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 (or correct place/facility name if a true city or town is not involved.)

AND

b) The correct COUNTRY (or correct continent if a true country is not involved).

Entries with the highest number of correct answers are listed by grade on the Contest Results 2010 page.

 
Questions? Or Don't See your Class Listed?

If you expected your class to be included among the list of those 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 this year:

Special 2010 Judging Notes

Remember, your answer needed to provide BOTH:
The CITY/TOWN/VILLAGE and the COUNTRY.

Example:

Correct:
City: Winnebago, Country: United States or Winnebago Nation

Incorrect:
City: Winnebago, State: Nebraska

Example:

Correct:
City: Monteverde, Country: Costa Rica

Incorrect:
City: Monteverde, State: Puntarenas

For MC#1 (Winnebago, United States), the correct city is Winnebago, in the state of Nebraska. Because this city is part of the The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, a sovereign Nation, we accepted either the United States, or the Winnebago or Ho-Chunk Nation, as correct countries. If you listed Nebraska as the country, that would not be correct because Nebraska is not a country. The same rule applies inside and outside the United States.

For MC #2 (Monteverde, Costa Rica), for a correct city we also accepted the nearby town of Santa Elena as well as Monteverde, both of which are part of the Quaker-founded ecotourism area known as Monteverde.

For MC #3 (South Pole Station, Antarctica), this location has no specific city, but in place of the city we accepted answers indicating "South Pole Station" or "Amundsen Scott Station" or the like; for country we required Antarctica, South Pole, or the like.

For MC #5 (Kuching, Malaysia), Borneo is not a correct answer for the country. Although Kuching is located on the island of Borneo, Borneo is not a country.

For MC #7, (Princess Elisabeth Station, Antarctica), this location has no specific city, but in place of the city we needed your answer to refer specifically to either the Princess Elisabeth Station itself or to Utsteinen (the name of the Nunatak on which it is located), because the clues did lead to these. For country, in addition to Antarctica, we also accepted references to Dronning Maud Land of Antarctica, or to Belgium because this station is operated by Belgium.

For MC #8 (Ice Station Barneo, Arctic Ocean), this location has no specific city or country. As such, we accepted city answers identifying this North Pole research/tourism outpost as either spelled Barneo or Borneo, and city answers of Camp Borneo, Ice Station Borneo, Borneo Observatory or North Pole Environmental Observatory at Borneo. For the country entry, Arctic, Arctic Ocean, North Pole or the like were acceptable.

For MC #9, (Pekanbaru, Indonesia) , the correct city is Pekanbaru, and the correct country is Indonesia. If you answered Sumatra for the country, then your answer is not fully correct, because Sumatra is an island within Indonesia, but it is not the correct country.

 

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.)