Oklahoma Junior Academic Bowl Association
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NEWS

POSTED JULY 18, 2018:
     There are two major changes for 2018-2019:
     (1) For the first time in at least twenty years, we are raising the fee for each team entered from $60 to $75.  Mainly because of the cost of questions, we have had to borrow during the past two years to being able to be able to cover explenses through the end of each school year.  Doing the math, based upon the number of teams entered during the past school year times $15, we should at least break even at the end of 2018-2019.
     (2)  In order to keep participating teams as close to home as possible, during districts and regionals, Classes A & B will compete together and Classes C & D will compete together.  At State the four classes will compete separately as in the past.  About one third of the teams in each class will advance to State, in some cases without having won a regional trophy.  This is all explained in red in the updated rules.
     As we did with the list of books that we significantly drew from for questions used in last year's competitions, we are again giving you and your team members a heads up on books (see new book list below) and subjects that we will emphasize in our questions for the coming year.  We will especially draw questions from the following subject areas:
U.S. Presidents (numerical order, full names--including names not commonly known and extensions such as "Jr.," years in office, birth states, political parties, and Vice-presidents)
World Geography (countries, capitals, rivers, lakes, mountains, and location of each country by continent and as relates to other countries on its continent)
Chemical Elements (groups, symbols, name derivations)
U.S. States (capitals, postal abbreviations, rivers, lakes, mountains, and location of each state)
 
POSTED MAY 23, 2018:
Reading List for 2018-2019
     We are again giving you a heads up concerning the source of some of the questions used in our tournaments of the current year.  Some tossups and some sixty-second sets--scattered throughout the year in all four divisions--will be based upon the books listed below, which are Newbery Medal winners from the past one hundred years--at least one from each decade beginning with the 1920's.  Most of our questions will come from other subject areas, just as in the past.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
Daniel Boone by James Daugherty
Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field
 
 POSTED MAY 23, 2018:
     Invitations to join OJABA for the 2018-2019 school year will be going out by the end of July—by email to last year's 215 member coaches, and by USPS to over 300 other non-member schools who are eligible to join.
     As we have every year, we have tweaked the rules wherever needed to make them as effective, fair, and equitable as possible.  Rules changes and "tweaks" will be printed in red in the rules booklet. By the end of July, you may view the complete 2018-2019 OJABA Rules Booklet by clicking on the link on the "Documents" page.
 
     STATE MEETING
     There will be no state meeting this year, but on the last page of the rules, you will find phone numbers and email addresses for all of your officers.  All of us are available almost all of the time to answer your questions or to counsel you.  Feel free to call us whenever you need to.