Destination Imagination — New York

All teams from New York and New Jersey are invited to present their solutions at the 2021 NYDI / NJDI Affiliate Tournament, on April 10, 2021.

The Tournament will be held entirely online.

Owing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be able to hold an in-person Tournament this year.

But we will still have a great celebration of creativity online, at our online, virtual, 2021 NYDI Affiliate Tournament!

Each team will:

• Solve a Team Challenge and an Instant Challenge.
• Meet online with a prep-area Appraiser, where they will "check in" to their Challenge.
• Present their Solution to the public, and to our Appraisers.
• Have an opportunity to answer post-presentation questions asked by the Appraisers
• Be scored by the Appraisers. 
• Receive their raw scores and have the opportunity to discuss them with the Challenge Master.
• Be acknowledged for the hard work that they put into their Solution.

At the end of the day, we will hold a Virtual Awards Ceremony:

• Medals will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placing Teams.
• It will be announced which Teams will be invited to participate in Global Finals 2021.
• Special Awards wil be announced.

How to Watch the Tournament

Challenge	Kind	Start	End	YouTube Link
The Next Level	Technical	9:00 AM	4:30 PM	https://youtu.be/dscNMoNxStM
Epic Remix	Fine Arts	9:15 AM	4:45 PM
Critter's Big Adventure	Early Learning	1:00 PM	1:15 PM
Project Podcast	Service Learning	9:15 AM	11:15 AM	https://youtu.be/m7Ai92YJnlU
In Theory	Scientific	9:30 AM	11:30 AM
Case Closed	Improv	11:45 AM	4:30 PM
Built to Last	Engineering	12:00 PM	4:15 PM
Closing Ceremony		5:30 PM	6:30 PM	https://youtu.be/LHjaPuAL_iA

 

Notes:

• Multiple Challenges will be hosted in each of the YouTube streams
• Please share the YouTube links with Team parents, family and friends
• The time of the Closing Ceremony is approximate; we will email all participants when it is about to begin.

Latest Updates

• Please see the Tournament Day Details below!
• Rules of the Road has very important updates this year for Virtual Tournaments and Virtual Instant Challenge. It is the Team and the Team Manager's responsibility to read and understand these very important new rules and procedures.
• Tournament Guide For Teams has been completely revised this year for virtual tournaments. Please read the entire Tournament Guide as it contains all of the instructions for on-line submission of forms, etc. as required this year.
• Challenge Release / Video submission dates:
  • Instant Challenge: Release at 3:00am on March 5; Submission Deadline 11:59pm on March 8
  • Improv (Case Closed): Release at 3:00am on March 12; Submission Deadline 11:59pm on March 15
  • All other Challenges: Submission Deadline 11:59pm on March 29
• All submission of Tournament Data Forms will be online. More details are available in Tournament Guide For Teams.

Collaboration with New Jersey Destination Imagination

NYDI and NJDI will be holding a joint Tournament this year. NY and NJ teams will both present their solutions in the same event, and scored by the a shared set of Appraisers, but NY and NJ teams will be ranked separately, and send their own separate teams to Global Finals. Please check back soon for more information on this topic.

General Information

Teams and team managers are advised to review the following information:

How to Register for the Tournament

Register Your Team is our online registration system.Tournament registration is open now!

Team Challenge

• Please see Rules of the Road and Tournament Guide for Teams for important new information about how to present your Team Challenge at our Virtual Tournament. It is your responsibility as a Team or Team Manager to read and understand these rules, many of which are new this year!Your selected Challenge may have additional considerations for Virtual Tournaments.
• Please read your Challenge carefully, as the Challenges have been adjusted significantly to permit online presentation.
• Video Submission Deadlines:
  • The Next Level (Technical) — March 29, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time FINAL Updated
  • In Theory (Scientific) — March 29, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time  FINAL Updated
  • Epic Remix (Fine Arts) — March 29, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time  FINAL Updated
  • Case Closed (Improvisational) — 
    • The Improv Unknowns that your team must use will be released on March 12, 2021 at 3:00 a.m Eastern Time.  FINAL
      
    • Your Video Presentation must be submitted to NYDI by March 15, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.  FINAL
  • Built to Last (Engineering) — March 29, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time FINAL Updated
  • Project Podcast (Service Learning) — March 29, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time FINAL Updated
  • Critter's Big Adventure (Early Learning) — March 29, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time FINAL Updated
• NYDI / NJDI will NOT be reviewing Team Challenge Q&A Videos! 
  • There is no need to submit one.
  • In place of the Q&A Video, every team will video-conference directly with the appraisers on Tournament day (April 10th).

