AITP Acronym Bee – Rules
This document contains an overview of the rules and regulations regarding the AITP Acronym Bee. These rules will be
abided by during the contest and will be held to the fullest extent. Any kind of modification or new interpretation of the
rules is only to be considered by the Executive Board of AITP. DECISIONS MADE ABOUT THE CONTEST BY AITP EXEC
BOARD MEMBERS ARE FINAL.
RULES
1. Acronym Bee contestants must qualify under four basic requirements:
(1) they must be a student or faculty member at the University Of Wisconsin Eau Claire;
(2) they must be within the College of Business, preferably the Information Systems Major or Minor;
(3) they must be members of AITP, preferably paid members;
(4) they must be willing to be in a potential final round contest that could take place during AITP TechCon (May 7, 2009); ;
With regard to requirements (1), (2), and (3), acronym bee officials may, at their discretion, grant exemptions to these
rules. With regard to requirement (3) there is a possibility that a final round may take place during TechCon with the final
four (or more) contestants.
2. The acronym bee may be conducted orally or in writing or in a manner that is a combination of the two.
3. AITP Acronym bee officials are responsible for selecting the word lists that will be used. AITP will provide a list of
potential acronyms that will be used during the competition. These lists include many words that appear in several text
books and classes that one is required to take as a student in the College of Business with a Major in Information Systems.
All acronym lists may be found on the UWEC chapter AITP website (www.uwec.edu/AITP).
4. The pronouncer should make every effort to pronounce the acronyms as clearly as possible and also can spell out the
acronym if needed.
5. Use of a cell phone or any other electronic device between or during rounds is prohibited.
6. In competition, after the pronouncer gives the contestant an acronym, the contestant will be encouraged to pronounce
the acronym before defining it and after defining it. The judges may not disqualify a contestant for failing to pronounce the
acronym either before or after defining it.
7. The contestant may ask the pronouncer to say the acronym again, define it in terms of origin (ie. Business acronym or
technological acronym) or use it in a sentence. The Pronouncer shall grant all such requests until the judges agree that the
acronym has been made reasonably clear to the contestant.
8. The judges may disqualify any contestant who ignores a request to start defining the given acronym.
9. The role of the pronouncer is (1) to correctly pronounce the acronym and (2) to give a sentence or origin information
about the word at the contestant’s request. The role of the judges is to determine whether the contestant has defined the
acronym correctly. The role of the contestant is (1) to gather as much information as possible to help define the acronym
correctly and (2) to define the acronym correctly. The judges may not disqualify a contestant for asking a question.
10. Having started to define an acronym, a contestant may stop and start over, retracing from the beginning. In retracing,
however, there can be no change of words or their sequence from those first pronounced. If words or their sequence is
changed in the redefinition, the contestant will be eliminated.
11. The competition shall be conducted in rounds. Each contestant remaining in the acronym bee at the start of a round
shall define one acronym in the round, except as provided in Rule 13, Option B.
12. Upon missing the definition of an acronym, a contestant is given one more opportunity to stay in the competition. If
the contest has missed for a second time, the contestant immediately drops out of the competition, except as provided in
Rule 13. The next acronym on the pronouncer's list is given to the next contestant.
13. This rule addresses the procedure that should be followed at the end of an acronym bee. Two sets of procedures are
listed: Option A and Option B. Before the start of the competition, the acronym bee officials should decide which option
they will use for the end of their acronym bee. Furthermore, before the competition begins, the officials should notify the
contestants and audience of the option that will be in effect at the end of the competition.
Option A
If none of the contestants remaining in the acronym bee at the start of a round defines an acronym correctly during that
round, all shall remain in the competition.
All contestants eliminated in the same round will be tied for the same place.
If only one of the contestants remaining in the competition at the start of a round defines an acronym correctly during that
round, a new round shall begin and the contestant shall be given an opportunity to define the next acronym on the list. If
the contestant succeeds in correctly defining the new acronym, the contestant shall be declared the champion. Otherwise
(that is, if the contestant does not succeed in correctly defining the new acronym), all the contestants remaining in the
competition at the start of the previous round shall remain in the competition. A new round will begin, with these
contestants defining in the original order.
Key Effects of Option A:
The champion is not the champion until he or she has defined correctly two more acronyms than the contestant
or contestants placing second have defined. These two acronyms will be defined consecutively only if the
champion is the last speller in a round.
Under no circumstance is any contestant asked to correct an incorrect definition of another contestant.
It is possible in two instances to have a round in which only one acronym is definied. The first instance of a one-
acronym round is the correct definition of the final championship word. The second instance of a one-acronym
round is the incorrect definition of what could have been the final championship acronym.
Option B
Option B is sometimes best and easiest to administer because there are fewer difficulties associated with prize distribution.
When the number of contestants is reduced to two, the elimination procedure changes. At that point, when one contestant
incorrectly defines an acronym, the other contestant shall be given an opportunity to define that same acronym. If the
second contestant defines that acronym correctly, plus the next acronym on the pronouncer's list, then the second
contestant shall be declared the champion.
If one of the last two contestants incorrectly defines an acronym and the other contestant, after correcting the error,
incorrectly defines the new acronym, then the incorrectly defined new acronym shall be referred to the other contestant. If
this other contestant then succeeds in correcting the error and defines the next acronym on the list, then he or she shall
be declared the champion.
If both contestants incorrectly define the same acronym, both shall continue in the competition, and the one who first
incorrectly defined the acronym shall be given a new acronym to define.
Key Effect of Option B:
The champion is not the champion until he or she corrects the incorrect definition of the other contestant and
then correctly defines the next acronym on the list.
14. The AITP Acronym Bee List (http://www.uwec.edu/AITP), shall serve as the final authority for the definition of the
acronyms. If more than one definition is listed for an acronym that the pronouncer has provided for the contestant to
define, any of these definitions shall be accepted as correct if all of the following three criteria are met: (1) The
pronunciations and spellings of the acronyms are identical, (2) the representation of the acronyms are identical, and (3)
the words in the acronym are clearly identified as being standard variants of each other. Ie. (DVD - Digital Video Disk or
Digital Versitile Disk, both definitions will be accepted as correct)
15. Any question relating to the definition of an acronym should be referred to the designated official immediately in
writing on the official appeal form. The official appeal form should contain space for the following: the acronym in question,
the name of the contestant, and the reason for the appeal.
16. Appeals may be filed by the contestant who is seeking reinstatement in the contest. The judges will not entertain
appeals from individuals seeking to dislodge another contestant from the competition. The deadline for filing an appeal is
before the contestant affected would have received his/her next acronym had he/she stayed in the competition. No appeal
will be entertained after that word has been given to another contestant. Under Option A, when only five contestants
remain, an oral appeal must be made immediately, that is, before the contestant affected would have received his/her
next acronym had he/she stayed in the contest. Under Option B, when only two contestants remain, an oral appeal must
be made immediately, that is, before the contestant affected would have received his/her next acronym had he/she stayed
in the competition.
17. The judges are in complete control of the competition. Their decision shall be final on all questions.
18. All of these rules are all applicable unless determined different by the Executive Board Members of AITP.
Note: Many of the rules used in this contest have been based upon the Scripps Spelling Bee Rules, slightly modified for
use in the instance of the acronym bee. (http://www.spellingbee.com/rulesloc.shtml)