Schools wishing to compete for the championship first submitted a written, audio or video entry to the CBC on a topic announced on the CBC's "SmartAsk" page. A major grievance against the selection process, however, was the subjectivity of evaluation of entries, with no clear criteria for judging. Nevertheless, 124 schools were chosen from these entries from across the nation (the defending champion received an automatic berth into the next season). 122 of these 125 schools then competed with another school in their province or region on CBC Radio for a berth in the television round. The 3 teams chosen from the territories received a bye into the television round. Teams then competed in a 64-team single-elimination tournament, culminating in the championships. The championship games were not taped until all of the first 60 games, to determine the four teams in the championships, had been aired. Schools fielded teams of up to 4 players for the competition, 3 players playing on-air, and up to 1 alternate.