Instant Challenge

• Please see Rules of the Road and Tournament Guide for Teams for important updated information about Instant Challenge at Virtual Tournaments. It is your responsibility as a Team or Team Manager to read and understand these rules, many of which are new this year!
• The Instant Challenge Release Date will be March 5, 2021 at 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time. FINAL
• Teams must submit their recorded Instant Challenge solution by the Due Date which is March 8, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time . FINAL 
• DI Inc. has published several wonderful sets of Practice Instant Challenges! We especially recommend the Jan 15 Instant Challenges - FOR PRACTICE ONLY - Letter file, as these are most representative of the Challenges that we will be using, but the other Practice I/C's in the resource area are also useful. See Resource Area → Documents → View Documents, in the Challenge Materials → Instant Challenge - U.S. Letter folder.

About the tournament itself

• Tips for Team Managers at the Tournament
• Tournament Guide for Teams
• A Typical Tournament Day
• Picking up and Understanding Your Scores

What else

• What if we win and are advancing to Global Finals?
• All teams MUST pre-order a Champ-Pack (at no up-front cost) – even though you don't know yet if you are advancing! Learn how and why.

Tournament Day Details

• Before the day of the Tournament each team will receive an email with detailed connection information, specifically for their team:
  • Teams and Team Managers will connect to the Tournament via Zoom five minutes before their scheduled performance time, and will be placed in a waiting room
  • When joining the Zoom call, please change your display name:
    • Team Members: Set name to TeamNumber - name (e.g. 134-12345 - John Doe).
    • Team Manager: Set name to TeamNumber MANAGER - name (e.g. 134-12345 MANAGER- Alex Doe).
  • At the performance time, the team will be admitted to the video conference room
  • Every team's Team Challenge Video submissions will be presented to the Appraisers and to the public
  • After the video is presented, the Team will move into an on-line breakout room for a Q&A session with the Appraisers.
    • Updated Any props or devices that are part of the team's solution should be available during the Q&A session, so that Appraisers can view them and ask questions about them.
• Spectators can watch the entire Tournament live on YouTube 
• Teams can watch other teams' performances on YouTube
• Distribution of raw scores:
  • Raw scores will be sent to the Team Manager electronically shortly after the performance.
  • If the team wishes to discuss the raw scores with the Head Appraiser, they must request a conference within 15 minutes of when the raw scores were sent. You will receive an email back with instructions for the conference.
  • After conferring with the Head Appraiser, the team disputes the scores, they must file an official Dialogue Request Form withing 30 minutes of the conference.
• The day will end with a Virtual Awards Ceremony, streamed live on YouTube around 5:30pm.
• More details concerning procedures will be determined shortly, and will be posted here and sent to teams via email.

Advancement to Global Finals

• Selection of teams:.
  • UPDATED First and Second place teams for each level and each challenge at the Affiliate Tournament will advance to Global Finals 2021.
  • In addition, NYDI may enter 1 team per Challenge, per Level, into the Lottery System, by which additional teams may be selected by Destination Imagination, Inc. to attend Global Finals.
  • Teams must have made a good-faith effort to solve the Challenge and have no significant deductions for Unsportsmanlike Conduct in order to advance.
• See 2021 NYDI POLICY FOR ADVANCEMENT TO GLOBAL FINALS for full details.
• ALL teams must pre-order a Champ Pack, and should be prepared to complete the purchase by end-of-day on April 10th. The Champ Pack is mandatory for advancing teams, and includes NYDI T-Shirts for every participant, and a few trading pins. Cost will be determined in early 2021. Advancing teams can be purchase additional shirts and pins at a discount. We strongly suggest pre-ordering to streamline the purchase process!  Champ Pack orders must be complete on the day of the tournament in order to guarantee availability for Global Finals!  See the Champ Pack page for details.
• What if we Win at States and are going to Global Finals?

Global Finals Team Managers Meeting

There is a very important online Team Manager Meeting after the awards ceremony to review the “Going to Globals” process. One Team Manager from every advancing team MUST attend. We will have a packet of information for the Team Manager and we will review the process. There are veterans in this group that will have great insight to share as well. We intend for this meeting to be brief but focused, running not more than 30 minutes. The schedule of this meeting will be announced a few weeks before the Tournament.