The 11th Annual Panorama Challenge was another rousing success despite the miserable N’oreaster/bomb cyclone snow, rain and wind extravaganza this year.  Thanks to all of you who braved the weather to join us for the fun!  The food was great, Batala was electrifying — as usual, and the questions were tricky — like they always are!

Twenty-three teams competed, with eight teams playing the ‘pro’ quiz and therefore eligible for the trophy.

In the end, last year’s winner, the Triboros, repeated their victory.  The Triboros triumphed with 50 regular quiz points and an additional halftime point for a total of 51 (that’s out of a possible total of 63).  With their repeated success, one of their captains has now been elevated to the judges chambers for next year’s Challenge!

This year we encountered a real stumper of the ‘Ota Benga’ variety.  (Ota was a notable stumper several years ago.)  We asked for the Pros to describe what James Gordon Bennett Jr’s unbuilt NYC mausoleum would have resembled.  No one knew that Stanford White had designed a 125 foot high OWL in which Bennett’s coffin would be suspended by chains.  (All they needed to say was ‘owl’ but no-one could recall that bizarre fact. That’s why it’s called the Challenge!)

At the end of the night in the Challenger category, we believed that three teams had tied with scores of 27 (out of 30 + 3 halftime points) so we went to a sudden-death quiz-off.  After one question, only one team remained and we crowned She’s Gotti Have It as the champions.  However, upon later review, the Quizmaster discovered that I Love NY’s answer sheet had been mis-scored and should have been the sole winner.  The Quizmaster apologizes to that excellent team and hopes they will return next year to compete again.  All other sheets have been reviewed and no further error were found.

Hope to see everyone again next year!

Your Quizmaster,

Jonathan

PROS	SCORE
Triboros	51
Team Hell Gate	47
Supernovas of the LUNYverse	46
Kings & Queens	43
The Signal Problems	38
The Flatlanders	32
The Van Wycks	28
New Party City	23