIZ was conducted in Bangalore.  Participating students were from Bangalore’s educational institutions.

D.        For the last five years, in conjunction with the 71-years’-young Rotary Club of Mangalore, ROTOQUIZ is conducted, both in Mangalore and Bangalore.

E.         Last year, one of India’s doyens of Rotary, the 92-years’-young Rotary Club of Madras joined Mangalore and Bangalore in conducting ROTOQUIZ.

F.          This year, the 85-years’-young Rotary Club of Cochin honours Rotary Clubs of Bangalore, Madras and Mangalore in conducting the ROTOQUIZ.

G.        Ranging from institutes of higher learning to schools of management, law, technology, and medicine to a large cross-section of schools and colleges, the participation has been extraordinary and the winners, deserving.  The prizes have been sumptuous too.

H.        For the second time in its history, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, ROTOQUIZ will be conducted online.

I.           As has been conducted in all these years, the questions for all rounds will be about General Knowledge.  There is no defined preparation material for ROTOQUIZ.

II.            Eligibility

A.         Students currently enrolled and studying in classes 11 and 12 in schools (including but not limited to CBSE, ISCE, IB, IGCSE etc), pre-university schools/colleges, undergraduate and graduate educational institutions are allowed to participate.

III.          Participation

A.         Only team entries in pairs of two are eligible.  Both team members must participate from the same location for all rounds.  When participating, please ensure all precautions have been taken against the pandemic virus.

B.         Each institution is allowed up to four teams.

C.         Technology:

1.     It is mandatory to participate with a well configured computer desktop or laptop.  Participation from a phone is not allowed.

2.     There cannot be more than one computer screen in the participant’s room.

3.     Participants should declare and be in a location where a brownout or interruption in power supply will not cause a participation glitch and there will be continuity throughout the contest.

4.     The Internet connection must be very strong and no one else in the participant’s premises ought to be using the Internet during the contest to ensure there is no interruption in its proceedings.

5.     Participants are allowed to have their phones in the participation room but only for communication when something goes wrong.  The phones must be always visible on screen and away from the participants’ hands.

6.     The contest will be conducted on the Zoom platform for all rounds.

IV.          Registration

A.         Please ensure you read the rules and have all that is needed (including upload files for identification) before you start the registration process.  The team is encouraged to let one of the team members register for the team.  Accordingly, the registering team member should have for both team members:

1.     Copies of valid College/School/University identification

2.     Copies of personal identification (any of drivers’ license | Voter ID | Aadhar card)

3.     Consent letter from parent for participant if below 18 years of age with contact details of parents

4.     Currently used email ID (must be accurate)

5.     Currently used mobile phone number and complete contact address

B.         Registration will open on Tuesday, 31 August 2021 after 12 noon.

C.         For easy communication we request you to join the Rotoquiz whatsapp group ( Click here to join the whatsapp group or here to join the second group if the first group gets full)If there are any questions during registration that you have difficulty answering, please address your queries to us at ysc.rcb@gmail.com or call +91 98450 22397/+91 98450 57356/+91 95350 15025/+91 93422 53957/+91 98705 12000. 

D.        Registrations will close on Wednesday, 22 September 2021 at 12 noon.  Please be advised that registration will be on a first come first accept basis.  Accordingly, it is in your interest to register at the earliest.  The first 100 registrations will receive a surprise.

E.         Once registered, no changes shall be allowed in the team constitution.

F.          To repeat, please ensure all information is legible, visible and accurate as any error will result in the team’s inability to participate.

V.           Organisation

A.         The contest is organized by Rotary Clubs of Bangalore, Cochin, Madras and Mangalore – the oldest Rotary Clubs in the four cities and among the oldest clubs in the country.

B.         The preliminary and semi-final rounds will be conducted on Sunday, 26 September starting 8:30 am.  For a variety of reasons, there could be delays in starting the quiz on time – please make sure you have the time to participate and that it will not clash with any other event you need to attend on the day.

C.         At the end of these two rounds, the best two teams (each) will get selected from Bangalore, Cochin, Madras and Mangalore.  No institution can have more than one team making it to the finals.  Many elements will come into play including the speed at which the questions are answered to determine which teams will come on top.  Back up teams, two each from Bangalore, Cochin, Madras and Mangalore will also get selected in case the selected teams are not able to make it to the finals.  All teams will be the top four from the participants affiliated to each participating Rotary Club’s city/vicinity.

D.        The final round will be held on Monday, 27 September 2021 starting at 6:30 pm.

VI.          Participation Logistics and Expenses

A.         The technology platform for participation must be made available by the team – continuous power, room with only one computer and screen for team in same location, chairs and a table so that we can see the hands and mobile phones of the participants, stable, high speed, uninterrupted internet connectivity, power supply and an excellent sound system.

