Honor Code & Cheating Policy

Because this competition offers substantive cash prizes to winning teams and is conducted interstate over the Internet, attempts to cheat or gain an unfair advantage within the competition are a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1343. Cheating includes, but is not limited to: the unauthorized use of the Internet, cell phones, calculators, or non-competing persons during the round; communication outside of explicitly permitted channels; the use of prewritten notes or textbooks during rounds; and the sharing of questions with others before their public release.

For Olympus: Players must remain unmuted in Zoom at all times unless a moderator deems background noise enough to necessitate muting that participant. During the entire competition, each player must have a camera showing both of their hands; this can be done using the main device (e.g. by buzzing on a separate device) or with a second camera. A moderator may ask a player to show their workspace or move their camera according to their discretion. Players from the same team may be in the same location; if so, the location should have ONE camera showing the entire space, including all players’ hands, and ONE device for audio that must be unmuted at all times. Each player should have their own device for buzzing.

After a tournament, questions may not be discussed with non-competitors who do not already have access to questions. Topics that should not be discussed include specific question content, set trends, set difficulty, and any other information that non-competitors could not have access to or could give teams an unfair advantage. Most offenses will be resolved with warnings, but intentional, egregious, and/or repeated offenses will be considered cheating.

If tournament directors judge that there is clear and convincing evidence that a team is cheating during a tournament, they will at minimum be disqualified from this tournament and all future tournaments held by Prometheus’s directors and may be subject to a litany of other sanctions. These include disqualification from the National Science Bowl and associated science-related tournaments as well as reporting to the student’s coach, high school, and district. In severe cases, students’ actions may be reported to college admissions offices, and students and their parents may be subject to civil litigation or criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 1343. We strongly hope that these measures are not necessary, but reserve the right to use them if players attempt to illegally defraud our tournament.

While not considered cheating, Prometheus does not tolerate any kind of harassment, bullying, or other forms of misconduct. During tournaments, any harassment or unsportsmanlike conduct may result in removal from the tournament and/or a ban from all future tournaments held by Prometheus’s directors. In the Prometheus Science Discord, any actions deemed to violate Discord’s Terms of Use will result in a temporary mute/kick for a first-time offense and a permanent ban if the issue is not resolved. All other situations relating to Prometheus may result in the same consequences at the discretion of Prometheus’s directors.

Prometheus Science Bowl, Inc. reserves the right to disqualify any player or team from the competition at any time and for any reason, at our sole discretion, including but not limited to disrupting the flow of the tournament by cheating or by other means.

This honor code will be sent out to all teams and competitors and conspicuously displayed on both communications and our website. A lack of knowledge of this code is not a defense against violations. Don’t cheat, and keep the game fun and fair for everyone.