What is Celtel Africa Challenge?

Celtel Africa Challenge is an academic quiz programme for the universities in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.  The 2007-2008 year is the second year of the programme.  University teams in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will meet in their home country on 1 November to compete in Qualifying Tournaments. Teams in Malawi and Zambia will meet to compete in late November on a date to be determined.

The top teams from those competitions will advance to the Celtel Africa Challenge Championship Festival, to be held 18 to 24 January, 2008 in Nairobi, Kenya.  Those final 16 teams will play a knockout tournament, with 15 programmes being taped for television broadcast throughout the region from February, 2008.

How were the universities chosen?

All chartered and accredited universities in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia are eligible to participate. Eligible universities must complete the online enrollment form.  The deadline in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda is 12 October.  The deadline in Malawi and Zambia is 26 October.

How are the university teams selected?

The competition begins at the universities in October, 2007.  Each university conducts Student Tryout Tests.  From those tests, 12-20 students will be selected to be members of the Celtel Africa Challenge Scholars Club.  Club members will meet and practice together for 1-2 weeks.  The coach will then select the university's Celtel Africa Challenge Scholars Team in late October, 2007.  Team members are limited to one year of participation and must meet player eligibility requirements.

How is the game played?

Celtel Africa Challenge is a fast-paced game involving three students on each of two teams.  There are four rounds in each programme.  During each of the first three rounds, one student from each of the two teams compete head-to-head, playing face-off questions.  The players rotate between rounds so that each of the three players will compete in one face-off round.  When a player correctly answers a 10 point face-off, that team receives a 20 point bonus question on which they all confer.  Each face-off round is approximately 4 minutes in length (3 minutes in the Computerized version and at the Qualifying Tournaments).  After the third round, both teams play the Ultimate Challenge round where they attempt to answer 10 questions in 60 seconds. For more information, consult the game rules and sample questions pages.

What are the prizes?

Participants at the in-country Qualifying Tournaments receive a t-shirt and a certificate of completion. Only the 16 universities attending the International Festival & Championship along with their four players, Coach and Liaison will receive grants from Celtel.

Grants for the International Festival & Championship are based on each university's final standing in that knockout tournament.  The further a university's team advances, the larger the grant the university and its participants receive.  Grants for the individual recipients (four students plus the coach and liaison) are also based on the university team's finish in the tournament.  Additional information is available on the Celtel Africa Challenge Grants page.

Other FAQ pages are:

University FAQ
Questions FAQ
Championship Festival FAQ
Qualifying Tournaments FAQ