Jeopardy! Teen Tournament

The Jeopardy! Teen Tournament is one of the traditional tournaments held each season on the TV quiz show Jeopardy! Contestants in this tournament are primarily high school students, and between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. A field of 15 players compete in this tournament; one alternate is invited as a standby, but the alternate has never entered competition.

A second Teen Tournament took place in the last two weeks of July 2007 as the Summer Games Tournament. This was the first (and only, to date) time in its 27-year history that there were two Teen Tournaments held in the same season.

Format

The Teen Tournament format is identical to that of the Tournament of Champions and the College Championship: 5 quarterfinal games produce 5 semifinalists (winners) and 4 wildcard semifinalists (high scorers among nonwinners); 3 semifinals produce 3 finalists who compete in a 2-game final.

Origins during Fleming era

The first Jeopardy! games featuring high school students were held in 1967 on the original version of Jeopardy! hosted by Art Fleming. Not yet referred to as the "Teen Tournament", these games were known as the "Jeopardy! National College Scholarship Contest" and featured high school seniors competing for a $10,000 college scholarship fund. Contestants were recruited from participating high schools across the United States.

Contestant selection

1990s

Would-be contestants mailed postcards with their names and addresses to Jeopardy!. 1,200 teens were selected at random from the postcard entries and were invited to come (at their own expense) to one of four regional test centers (e.g. Houston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles) to take a timed written qualifying examination with the 50 clues read by Alex Trebek on a video monitor at the front of an exam room. Passing scorers were invited back for an interview and mock game using an electronic buzzer system. Their photographs are taken for their files, and they are asked to fill out a short information sheet with interesting facts about themselves that may be later used by Alex Trebek during the interview portion of the show. Selected contestants and alternates were notified that they had been chosen to appear on the show one to two months later. They are then flown to Los Angeles to tape the show. Taping occurs over a period of two days, with the five quarterfinals played on the first day and the three seminfinals and two final games played on the second day. Accommodations were provided for the contestants at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, with taping taking place at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California.

2000s

Contestants registered on the Jeopardy! web site rather than submitting postcards. As before, a select number of registrants were invited to audition and take a written test at a regional audition. Accommodations for contestants are provided at the Hilton in Universal City, California.

2006–present

All web site registrants take a 50-question timed online test at one set test time, usually late February. The test is given using Adobe Flash and takers are given 15 seconds per clue to type in their answers. A random selection of those who pass the test are invited to attend regional auditions in November at 4 locations around the United States at which another 50-question written test is given, followed by interviews and mock games. The number of students selected for the regional auditions is usually around 300, from which 15 are selected for the show.

Prizes

The prize amounts for all contestants are as follows:

Period	Finalists (minimum guarantees)			Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
	Winner	1st runner-up	2nd runner-up
1987-Winter 1997	$25,000 (and a spot in the Tournament of Champions)	$10,000	$7,500	$5,000	$1,000
Fall 1997-2000		$15,000	$10,000		$2,500
2001	$50,000
2002–2003		$20,000	$15,000
2004–2005	$75,000	$25,000
2006–present				$10,000	$5,000

Other prizes

• 2005 Teen Tournament contestants were awarded a computer package.
• The 2003 Teen Tournament winner was awarded a silver 2003 Volkswagen New Beetle.
• The 2002 Teen Tournament winner was awarded a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS Convertible ("Spyder").
• The 2001 Teen Tournament winner was awarded a Chevrolet Tracker.
• Prior to 2001, all Teen Tournament winners were invited to participate in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.
• The 1999-B Teen Tournament winner was awarded a Chevrolet Cavalier.

List of participants

The following is a list of contestants and where they placed in the tournament. Winners and runners-up who earned more than the minimum guarantees are as indicated in parentheses.

