NATIONAL & STATE SPONSORS
Lennox, Panasonic, CNBC, Scientific American,  Raytheon, Epson, Scantron, Northrop Grumman, and Motorola are among the corporate sponsors of the national competition. The Georgia state competition is coordinated by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), with expenses underwritten by the Georgia legislature.

LOCAL SPONSORS
Although the local competition is organized and financially sponsored by the Muscogee County School District, the event would not be possible without broad support from the community.  From its inception in 1987, the MCSD competition has been endorsed by the Education Committee of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce and supported by Columbus State University.  CSU awards a renewable cash grant to the student who compiles the greatest number of points in each category.

EVENTS
Like its athletic counterpart, the Academic Decathlon has ten events.  All competitors take six objective tests prepared by Harcourt Brace Educational Measurement in language and literature, mathematics, music, art, social science, and science.    In addition, the students write essays, deliver prepared and impromptu speeches, and are interviewed.  The tenth event--the only one open to the public--is the Super Quiz.

TEAMS
A Decathlon team is composed of nine high school students.  Although academic competitions typically feature a school’s best students, a Decathlon team has unusual GPA (grade point average) requirements.  The team has three students in each of the three categories:  “A,” “B,” and “C.” Although a “C” student can “play up,” an “A” student cannot “play down.” A coach’s roughest job is frequently that of recruiting previously unmotivated, capable students.

VOLUNTEERS
Lasting approximately ten hours, the rigorous local competition involves almost 100 adult volunteers on staggered schedules.  They interview students, evaluate essays, judge impromptu and prepared speeches, supervise testing, monitor the Super Quiz, handle a complex scoring system, and present the awards. In addition, twenty-five student assistants from the host school are responsible for escorting the competitors and adult volunteers to the different events (in eighteen classrooms, the cafeteria, the gym, and the auditorium) and for keeping everything running on schedule.

AWARDS
The top three schools receive team trophies for overall competition. Three  trophies are also awarded in the only team competition, the Super Quiz. The local chapter of PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) presents a check to the winning team to help defray the expenses of participating in the state Decathlon in Atlanta. For the nine different individual events, students receive gold, silver, and bronze medals in each of the three competition categories. Because of the frequency of ties, approximately 100 medals are presented.  The top three students in each category receive trophies, and the top student in each category receives a cash grant from Columbus State University.

LOCAL COORDINATORS

Cassandra Reynolds and Mary Starke