2nd Year, 04/Apr House Cup Challenge

## Description

With the end of yet another semester at the Academy, a welcomed and well-deserved spring break awaited both students and staff. However, that did not mean the Academy went quiet. On the contrary, a new iteration of the House Cup Challenge sent students scrambling left and right to show their smarts, skills, and creativity in a fun competition to win the House Cup trophy for their house, as well as bragging rights and a change of the colour scheme of certain school areas to the ones corresponding to the winning house.

## Event Details

The 2nd Year April edition of the House Cup Challenge consisted of three different competitions, each targeting different skills and talents:

· The Riddle Contest

· The Dueling Tournament

· The Magic Fair

The Riddle Contest gave students the chance to compete in terms of wits and knowledge of school grounds, with riddles about objects on Academy grounds increasing more and more in difficulty with each new round. It was truly a team effort for each of the houses, as their members had to discuss and agree on their final answers before submitting them to the Headmistress.

The Dueling Tournament offered students the possibility to prove their spell-casting, fighting ability, and prowess in combat. Each house was given two participant spots and duels would take place between participants belonging to the different houses, each with a victorious and a losing party, until one student would be the final victor, bringing their house a better chance of winning the House Cup Challenge.

Finally, the Magic Fair gave students the possibility of setting up an exhibition using any spells and skills gained while studying at the Academy in a creative way while adhering to the theme of ‘wonder.’ Each house was allowed as many participants as were willing to participate and each exhibition was judged on three different criteria. At the end of it, a ranking was formed and each place would bring their house a better chance of winning the overall competition.

All of the above had an equal part in determining the winners of the Challenge, based on how many 1st places each house gained in each of the competitions. In the case of a 1st place tie, 2nd places would be taken into account and so on.

## Event Outcome

**The Riddle Contest**

This stage of the Challenges was quite tricky, sending student brains into overdrive. The undeniable winners and braniacs of the Academy proved to be the members of House Curat. They were followed by houses Amare, Volo and Fidelity.

**The Dueling Tournament**

This stage of the Challenges showed an impressive display of spellcasting, unique combat styles, and explosive and engaging approaches to dueling. While Amare was able to only send one participant, Fidelity was given three spots due to their high number of gained points during the semester, one of the duels in the first round taking place between two Fidelity members to keep the competition fair. The final was held between Volo and Fidelity, with the former taking the victory and the latter taking a 2nd place in the tournament.

**The Magical Fair**

The third part of the House Cup Challenge brought to life the creativity of its participants, with breathtaking exhibitions that included an unexpected mix of spells from different subjects, potions, magical creatures, plants and other items to take the audience and jury on wondrous journeys. Different numbers students signed up from different houses, both 1st and 2nd places going to House Fidelity.

**End Results**

After tallying all of the results, despite it being a very close competition, the winner of the 2nd Year April House Cup Challenge came out to be House Fidelity, managing to keep the trophy in their common room and the blue decorations in the school for yet another semester.