Finalists	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
Alex Trebek Era (1984–present)
Season 3 (February 16-February 27, 1987)
Winner: Michael Galvin 1st runner-up: Mitch Epner ($13,800) 2nd runner-up: Dana Venator	Mike Becker Paul Egendorf Brian Kalt Salil Kumar Lisa Patterson David Simon	Felicia Corralez Creswell Formey Curt King Dawn-Marie Nolan Sara Stanchina Amy Wilson
Season 4 (February 8–19, 1988)
Winner: Michael Block 1st runner-up: David Javerbaum ($21,400) 2nd runner-up: David Graham	Jason Albert Chris Capozzola Sasha Dublin Neil Gronewetter Mark Wong Stephanie Wulfestig	Mia Diamond Sarah Fanning Delaine Foss Gene Hayes Eric Reid Julie Robichaux
Season 5 (February 6–17, 1989)
Winner: Eric Newhouse ($28,100) 1st runner-up: Stanley Wu ($15,700) 2nd runner-up: Elena Whitley ($13,400)	Kristen Brimus Don Chase Ryan Godfrey Matt Lindley Peter Morris	David Dodson Tracy Fisher Marnie Helfrich Samantha Moeschler Matt Pearson Laura Speer
Season 6 (February 5–16, 1990)
Winner: Jamie Weiss ($26,000) 1st runner-up: Andrew McGeorge ($15,400) 2nd runner-up: Richard Morris ($11,799)	Peji Ghanouni Mike Grant Scott Hoffman Beth Mullins Wen Shen Avi Stadler	Chris Black Jennifer Dikes Dionne King Sharon Kristal Kate Veksler Stacey White
Season 7 (February 11–22, 1991)
Winner: Andy Westney 1st runner-up: Dana Bacon 2nd runner-up: Julie Knauer	Joanne Chan Robert Fielding Jim Palusak Maggie Large Francesca Khactu
Season 8 (February 24–March 6, 1992)
Winner: April McManus 1st runner-up: Cori Van Noy 2nd runner-up: Jill Young	Dylan Fulmer	Muffy Marracco Morris Melissa Murray Andrew Brown
Season 9 (February 1–12, 1993)
Winner: Fraser Woodford ($28,999) 1st runner-up: Jesse Roach ($12,600) 2nd runner-up: Mit Robertson ($8,400)	Carrie Pruett Colin Rafferty	Anne Black Nancy Dickmann Chauncey Dobberson Patricia Larash Lev Osherovich Suj Vijayan Brent Keeling Jessie Gile
Season 10 (February 7–18, 1994)
Winner: Matt Morris ($29,601) 1st runner-up: Peter Steffen 2nd runner-up: Paul Loeffler	E.J. Ciraki Jesse Irwin Jeremy Manta Gerry Tansey Dorothy Thompson Felicia Wu	Scott Alport Rebecca Cinderbrand Alice Handley Carsten Reichel Valerie Voldivici Jonathan Zimmerman
Season 11 (February 6–17, 1995)
Winner: Matthew Zielenski ($42,300) 1st runner-up: Susannah Batko-Yovino ($26,200) 2nd runner-up: Deborah Sager ($17,300)	Chris Jacobs Sujit Raman Matthew Sandler Shannon Shelton Chuck Truesdell Halla Yang	Erika Brown Courtney Donovan Gwen Shen Gus Splittorf Jim Stichen Martha Van Hoy
Season 12 (May 6–17, 1996)
Winner: 1Amanda Goad ($31,200) 1st runner-up: Derek Bridges ($31,200) 2nd runner-up: Joe Gurski ($24,800)	Linda Alila Julee Baber Anthony Chiu Peter M. Friedman Geoffrey Hatchard Ben Healy	Carmen Abrazado Heather Burnett Talisha Burton Lawson Fite Penelope Pajel Jodi Sangster
Season 13 (February 3–14, 1997)
Winner: Joshua DenHartog 1st runner-up: Justin Powell ($17,125) 2nd runner-up: Akiva Fox	Fran Bigman Matthew Burgess Pooja Dhume Brandon Frantz Faith Hillis Tanis O'Connor	Chad Bell Audrey Droesch Sharon Druck Rita Hamad Brian Joseph Alex Rubalcaya
Season 14 (November 3–14, 1997), with its second week at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC
Winner: Sahir Islam ($26,300) 1st runner-up: Enos Williams ($20,800) 2nd runner-up: Kristen Stuckey ($14,400)	Evan Johnson Jonathan Lowe James Sumner Kathy Thompson Bea Vo Kira Whelan	Julie Anastasi Meghan Arnold Rachel Johnson Deon Lackey Jennifer Rehmann Justin Watkins
Season 15 (February 22–March 5, 1999)
Winner: Melissa Sexstone 1st runner-up: Trish Ranney ($17,600) 2nd runner-up: Elizabeth Nyman	Jeff Cary Lina Ghosh Katie Halliday Oliver Longwell Sam Sanker Joan Williams	Nate Budde Milo Dochow2 Brian Dunlap Lindsay Embysk Kitty Roberts Rubani Trimiew
Season 16 (November 1–12, 1999), with its second week at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City
Winner: Chacko George 1st runner-up: Emily Deveau 2nd runner-up: Kristy Jones ($10,700)	Jack Challis Erin Gell Gerrit Hall Brittan Heller Chrissy Ijams Elizabeth Norton	Miguel Dickson Scott Duquette Brian Golden Marcia Hensley Brian Polk Adam Trabka
