Fees
$55 competitors, $45 guests, coaches free
Registration Deadline: 11:59pm on February 14, 2012
Final Registration Deadline (with $10 late fee): 11:59pm on February 21, 2012

To request financial assistance, please submit a scholarship application.

Dates & Location
Start Time: 3pm on Friday, March 9, 2012
End Time: 6pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012

Location: Kennesaw State University

Students not competing in Basketball may plan to arrive by 7am on Saturday.
Students taking their SATs on Saturday, March 10th should email atlanta@getmistified.com to find out if there will be any competition conflicts.

Hotel
We are currently working on securing a discounted rate at a hotel near the main venue of MIST. You can plan to pay around $99/night+tax for a 4-person room.

Competitions
The theme for this year is “Family: Reconnecting our Hearts to Home.” To learn more about the theme, click here.

All rules and topics are posted in the Competition Rule Book.

All competition submissions must be turned in by or during orientations on Friday afternoon of MIST weekend. If you are coming late, please contact us at atlanta@getmistified.com.

All students (competitors and guests) must fill out a Student Registration Signature Sheet. You must bring this form with you completed to MIST.

Also, do not forget to bring your School ID, or any other form of identification to prove you are a student currently enrolled at your team’s school (report cards will work as well).

Download:
Signature Sheet

Spirit Awards

Great new awards you can win this year!

- Most Loyal to MIST
- Best Sportsmanship
- Best Dressed
- T-shirt Contest
- Best Team Banner
- Best Cheer
- Best Coach
- Most Green
- Best Character
- Most Helpful

Link:
Find out more!

Competition Submissions

Make sure to submit material by April 6:
- Short Fiction
- Prepared Essay
- Poetry
- Short Film
- Community Service
- Research Methods

For all other competitions, bring your material with you to MIST on Friday.

Link:
Submit here!
Deadline:
11:59PM on April 6, 2011

Program

Friday, April 8:
Bring: All competition material, School ID (or report card), & Student Signature Sheets.

Starts at Noon
Ends at 10PM
Dress: Team Shirts

Saturday, April 9:
Starts at 10AM
Late Night Basketball starts at 9PM
Dress: Business Casual (bring sports attire separately)

Sunday, April 10:
Starts at 9:30AM
Award Ceremony 3PM – 6PM
Dress: Formal

Epic Chant Competition

Upload a video to YouTube of your team’s chant and send us the link at atlanta@getmistified.com.  We will upload it to our FB Fanpage, and the video with the most likes by 11:59pm on Thursday will win the most points towards your team's Best Cheer Spirit Award!

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Sample Epic Chant Submissions from Toronto:
First Place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbu-8yTqMOs
Second Place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clt1g3fEcRE
Third Place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y95npa9eC8

Competition Updates

Art - As per the rules, both 2D art and Photography will have an art gallery this year due to the large volume of competitors. After marking the art piece and the written statement, judges will decide which competitors will have the opportunity to have a verbal interview. Please note this means that NOT all competitors will get an interview.

Short Film – The required short film entry form may be downloaded here.

Community Service – When your team arrives, bring all food items with you to Orientations on Friday morning. All food will be donated to the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia.
 

Reminders

Coaches

- You are responsible for the students under your care throughout their time at MIST.
- You are expected to handle any disciplinary issues with the students and their parents, as this is not the job of MIST organizers or volunteers.
- The best way to ensure a stress-free MIST experience is to prepare your students in advance to represent themselves and their schools in the most appropriate manner.
- Students must have at least one registered coach available at all times to be present at MIST. New coaches may register on-site if needed.
- Please note that students may not lodge complaints directly with judges or competition organizers.
- Complaints may be addressed with the Head Coach Hassan Faye at (404) 993-0884.

Students

- No names should appear on any projects, only MIST IDs.  If you do not have your MIST ID number yet, please reply to this email to request it.
- Dress to impress, but make sure you pack modestly for the weekend.  No jeans.
- Invite your family members to come to the Awards Ceremony!  They can buy tickets online or at the door.

- Staying in the hotel? There will be a curfew, stricly enforced. No shenanigans
- Remember, we're all coming to MIST to have a good time, so help us help you.

Volunteers
- Please be on time, smile, and don't forget to brush your teeth.
- Try your best to lead by example.
- Patience, patience, patience.

