“JEOPARDY!” LINES UP 15 STUDENTS FOR 2009 COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP AIRING MAY 4th – 15th
(CULVER CITY, CA, April 9, 2009) – Fifteen of the country’s brightest college students have
been selected to compete in the “Jeopardy!” 2009 College Championship.
Since 1989, more than 150 colleges and universities have been represented in the tournament
with nearly $3 million in cash prizes awarded to the students. Schools have ranged in size
from the 850-student Agnes Scott College to the University of Texas at Austin with 35,000
undergraduate students. This year marks the first time Muhlenberg College, University of
Kansas and Vassar College will compete in the 2009 championship. With a total of 13
appearances, Harvard has been represented more than any other school.
The contestants for the upcoming 21st college championship will tape 10 shows in Los
Angeles, with the winner taking home a grand prize of $100,000. The two-week competition
will be broadcast nationally starting Monday, May 4, through Friday, May 15. Please check
local listings for station and time.
The “Jeopardy!” contestant coordinators recently traveled the country searching for the best
collegiate “Jeopardy!” players and auditioned thousands of prospective student candidates
for the championship.
In the first week of the competition, each player will appear in one of the five episodes.
The winners of each of these shows, along with the next four highest money earners, will go
on to the semifinals. In the second week, the nine semifinalists will compete in three
episodes for a place in the two-game final match. The second place contestant is guaranteed
a minimum of $50,000, and third place pockets a minimum of $25,000. Semifinalists receive
$10,000, and players eliminated in the first week receive $5,000.
Jeopardy!, winner of 28 Emmy awards since its debut in 1984, was inducted into the Guinness
Book of World Records for the most awards won by a TV Game Show. The series is the #1-rated
quiz show in syndication with more than 10 million daily viewers. Jeopardy! is produced by
Sony Pictures Television, a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company. It is distributed
domestically and internationally by CBS Television Distribution, a unit of CBS Corp.