B.         The cost for the logistics to participate, the room set up and the technology set up shall all be borne by the participants as they best deem fit.

VII.        Preliminary and Semi-finals Contests

A.         Only registered teams shall be allowed to take part.

B.         To repeat, please register fast as there is an outer limit for participation.

C.         This will be an online multiple choice round and must be taken on-screen with each participant/team visible to the organisers.

D.        The teams are allowed to discuss and make their choice in this multiple-choice, timed round.

E.         The participating team member’s faces, hands and eyes should be always visible on screen.

F.          If ties emerge to select the teams going on to the semi-finals, additional tiebreaks will be conducted until the correct number of teams for the semi-finals (including backups) are selected.

G.        In an identical fashion, a semi-finals round shall be conducted to select the two teams and the two back up teams for the finals.

VIII.       Finals Contest

A.         The selected teams must be present on Zoom at exactly 6:30 pm.  If a team does not show up on time, the backup teams shall be called in sequence to replace the team that did not show up on time.

B.         The final will be an all vocal, live, online contest.

C.         The final will be interspersed with short breaks of equally fun and invigorating quiz rounds for the audience.  The audience will be requested to put up their hand (Zoom button) to participate.  A judge will select a person from the audience that put up their hand to unmute and answer.  There will be fun goodies for the audience answering correctly.

IX.          Assessments, Judgments, Claims, Tiebreaks and Declarations

A.         The preliminary round will get assessed automatically as it is designed for an auto correction process.

B.         Similarly, the semi-finals will get assessed automatically as well.

C.         The Quiz Master will be the judge in the final round.  The Quiz Master may choose to confer with his team to make that judgment.

D.        All decisions by the organizers for all sections of the contest are absolute and cannot be refuted or recounted.  No claims shall be allowed.

E.         Tiebreaks will be conducted if the decision to select has equal scores.

F.          The organisers have the right to disqualify any team caught cheating.

G.        All decisions/declarations as a result, are irrefutable and final.

X.            Prizes

A.         All finalists will be rewarded.  Each participating team will receive the following prizes:

1.     Winner                                INR 50,000

2.     1^st Runner up                     INR 25,000

3.     2^nd Runner up                    INR 15,000

4.     3^rd Runner up                    INR 10,000

5.     4^th Runner up                       INR 5,000

6.     5^th Runner up                       INR 2,500

B.         These cash prizes will require for the winner to provide accurate banking and mailing details of the participants so anything physically mailed to them will be received on time.  Please make sure you give these at the beginning of the final round to the organisers.

C.         There will also be certificates and trophies to go along with the cash prizes.

XI.          Recording and dissemination

A.         The entire preliminary and final rounds will be recorded, and the three Clubs retain the right to use these recordings as they deem fit.

 

Honorable Sir/ Madam,

 

Rotary Club of Bangalore, in association with Rotary Club of Madras, Rotary Club of Mangalore and Rotary Club of

Cochin warmly invites your institution to participate in the 62^nd Annual Edition of The Ramnarayan Chellaram Inter-Institution Quiz Competition – ROTOQUIZ 21- which is the “THE LONGEST RUNNING LIVE QUIZ IN THE WORLD”.

 

This edition which would be held as an online event with the Preliminary and Semifinal Rounds  on 26^th  September 2021 and Final Round on  27^th September  2021, is expected to see  participation of around 400 TEAMS from across Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu.

 

Up to Four teams of two participants from each college who are currently enrolled and studying in classes 11 or 12 Pre-University Schools/ Colleges, Undergraduates, Graduates and post graduates can participate.

 

We would be honoured to have up to  four teams from  your Institution participate in ROTOQUIZ 21 adding to its glory and  benefitting the bright youth of your institution  with this priceless exposure.

 

 Rotary Club of Bangalore and ROTOQUIZ:

The Eighty-Seven year old Rotary Club of Bangalore is one among the large Rotary Clubs in the world.

It would be  difficult to capture the innumerable service projects that RCB’s hallowed membership has implemented over decades. Crores of Rupees are channeled every year to provide respite and succor to the lowest sections of the society. RCB under its aegis- runs a school for the under privileged, co manages  A Home For The Destitute, runs one of the largest Blood Banks of the country in addition to the myriad of other service activities it undertakes individually and jointly with the District, National and International Rotary Community.

Every Rotarian, who is an accomplished and successful individual himself,   snatches out time from his schedule because of his passion to serve the society- to bring cheer and joy to the underprivileged and to soak and bask in the good feeling of being useful to fellow humans.

