Honda Campus All-Star Challenge
Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (also known as HCASC) is a quizbowl academic competition for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
The game was created and co-founded by Richard Reid, president and owner of the College Bowl Company, which produces the program.
[1] “HCASC exemplifies the aims of a liberal arts education by encouraging students to develop a mastery in multiple academic fields,” says Dr. Worth K. Hayes of Tuskegee University.
[2] Honda had Muse Cordero Chen, an advertising agency, do multiple focus groups in several major cities across the country to identify issues facing the African American community and their attitude towards Honda.
One of the concerns they identified was African Americans wanted companies to be more responsive to the needs of their community, particularly with regards to education.
Afterwards, education became a key element in Honda's advertising and public relations campaigns aimed at the African American audience.
The college bowl type of competition became popular in the 60's and 70's, but it was rarely if ever, that African Americans were even allowed to compete in these tournaments.
The HCASC was the first opportunity for black students to publicly display their talents, and airing the finals on cable television gave them an even larger audience.
[3][4][5] From 1990 to 1995, the competition format consisted of sectional matches that led up to televised National Championship games on BET.
Other bonuses might require a team to name items from a list at 5 points apiece, or award points based on how many clues it took the team to identify a famous person, place, or thing (a 30-20-10 bonus).
Beginning with the 2011–12 season, the format was changed to reflect that of the Zain Africa Challenge, another academic competition created by Richard Reid, owned and produced by College Bowl.
At the beginning of Rounds 2 and 3, the face-off representative changes, and the team who is behind selects the category for the opening Face Off question.
As part of a qualification process, each college/university must host a campus tournament to determine which players will represent the school's team.
Teams are seeded based on overall performance, and the "super sixteen," "great eight," quarterfinal, and semifinal matches are single elimination, with the final two teams playing a best two-of-three series of final matches.
Clint Holmes, who hosted the BET broadcasts, moderated the semifinal and final matches through 2008.
[6][7] Florida A&M University defeated defending champs West Virginia State in the finals.
Participants received tributes from the mayors and governors in their college's home cities and states, as well as ones from Presidents Bill Clinton & Nelson Mandela.
Moderator for the finals was attorney Pridgen "PJ" Green who was an HCASC alumni from Hampton University.
For the second year in a row the finals were both took place in Torrance, California, and moderated by Pridgen Green.
[22] Morehouse College wins their 5th championship, defeating Kentucky State University in the finals.
