An overview of the Team of the Year (ToY) rules

This is an overview of the Team of the Year rules.  

Points contest

Like the Kansas City Barbeque Association's Team of the Year contest, the CBBQA's ToY contest is a points contest.  That means that the winner is the team which has the most points earned in qualifying barbecue contests at the end of the year.  At each contest, teams earn points for a top-five finish in each category. 

Five ToY Categories

• Best Chicken of the Year
• Best Ribs of the Year
• Best Pork of the Year
• Best Brisket of the Year
• Team of the Year

Points awarded

Teams are awarded points for their finishes in each of these five categories.  5 points are awarded for the winner of the chicken category, 4 points for second place in chicken, 3 points for third place, 2 points for fourth place, and 1 point for fifth place in chicken.  The same points are awarded in ribs, pork and brisket.  The grand champion of a contest receives 5 ToY points, the reserve champion receives 4 points, and the next three top finishers receive 3, 2 and 1 point.  

The points totals increase if there are a large number of teams at the contest.  If there are 26 to 49 teams in a contest, the points totals are doubled (10 points for first place, 8 points for second place, etc.).  If there are 50 or more teams in a contest, the points are tripled (15 points for first place, 12 points for second place, etc.).

At the end of the ToY Year, the points are totaled for each team in the five categories for each contest in which it competed.  The five ToY winners are the teams with the most pints in each of the five categories.

Five best finishes in each category

A team is awarded ToY points for its best five finishes in the five categories.  That is, a team is not awarded points for more than five finishes.  This is often confusing, so it will be explained in some detail.

Explanation

Any team which competes in only five or few events will not be concerned with this rule, because it applies only if a team competes and has a top-five finish in six or more events.

When this happens, the team receives credit for only its best five finishes in each category.  Note that the best five finishes in chicken will be different from its best five finishes in pork, etc.

Example

Here is a simple example.  Assume that the following occurs during the ToY contest year:

• An eligible team competes in ten eligible events;
• Each of the ten events has 25 teams or less;
• In the first six of the ten events (first through sixth), the team wins first place in chicken five times and wins a second place in chicken once, but it does not place in the top-five in any of the other three categories or in the overall;  and
• In the last six of the ten events (which thus includes the fourth and fifth contest described above, as well as the sixth through tenth), the team wins first place in ribs five times and wins a second place in ribs once, but it does not place in the top-five in any of the other three categories or in the overall.

In this example, the team earned 29 points in chicken and 29 points in ribs (5 points for a first place finish times 5 times it won, plus 4 points for its only second place finish).  Note that the team is credited for its finishes, even though they are at different contests.  However, the team is awarded only 25 ToY points toward Best Chicken -- because only its top five finishes are counted.  Similarly, the team is awarded only 25 ToY points toward Best Ribs -- again, because only its top five finishes are counted.

This example illustrates that the ToY points are awarded for a team's five best finishes in each category, even though they are earned at different contests.

Points not finishes

Finally, there should be no confusion on the difference between points and finishes.  Again, this rule applies only for teams which compete and earn top-five finishes in more than five contests.  Even though the explanation speaks of a team's finish, it is possible for a team to earn more points for a lower finish than a higher finish.  The reason is that the points are doubled or tripled for contests with 26 or more teams.

For example, a second place finish in chicken at a contest with 30 teams earns 8 points, while a first place finish in chicken at a contest with 20 teams earns only 5 points. 

In deciding how many points to award, the ToY rules provide that team will be credited with the most points, not the highest finishes.  

Contest year

The CBBQA 'Team of the Year' year runs from January 1 through December 31, the same year as the Kansas City Barbecue Society's 'Team of the Year' year.  

Eligible teams

To be eligible to receive points for each barbeque cook-off, the team's head cook must be an CBBQA member.

Eligible teams

There are two eligibility requirements for teams to accumulate points in the ToY competition:

• Association membership
• Three California contests

Association Membership

To receive points at a particular barbecue contest, the team's head cook must have been an Association member on the day prior to the contest.  In most cases, this means that the head cook must be a member on the Friday, when the judging takes place on Saturday.

Each head cook must be careful not to let his/her membership lapse, because the team will ineligible to receive ToY points unless the head cook is a member in good standing during each contest.

Three California contests

To be eligible to win a ToY Award, the team must compete in at least three KCBS-sanctioned or CBBQA-approved barbecue contests within the State of California.

This does not mean that only points earned at California contests count toward the ToY competition.  As explained below, a team may win a ToY award by earning points at non-California events, even if it earns no points at any of the three California contests that it enters.

Eligible contests

In order for an eligible team to receive ToY points at a barbecue contest, the contest must be either KCBS-sanctioned or CBBQA-approved.

This means that a team may earn ToY points for its finishes in any KCBS-sanctioned contest anywhere in the world.  However, in order for a team to receive credit for any points at a non-California contest, the team itself is responsible to provide the complete contest results to the ToY Chairman within 30 days after the contest.  Otherwise, the points will not be credited to the team!

Note:  The Association has learned recently that KCBS, for its Team of the Year contest, does not award points for any invitational contest, such as the American Royal Invitational and the Jack Daniels.  The Association's rules were written so that points at invitational contests would count.  The Association will not retroactively change this rule, which would take away points earned by two teams at the 2001 American Royal Invitational, but the Association is going to consider whether to change the rule for all invitational contests held in 2002 (which would include next year's American Royal Invitational and Jack Daniels).

Points

American Royal and Jack Daniels

The winner of the ToY award will receive an automatic invitation to compete in the American Royal Invitational barbecue contest, which is held each October in Kansas City, Missouri.  In addition, the winner will be placed in the final draw for the Jack Daniel's, which is held each October in Lynchburg, Tennessee.