Season 17 (April 30–May 11, 2001), at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Winner: Graham Gilmer 1st runner-up: Andy Siegler 2nd runner-up: Colleen Mahoney	Katherine Bushey Ryan Ballangee Logan Bell Misti Coronel Jonathan Reinstein Alexis Stevens	Caley Anderson Paige Feldman Tom Hartmann Nicole Reimer Amanda Trujillo Farah Zolghadr
Season 18 (February 4–15, 2002)
Winner: Bernard Holloway 1st runner-up: George Nelson ($29,497) 2nd runner-up: Seth Disner ($28,900)	Lindsey Bartlett Heidi Greimann Emily Karrs Andy Kravis Evan Stewart Liana Walters	Anna Gohmann Blake Hernandez Seveen Kannankara Margaret Monroe Allie Pape Dan Royles
Season 19 (February 3–14, 2003)
Winner: John Zhang 1st runner-up: Tyler Allard ($28,400) 2nd runner-up: Anthony Valente ($24,799)	Russell Berris Stephanie Ehresman John Matthews Tara Roberts (née Karr) Benjamin Swartz Shuyu Wang	Susan Bellenot Kendra Chapman Jonathan Gillerman Joel Knight Brittany McCants Elizabeth Mullowney
Season 20 (February 9–20, 2004)
Winner: Jennifer Wu 1st runner-up: Chris Holden 2nd runner-up: Courtney Bennis	Meghan Apfelbaum Heather Goodlett Kerry Lambeth Muhammad Meigooni Matt Nordsten Oliver Sherouse	Ashley Anderson Emily Birkel Lauren Drell Brad Hoff Jason Rindenau Zach Schoepflin
Season 21 (January 26–February 8, 2005)
Winner: Michael Braun 1st runner-up: Wes Kovarik ($30,000) 2nd runner-up: Anne Shivers ($18,000)	Caitlin Cook Ruvani Fonseka Steve Golden Jimmy Li Peter Severson Orlando Zambrano	Vanamali Compton Amy Fletcher Allan Long Whitney Prince Kerri Regan Chloe White
Season 22 (February 6–17, 2006)
Winner: Papa Chakravarthy 1st runner-up: Andrew Kreitz 2nd runner-up: Matt Klein	Camille Bullock Joseph Graumann, Jr. Iddoshe Hirpa David Hoffelmeyer Sebastian Johnson Allison Pena	Laura Ansley Katie James Loren Loiacono Lauren Romero Kenneth Schlax Andrew Watkins
Season 23 (February 5–16, 2007)
Winner: David Walter 1st runner-up: Ben Schenkel ($42,800) 2nd runner-up: Stephen Fritz ($25,460)	Caroline Bartman Frank Firke Heidi Fogle Naomi Hinchen Myles Jeffrey Hank Robinson	Kristin Briggs Allison Dziuba Jeffrey Gerlomes Caroline Jones Heidi Liu Eliza D. Urban
Season 23 Teen Tournament Summer Games (July 16–27, 2007)
Winner: Meryl Federman 1st runner-up: Greg Peterson ($38,600) 2nd runner-up: Kyle Neblett ($36,400)	Lisa Ackerman Jeffrey Baer Kriti Gandhi Rachel Gottesman Andy Hutchins Aiden Pink	Kristiana Henderson Amy Levine Tommy Maranges Lindsey Nicolai Ben Noe Amy Varallo
Season 24 (February 11–22, 2008)
Winner: Rachel (Racquel) Horn 1st runner-up: Rachel "Steve" Cooke 2nd runner-up: Zia Choudhury ($18,000)	Hunter Brown Will Casper Todd Faulkenberry Katie Gill Melissa Luttmann Naren Tallapragada	Maria Bennici Bonnie Cao Mollie Haycock Becky Kralle Janelle Lambert Nick Philip
Season 25 (November 10–21, 2008)
Winner: Anurag Kashyap 1st runner-up: Bradley Silverman ($44,600) 2nd runner-up: Audrey Hosford ($26,400)	Ben Chuchla Shelby Malone Sarah Marx Brandon Saunders Jay Schrader Karan Takhar	Haley Batz Charlie Carbery Casey Clough Katie Houghton Drew Scheeler Christopher Weis
Season 26 (November 2–13, 2009)
Winner: Rachel Rothenberg 1st runner-up: Will Dantzler ($31,600) 2nd runner-up: Aidan Mehigan	Zach Blumenfeld Solomon Howard Gabriel Johnson Hema Karunakaram Gabe Orlet Lindsay Oxx	Bonny Jain Emily Lever Stephanie Radke Samantha Reback Kennedy Stomps Forrest Sturgill
Season 27 (February 17–March 2, 2011)
Winner: Raynell Cooper 1st runner-up: Kailyn LaPorte ($42,600) 2nd runner-up: Raya Elias-Pushett ($20,851)	Nikhil Desai Erin Hart Idrees Kahloon Lindsey Thiesfeld Kate Wadman Brandon Welch	Cosi Audi Raphie Cantor Steven Ho Christian Ie Carlee Jensen Andrew Van Duyn
Season 28 (April 30–May 11, 2012) with its second week at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC
Winner: Elyse Mancuso ($79,600) 1st runner-up: Rose Schaefer ($36,000) 2nd runner-up: Catherine Briley ($31,000)	Krishna Bharathala 1Evan Eschliman Ben Greenho Anshika Niraj Eliza Scruton Kevin Yang	Morgan Flood Gabriela Gonzales Jeff Haylon Sam Leanza Caleb Olson Rob Schrader
Season 29 (January 30–February 12, 2013)
Winner:1Leonard Cooper 1st runner-up: Barrett Block ($35,600) 2nd runner-up: Nilai Sarda ($26,400)	Tori Amos William Crouch Kelton Ellis Emily Greenberg Irene Vazquez Joe Vertnik	Lila Anderson Arjun Byju Olivia Hummer Brittany Poppen Katie Stone Jordan Villanueva

