Answer: "The only college campus to host Jeopardy! auditions this fall."
Question: "What is the University of Virginia?"
That's right, the University won Sony's College Jeopardy! Online contest, defeating its co-ed competitors.
"We were very excited that U.Va. won," Sony Online Entertainment Publicist Caren Piela said. "You won by a lot."
In May, the contest was tight between Georgia Tech and the University, but the final results reveal an intra-state contest.
With over one billion points, the University trounced runner-up College of William & Mary, which had about 800 million points. Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Indiana University at Bloomington round out the top five.
While College Jeopardy! Online is entering its third year, this semester was the first to offer campus auditions for the final prize.
So what's next for the Jeopardy! champions?
"We're going to do the auditions on campus this fall," Piela said. "Hopefully someone will do well from U.Va."
Only University students can audition on campus, and if students perform well enough against a nationally contested pool, they will be flown to Los Angeles free of charge to compete in College Jeopardy! in January.
Non-University students will have to audition at city centers like Boston and Chicago--not on their campus.
The efforts of students like third-year Engineering student Ryan Persaud, and perhaps bitter feelings over a lost football contest with Georgia Tech last fall, helped propel the University to an online victory.
"I think the whole reason that was entertaining was because we were basically trying to beat Georgia Tech," Persaud said. "Once, I walked into stacks and I think there were 20 people playing. It was kind of a group effort."
He said he and his friends usually played on weeknights when the competition heated up.
"I guess the competition is more the fun part of it," he added.
While Persaud pursued the game online, he said he usually watched the show during the year as well, and plans to audition this fall.
With so many participating online, he may have some competition. But either way, the University has an advantage over other colleges already.
"We're going to be right there on campus so your odds are going to be much higher," Piela said.
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