South African Excel
Championship

South African Excel Championships 2023 

COMPETITION RULES 

 (hereinafter referred to as the “Rules”) 

 These Rules are effective from March 1, 2023. 

 Please read these Competition Rules carefully. You should review all our legal documents before participating in any Competition. If you do not accept these Rules or any of our legal documents, do not use the Website or participate in any Competition. 

1. The Event
   • South African Excel Championships 2023 (hereinafter –SAEC 2023) is an esports tournament for South African residents and citizens that is based in Microsoft Excel. The tournament consists of two Qualification Rounds followed by the Finals (top 16 players head-to-head consisting of 4 knock-out rounds).
   • The Event is organized by the Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC) team as well as the SA chapter of the FMWC (hereinafter – FMWC). 
2. The Participants 
   • SAEC 2023 is open to any South African resident or citizen regardless of age, gender, race, location within South Africa or any other limiting factor. 
3. SAEC 2023: Tasks 
   • Each round of the Competition will provide one Task consisting of a range of problem-solving questions solvable with Microsoft Excel. 
     • Each Task will include several Questions that the Participants will have to provide answers for. 
     • The complexity of the Questions will vary, with more complex questions awarding more points if answered correctly. 
     • All the Questions will be formulated in such a way as to provide fully automated objective grading. 
     • It is expected that the Question format will be multiple choice and “number type-in”. The organizers reserve an option to use other Question formats if deemed necessary. 
     • No answers will be in the form of an essay. 
   • The Tasks will be varied in topics; however, all the Tasks will be solvable by a general MS Excel user. Solving the Tasks will require knowledge of Excel functions, data management skills and logical thinking. The Tasks will be testing participant’s abilities to use MS Excel techniques to solve out-of-the-box problems. The Tasks will not require specific knowledge of finance, engineering, statistics or other scientific disciplines. 
   • The Tasks will be structured in such a way that the users of older versions of MS Excel (2010 and up) should be able to complete them. 
   • In order to correctly solve the Tasks, Participants will need to answer the Questions, produce and submit their files. 
     • Participants may be provided a basis for the Excel model, or the models will be required to be produced from scratch. 
   • Model formatting and style will not be judged. 
   • Sample Tasks and previous years’ Tasks are available on the FMWC website and can be purchased separately. 
4. Qualification Format 
   • The tournament starts with two qualification rounds in which the combined score will determine qualification for the finals. 
   • All the players willing to participate in SAEC 2023, need to register for the tournament (buy the ticket). 
5. Qualification Round 
   • In order to provide fair ground for selecting the participants to take part in the final rounds of the tournament, qualification rounds will be arranged on Thursday, 3 August 2023 and Thursday, 10 August 2023. Each qualification round will have two sessions hosted online. The sessions will be held at 17:00 and 19:00 CAT (GMT+2). Participants can opt for either of the two sessions depending on availability and other factors.
   • The top 16 participants from the combined scoring of both rounds will qualify for the in-person finals. 
   • The Qualification Round will not be broadcasted. 
   • The session’s Timeframe begins exactly at the time mentioned above. Each Participant is invited to log in to the Competition on the examination platform in advance. 
   • The Timeframe takes into account: 
     • Downloading all relevant Tasks 
     • Reading and analysing the Tasks 
     • Creation of models 
     • Completing the relevant answers for Tasks 
     • Submitting the answers 
     • Uploading the model 
6. Finals Round Format (In-person finals) 
   • The Finals Round starts with the Last 16 stage (the 16 players are selected based on the Qualification Rules stated in Clause 5.b.). 
   • The match winners of each round will proceed to the next round. The losers of each round will finish their participation in the event. 
7. In-Person Finals Round Format 
   • The Finals Round will start at 14:00 CAT on Saturday, 2 September 2023, in the Bidvest Bank building in Sandton, Johannesburg (1 Park Lane, Sandhurst). 
   • The 16 top players after the qualification round will be invited to take part in the In-Person Finals Round. 
   • The Final Round will be run in a standard Play-Off format:  Top 16 => Quarterfinals, (Last 8) => Semi-finals, (Last 4) => Final (Last 2). 
8. Points System 
   • The total number of points available for correctly solving all the Tasks at each round – 1,000 points per round (also for the Qualifying Round). Additional points could be introduced by the organizers with the goal to give extra interest to the competition (e.g., extra 100 points for answering an additional extra-hard question, specified separately). 
   • At the end of the Offline Rounds, the participants will have to upload their models. If this is not done upon completion of the participant’s work, the participant’s results might be annulled. 
9. SAEC 2023 Dates 
   • The SAEC 2023 will take place on the following dates: 
     • Qualification Round 1: Thursday, 3 August 2023 
     • Qualification Round 2: Thursday, 10 August 2023 
     • The Final Round (Last 16, QF, SF and the Finals): Saturday, 2 September 2023 
   • SAEC 2023 organizers reserve the right to change the dates of Rounds at their sole discretion (to accommodate for public holidays, etc.) 
     • If a date of a Round changes, a notice shall be provided on the FMWC SA Chapter Website and/or FMWC SA Chapter social media channels. 
10. South African and World Rankings 
    • SAEC 2023 is a standalone competition that will not impact the Financial Modeling World Cup World Rankings or Ratings nor any other competition held of a similar nature. 
11. Tie-Breakers 
    • In the event of 2 (two) or more Participants have an equal number of points in the Rankings, in determining the higher-ranked Participant, the following is taken into consideration: 
      • More Time Saved: The Participant with the lowest amount of Time spent on solving the Tasks wins. In case the participants are still tied, then 
      • Best Current Form: The Participant with the highest score in the most recent Round of the competition. 
        • If the most recent Round results are identical, then the Participant with the best result in the second-to-the-last round will be taken into consideration. 
          • If the results are still identical, then the previous Round results shall be evaluated in a similar fashion going backward (including the Qualification Rounds). In case the participants are still tied, then 
      • Earlier Bird: The Participant who purchased their SAEC 2023 ticket earlier will promote. 
12. Participation Fee 
    • The Participation Fee (hereinafter – Fee) for the whole event should be paid upon registration. The Fee covers participation in the qualification rounds of the SAEC 2023 as far as the Participant qualifies as well as provides access to the game task files for all SAEC 2023 stages. The Fee is $5 (±R100). 
    • The registration is closed a day before the start of the Qualification Round – on Monday, 31 July 2023, at 19:00 CAT (GMT+2). 
    • The organizers reserve the right to change the Fees anytime at the organizer’s sole discretion. 
    • The organizers reserve the right to decline all, or part of any Participation in any Competition entry requested. 
    • The Fee is not returned if participants did not actually take part in SAEC 2023. 
13. Prize Money 
    • The total prize fund for SAEC 2023 is sponsored by Microsoft, the main sponsor of the event. The prize fund is R50,000 and is divided as follows:
      • SAEC 2023 Winner: R30,000
      • SAEC 2023 Runner-Up: R10,000
      • SAEC 2023 Semi-Finalists: R5,000
    • The organizers reserve the right to refuse the Prize Money pay-out if the Participant cannot confirm their identity by submitting photography of a valid South African ID document (only Prize Money recipients might be asked to confirm their identity). 
    • The organizers will contact the prize money recipients using the email address provided upon purchasing the participation ticket. If the participant ignores the communication attempts for 6 months after the end of the competition, organizers reserve the right to refuse the Prize Money pay-out. 
14. Changes in the Rules 
    • The Organizers have the right to change these Rules at their sole discretion.