Guests
- Register online or on-site.  Students under 18 will need adult supervision.

Confirmed Main Speakers

Imam Bilal Ali
Shaykh Afdal Feroz
Imam Abdul Malik

Buy your guest registration passes online or on-site!

Event Venue & Date

April 8-10, 2011
University of Georgia
Tate Student Center
45 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30602

TO: All MIST Regional Volunteers and Participants

SUBJECT: Exciting New Changes for 2011!

Assalaamo ‘alaikum!

This past year has been one of many changes. By the grace of God, MIST has had it’s second annual organizer’s summit, this year in Boston, to make progress on a key number of issues that concern all regions. We hope you are as excited about some of the changes as we are! The following message contains just the beginning of the changes you can expect to see this coming year, so stay tuned and hold on tight. You’re about to get MISTified 2k11 style.

MIST Chicago!
Yep, we’ve grown by one additional city this year. If you or anyone you know live in the Chicagoland area (or anywhere nearby), make sure to give them a heads up so they don’t miss out on the best thing to hit Indiana since sliced bread! Simply visit getmistified.com/chicago to find out how to get involved.

New Competition Changes
Not only do we have a fancy new Official 2k11 MIST Rule Book [link will be available soon], our competitions are (finally) refreshed and our ballots are completely revised!

If you’re not satisfied with any of the changes or would like to suggest more changes, please fill out our new Competition Suggestion Form at: http://www.getmistified.com/competitions/feedback/

In the Rule Book, you will notice that we have the following new competitions this year:
• Improv
• Business Venture
• Poetry *Redesigned*
• Spoken Word
• Community Service *Redesigned*
• Research Methods (a combination of Science Fair and Research Project)

We also have new submission deadlines for many of our competitions:
• Short Fiction: 2 weeks before tournament
• Prepared Essay: 2 weeks before tournament
• Poetry: 2 weeks before tournament
• Short Film: 2 weeks before tournament
• Community Service: 250 word abstract 4 weeks before tournament
• Research Methods: 250 word abstract 4 weeks before tournament

The scoring system has also changed. Here’s how competition points are scored now:
1st Place: 10 points
2nd Place: 8 points
3rd Place: 6 points
4th Place: 4 points
5th Place: 2 points
6th Place and below: 0 points
No show: -2 for normal competitions, -4 for bracket competitions

In case you’re not familiar with how points are scored, here’s a brief explanation: Every competitor’s scores are aggregated from all their competitions to an Overall Individual score, and the same goes for all the members of the team towards their Overall Team score. The only trick is, in group competitions, the points are applied once to each student and only once to the team (as opposed to per person). For example, if you have a 3-person MIST Bowl team win 1st Place, all three people will see their score go up by 10 points towards their Overall Individual score, and the team’s score will go up by 10 points towards their Overall Team score. In terms of no shows, if the team was actually supposed to be a 4-person team and one person didn’t show up, the score for the team remains unaffected. It’s only if the entire team decides to drop out of a group competition that their team points will be deducted. However, in an individual bracket competition like Debate, a no-show would mean 4 points will be deducted from both the individual and the team scores.

Specific Competition Updates
This year’s Poetry competition is now submission only, without interviews nor performances. If you want to perform your piece at MIST, try competing in the new Spoken Word competition.

Basketball will now allow the top three teams from each Region to compete together as one team at Nationals.

This year’s Community Service project is to bring the most canned food items to MIST for donation to a local food bank. To win, your team has to bring the most canned food by weight. Your team will still need to submit an abstract detailing how you are trying to reach your goal in creative ways and make an impact on your community in the process. The region that brings in the most canned food from all their teams at Regionals will be recognized at Nationals.

This year’s Knowledge Test books are:
1. “Prince among Slaves” by Terry Alford
2. “Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet” by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin
3. “Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection” by Sherman A. Jackson
4. “Western Muslims and the Future of Islam” by Tariq Ramadan

This year’s MIST Bowl Topics are:
Topic I: Tafseer*
Topic II: Islamic Spain (There is no packet for this category. All questions will come from the “Cities of Light: The Rise & Fall of Islamic Spain” documentary)
Topic III: Historic Sites*
Topic IV: Muslims in North America*
Topic V: Loyal Companions*
Topic VI: Current Events, starting January 1st, 2011 (no packet)

Other competitions that require competition material:
Debate*
Tafseer Test*
Prepared Essay*
Prepared Oratory*

*Topics/packets are scheduled to be posted online by February 8, 2011.