 

While implementing all these projects  together, the members develop a beautiful bond of friendship and camaraderie which becomes  their mainstay.

 

One day, sixty two years ago some RCB friends came together and decided to hold a Quiz Competition for college-going youngsters with an aim to develop in them an interest for current affairs and enable them to connect more confidently with the world around them. They imagined the youth- transformed into  well-informed global individuals, leading the society with open mindedness emanating from a clear comprehension of diverse social behaviors.

Youth, who are aligned to contemporary developments in every field would be able to engage themselves in meaningful endeavors as they would be able to vividly envisage the future without ending  up reinventing the wheel, or get caught in limiting beliefs and ideas, they thought.

 

This was the year 1959 - much before the era of the now famous Quiz Masters like Siddhartha Basu or Derek O Brien.  Deeply inspired by this vision of an “Empowered Youth” a famous RCB member of those times Late Shri. Ramnarayan Chellaram offered to sponsor this event, and, now, this Ramnarayan Chellaram Quiz – ROTOQUIZ which is still patronized by the Chellaram family has  gone on- to BECOME “THE LONGEST RUNNING LIVE QUIZ IN THE WORLD”.

 

Rotoquiz in Chennai and Mangalore

In the last 5 years, the Rotary Club of Mangalore (Sister Club of RCB), joined the  Rotoquiz Caravan and  by their magical efforts, last year’s Rotoquiz   saw  the display of brilliance from  55 teams from Mangalore alone  in the Preliminary Round making it a celebration of  information and illumination.

ROTOQUIZ, last  year,  also saw the debut of the very famous Rotary Club of Madras ( Mother Club of RCB itself) adding the mighty Chennai into this Competition Ring. In the first year itself the dynamic and seasoned  Club led the participation with 95 teams participating from Tamil Nadu Alone.

In this year’s edition Rotoquiz has been able to capture the imagination of Kerala as well, with the 84 year old Rotary Club of Cochin joining hands to take Rotoquiz to newer heights,  bolstering the  excitement and expanding the Rotoquiz Footprint.   

 

The Quiz Master:

 

Rtn. Shailesh Shah, the Quiz Master of Rotoquiz 2021  has worked in every habited continent of the world with  top level Business Teams after his reading of  Mechanical Engineering, Operations Research (Applied Mathematics) and Business/Economics from  the Universities of Bangalore, Syracuse, Drexel and Pennsylvania respectively. Having a  stellar record in the corporate world, he has also been part of panels which have given strategic inputs to the World Economic Forum, Singapore Economic Development board and Nasscom in Europe.

 

RCB is proud to have such a distinguished Quizmaster as its esteemed Members because of whom an event of such scale gets organized with highest levels of finesse without any commercial interests facilitating participants and audiences to take back loads of intellectually exciting memories laced with wisdom, wit, and humor.

 

How to participate:

Please visit www.rotoquiz.blogspot.com to get the rules and the details of ROTOQUIZ 21-22. This page contains the Registration  Link which will lead to the Registration Form.  To be sure, Registration is free. Four Teams of  Two Members  can participate from each Institution.

Quiz Format:

Triggered by the pandemic, Rotoquiz donned an online Avatar last year with an Online multiple choice preliminary round and a Live Zoom Final Round. The format is embellished this year with an additional online multiple choice semi-final round which will see the emergence of top Teams from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala who will then lock horns in a live online Final Round on Zoom. The zoom Final will be beamed across Facebook and Youtube to reach a vast viewership.

 

Thank you for your continued support to the longest-running annual General Knowledge Quiz in the world.  We are attempting to get Guiness Book and India’s Limca Book to recognize this great intellectual asset of the Rotary World which now spans all the Southern States of India led by the most prominent Rotary Clubs.

 

All finalists will get prizes (Rupees): Winner 50,000 | 1^st Runner up 25,000 | 2^nd Runner up 15,000 |

3^rd Runner up 10,000 | 4^th Runner up 5,000 | Fifth Runner up 2,500.

 

The Top Performers from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Mangalore would be given special Prizes by the Rotary Clubs of Madras, Cochin and Mangalore respectively.

 

Eagerly looking forward for the four teams from your esteemed institution to be part and add to the glory of ROTOQUIZ which comes loaded with ROTARY’s dash of keeping  SERVICE ABOVE SELF.

Please visit www.rotoquiz.blogspot.com for further details.

 

Thanking You,

Yours Truly,

Rotoquiz Team 

Rotary Clubs of   Bangalore, Madras, Mangalore and Cochin.