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How Contest Entries Were Judged

We judged the contest entries to determine which entries had the most "correct" answers in each grade level. 1) Our first step was to separate the entries by grade level. (If the entry came from a mixed-grade classroom, we ranked the class according to the highest grade in the class.) 2) Our next step was to carefully review each entry to determine how many "correct" answers there were. As stated on the Checklist, to be a "correct" answer in this contest, the answer needed to provide BOTH: a) The correct CITY/TOWN/VILLAGE AND b) The correct COUNTRY. Entries with the highest number of correct answers are listed by grade on today's Mystery Class Contest Results 2009. (Note about "Honorable Mention": Also listed are a few entries which gave the correct city for ALL 10 locations, and they also listed the correct country except for one or two sites where they gave the correct state/province instead of country. We deemed these "honorable mention" because it was clear they found all 10 locations.)

Questions? Don't See your Class Listed?

If you expected your class to be included among the list of entries with the most correct answers, please be sure that you carefully review your answers again, and ask yourself these questions: "Did I submit my answer by the contest deadline?" "Did each of my answers give BOTH the correct CITY and the correct COUNTRY?" Then, read the Special Notes below about how we judged specific Mystery Class sites:

Special Notes For MC#3 (Taichung, Taiwan), the correct city is Taichung; if you answered "Taipei" for the city, that would not be correct. The correct country is Taiwan, but we also accepted references to Nationalist China, Republic of China, and China, so long as the city answer was also correct. for MC #5 (Homer, USA), the correct city is Homer, and the correct country is United States. If you answered Homer, Alaska, but you did not also list United States, then your answer is not deemed fully correct, because the country was not listed. The same rule applies inside and outside the United States. Look at these examples: Remember, to be a correct answer, your answer needed to provide BOTH: The CITY/TOWN/VILLAGE and the COUNTRY. Example Correct: City: Homer, Country: United States Incorrect: City: Homer, State: Alaska Example Correct: City: Adelaide, Country: Australia Incorrect: City: Adelaide, State: South Australia For MC #6,(Melekeok, Palau), the correct city is Melekeok, and the correct country is Palau. The city of Koror is not a correct city answer. For MC #7, (Bird Island Station, South Georgia), this location is a very remote scientific research station known as Bird Island Station. As such, there is no specific city, but in place of the city we needed your answer to refer specifically to Bird Island or Bird Island Station, because the clues did lead to a specific island in the South Georgia archipelago, so it was necessary to identify this island. For the country, we accepted several answers as correct. We accepted South Georgia, and South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands , SGSSI, and the Falkland Islands as well. In addition, because this chain of islands is claimed by the UK as a territory, and also by Argentina, we also treated country answers of UK or Argentina as correct as well. For MC #9, (Adelaide, Australia) , the correct city is Adelaide, and the correct country is Australia. If you answered Adelaide, South Australia, then your answer is not fully correct, because the country was not listed. For MC#10, (Mt. Pleasant, USA), the correct city is Mt. Pleasant, and the correct country is United States. If you answered Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, but you did not also list United States, then your answer is not fully correct, because the country was not listed. Note: If you still feel your answer should have been listed, don't be alarmed, we will look into it for you. Just send any questions to our feedback form. (Include your name, e-mail address, school, grade etc... that you included on your Contest Form.)