Jeopardy! Teachers Tournament
The Jeopardy! Teachers Tournament is an annual tournament on the American television game show Jeopardy! It features full-time teachers of students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The tournament debuted during Season 27 (2010-2011) and has been played every season since (except for Season 37), always during any of the three ratings sweeps periods (November, February, or May), with the exception of being held from May 25th to June 5th 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Format
The Teachers Tournament follows the same 10-game format as the Tournament of Champions, College Championship, and Teen Tournament. The first five games are the quarterfinals, where all fifteen participants play in groups of three. The winners of the five games advance to the semifinals. The players with the four highest scores among non-winners advance as "wild card" players. The nine semifinalists compete in the next three games. Then the three semifinal winners advance to the two-day finals, in which cumulative scores from the two games are added to determine the championship (contestants' scores start at $0 in each game).
Prizes
Cash
The person who wins the tournament receives a $100,000 prize. The first runner up gets $50,000; and the second runner up gets $25,000. Teachers who are eliminated during the semifinals go home with $10,000, and teachers who are eliminated during the quarterfinals go home with $5,000.
Tournament of Champions
In addition to the aforementioned cash prize, the winner also earns an automatic spot in the next Tournament of Champions, although one winner (Larry Martin in 2018) died from pancreatic cancer before reaching that tournament. So far, two Teachers Tournaments winners have made it to the finals of the Tournament of Champions (Colby Burnett in 2013 and Francois Barcomb in 2019); only Burnett won the event. 2016 winner Jason Sterlacci is only other winner to advance to the semi-finals of the Tournament of Champions. Burnett was also invited back to the Battle of the Decades in 2014 where he advanced to the semifinals, and was team captain in the All-Star games in 2019, where he drafted 2017 Tournament of Champions finalist Alan Lin and November 2000 College Champion Pam Mueller as his team members. His team finished as the second runner-up in the event. 2015 winner Jennifer Giles also competed in the All-Star games, as a member of Team Buzzy Cohen. John Pearson was the alternate in the All-Star games.
List of participants
| Finalists | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
|---|---|---|
| Season 27 (May 2–13, 2011) | ||
| Winner: Charles Temple 1st runner-up: Lori Kissell 2nd runner-up: Larry DeMoss |
Kathy Casavant Dan Crosby Matt Polazzo Elisabeth Raab John Shoe Charley Tinkham |
Grafton Brown Catherine Carson Judd Hess Caitlin Millat Viki Radden Sally Umbach |
| Season 28 (February 15–28, 2012) | ||
| Winner: Patrick Quinn 1st runner-up: Brooks Humphreys 2nd runner-up: 1Justin Hofstetter |
Leslie Decker Lisa Johnston Nate Rice Mary Ann Stanley Kathryn Wendling 1Catherine Whitten |
John Botti Brad Brown Jessica Dell'Era Steven Evenhouse Elissa Hoffman Pian Wong |
| Season 29 (November 7–20, 2012) | ||
| Winner: Colby Burnett 1st runner-up: Michael Farabaugh 2nd runner-up: Kate Wilson |
Whitney Collins Marcia Edmundson John Hines Drew Joanides Brenton Montie Marion Penning |
Tina Baybay-Bykov Robin Cheney Francesca Leibowitz Diana North Chris Pae Terry Parker |
| Season 30 (November 11–22, 2013) | ||
| Winner: John Pearson 1st runner-up: Mary Beth Hammerstrom 2nd runner-up: Becky Giardina |
Eli Barrieau Anne Baxter Patrick Dillon 1Maryanne Lewell Katie Moriarty Timothy Shuker-Haines |
Cathy Bloedorn James Brown Karen Cafaro Kati Sorenson 1Michael Townes Rico Vazquez |
| Season 31 (February 2–13, 2015) | ||
| Winner: Jennifer Giles 1st runner-up: Cathy Farrell 2nd runner-up: Adam Elkana-Hale |
Mary Bayer Lydia Cuffman Eric Hack Kate La Rivière-Gagner Erin McLaughlin Colin O'Grady |
Tracy Alexander Chris Grinvalds Martha Jackson Michael Jones MaryLou McKenna Jay Singleton |
| Season 32 (May 2–13, 2016) with its second week at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., presented by Farmers Insurance | ||
| Winner: Jason Sterlacci 1st runner-up: Kaberi Chakrabarty 2nd runner-up: Jill Gilbert |
Peter Buchholz Lauren Gilmore Cory Harris Bill Knuth Chris Tempro Nicole Throckmorton |
Greg Greenzweig Hannah Krug Dianne Lee Ian Miller Tenaya Snider Terrie Trebilcock |
| Season 33 (May 8–19, 2017) presented by Farmers Insurance | ||
| Winner: David Clemmons 1st runner-up: Nan Cohen 2nd runner-up: 2Mary Parker |
Gail Ansheles Michael Camp Holly Cannon Sara Holub Susannah Nichols Eduardo Sevilla |
George Deane Lindsey Henry Dennis McDonald Stephanie Mitchell Graham Toben 2Cody Vest |
| Season 34 (May 7–18, 2018) presented by Farmers Insurance | ||
| Winner: Larry Martin 1st runner-up: Claire Bishop 2nd runner-up: Steve Mond |
Jake Allen Erika Eason Scott Montanaro Rachel Niegelberg Katherine Saxby Judy Tymkiw |
Beth Binder Lee DiGeorge Indi Ekanayake Bob Julian Mary Alice Korth Ranjani Sheshadri |
| Season 35 (May 6–17, 2019) presented by Amazon Alexa | ||
| Winner: Francois Barcomb 1st runner-up: Conor Quinn 2nd runner-up: Sara DelVillano |
Matthew Bunch Trevor Crowell Joe Rengstorf Julia Rosinski Bailey Dave Rowswell Benjamin Schwartz |
Tara Baxter Alexandra Bicks Vicki Leibeck-Owsley Mariah Minges Klusman Melissa Okey Ellie Walsh |
| Season 36 (May 25-June 5, 2020) | ||
| Winner: Ben Henri 1st runner-up: Meggie Kwait 2nd runner-up: Will Satterwhite |
Amanda Baltimore Jenna Hall Jong Ho Kim Katie LaBarge Sam Matson Lauren Schneider Lipton |
Peter Gouveia Ivory Johnson Matt Joyal Anne Pulju Allison Thomas Mary Kate Trausch |
^1 Catherine Whitten and Justin Hoffstetter in February 2012 are the first pair of contestants to marry each other. Their marriage took place in January 24, 2015. Maryanne Lewell and Michael Townes in 2013 are the second pair of contestants to marry each other. Their marriage took place in Canada in August 2017.
^2 Mary Parker and Cody Vest are the first two teachers contestants that teach in the same school.