^1 Amanda Goad and Derek Bridges were tied for first place at the end of the 1996 Teen Tournament. The tie was broken in a special tiebreaker round. The category was U. S. Cities and the answer was "A November 1995 Bosnian peace accord is named for this city". The correct response, given by Amanda, was "What was Dayton, Ohio?". The 2012 Teen Tournament also ended in a tie in the last quarterfinal match between Evan Eschliman and Gabriela Gonzales. The category was Literary Characters and the answer was "Although he doesn't actually appear in "1984", his presence is everywhere--on posters, coins & telescreens". The correct response, given by Evan was "Who is Big Brother?" (Evan advanced to the semifinals, but Gabriela didn't have enough money to make it via wildcard). The 2013 Teen Tournament had a triple-zero score in the second semifinals game; by rule, the highest-scoring non-winner in the other two semifinals advanced to the finals.

^2 Due to a questionable judges' ruling, Milo Dochow was brought back for the Winter 2000 Jeopardy! College Championship; however, he failed to advance to the semifinals.

^3 Peter Morris in 1989 and Muffy Marracco Morris in 1992 were the first pair of siblings to appear on the Teen Tournament. Peter Morris appeared again on the 1998 Teen Reunion Tournament. Wen Shen in 1990 and Gwen Shen of 1995 were also brother and sister. Jay Schrader (2008) and Rob Schrader (2012) are also brothers.

Merchandising

A console game based on the Teen Tournament was released in the mid 1990s for the Nintendo Game Boy.

Teen Reunion Tournament

The Jeopardy! Teen Reunion Tournament was a special one-week tournament held in November 1998 at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in Boston, Massachusetts that invited back 12 former Teen Tournament contestants from the first three tournaments on Jeopardy!

Format

Twelve former Teen Tournament contestants competed three at a time in four qualifying round matches. Winning contestants who were among the top three scorers would play in the final match for $50,000. Losing qualifiers took home $5,000, while the non-playing finalist took home $7,500. The third place finisher took home a minimum guarantee of $10,000, while the second place finisher was entitled to a minimum guarantee of $15,000. The highest scoring player in the finals took home $50,000.

The two nonwinning finalists also received the board game Game of the Year by University Games as well as a Tigris Pyramid and Movana.

Results

Qualifying round

• November 16, 1998: Dana Venator defeated Peter Morris and Creswell Formey.
• November 17, 1998: David Javerbaum defeated Amy Wilson and Sascha Dublin.
• November 18, 1998: Eric Newhouse defeated Stefanie Wulfestieg and Julie Robichaux.
• November 19, 1998: Chris Capozzola defeated Stanley Wu and Samantha Moeschler. Capozzola, Javerbaum, and Newhouse advanced to the finals.

Finals

• November 20, 1998: Newhouse defeated Javerbaum and Capozzola.

External links

• The official Jeopardy! website
• Official Jeopardy! Teen Tournament Season 29 website