New Team Rules
MIST is a competition for high school teams to compete against one another in an interscholastic fashion. In the past, exceptions have been made on a local level for some students to join other high schools to compete (e.g. for teams that were far from their nearest regional tournament, etc.), but we have made a final national decision, binding on all regions, to disallow students from participating in MIST on the same team as students from other high schools. This decision comes after great deliberation, so please hear us out.

For one thing, MIST is about outreach. Many times, students feel like joining a team from another high school because they have only a few other people from their own school willing to join MIST, and they feel like they could never stack up against bigger teams. To assuage these concerns, certain regions have tried accounting for the presence of large teams by artificially imposing caps on team sizes or dividing team scores by the number of students on the team. In the end however, we have decided against the use of any methods to incentivize the creation of small teams because it may prevent students from being as inclusive and inviting as we’d like them to be towards others when forming their teams.

We do recognize that sometimes students who make a sincere effort to recruit exclusively from their own school still end up with a small team and feel very discouraged when they compare themselves to the Islamic schools who can easily bring in plenty of competitors. The question is: can smaller teams really match up against larger ones? The answer: absolutely!

Small teams have been notorious at winning many of the more prestigious individual competitions. One year in DC, a three-person team took the MIST Bowl competition completely by storm. Another time in Houston, someone who originally wanted to just register for MIST by herself ended up bringing a handful of other students so she could have a team, and lo and behold, her team ended up being the one that could boast of bringing the region’s Overall Individual Competitor to compete that year! Where spots for certain competitions usually get taken up quickly in larger teams, smaller teams actually allow individuals to get involved in more competitions on an individual level.

If you’re still not satisfied with your odds, recruit! Remember, MIST does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or gender, so you should allow everyone from your school to feel welcome to attend! There was one year in Atlanta where a team wanted to join with another high school for the sake of “unity” (i.e. fear that they might end up with a small team), and when their request to join teams was denied, they went back to their school to recruit and ended up with a team of over 40 students, making it the largest team at Regionals that year. And not just that, it was a public school to boot!

The most important point to remember is that during MIST, you are not going to be forced to mingle only with your own team mates. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to have fun with all your buddies from other schools at the event. And in some competitions (such as Short Film, etc.), we even encourage you to collaborate with other teams when you’re preparing for MIST. We would love to build a community that embraces the concept of gracious professionalism at MIST.

From a homeschool? Don’t worry, you can still form a team with other home-schooled students or with your local high school, or you can simply compete as a one-person team if you like (but you’ll still need a coach).

From far away? No worries! Simply register with your own high school team, but arrange to carpool/bus in together. You can share coaches, and heck, we won’t even stop you from wearing the same spirit wear (if that’s really what you want to do), but your teams just have to register separately. It shouldn’t be that difficult, but please contact your local regional headquarters if there’s anything we can do to help.

Oh, and we are making one exception: the only competition that teams will be allowed to compete in on the same side with members from other high schools is Basketball, since you need at least 5 people to play (all other competitions only require a minimum of one or two students).

MIST Nationals 2k11 in Atlanta
Prepare yourself to get MISTified with some good ol’ fashioned southern hospitality. Dates and details are scheduled to be announced soon, so stay tuned!

Join us at the Annual MIST Kick-Off Event, and feel the spirit!

Date: Saturday November 27, 2010

Time: Doors open at 6:30 pm

Location: Smyrna Community Center

View Larger Map

Kick-Off will include…

-2011 Theme
-2011 Venue & Date
-Volunteer Sign-up
-Team Registration
-Exciting new announcements

Tickets ($10)
-Sold at the door
-Join the raffle for prizes!

Check out the Facebook Event!

Top 5 list

Location:
University of Maryland – College Park

Launch: June 21, 2010
Deadline: July 5, 2010

Tournament:
Start: 12:00pm, July 30, 2010
End: 8:00pm, August 1, 2010

Registration Deadline is 11:59pm on July 5, 2010!

Late fees will be charged for registration received after this time. Absolutely no competitor registration will be accepted after July 12, 2010.

MIST Atlanta is providing a bus to Nationals!

Location:
Al-Farooq Masjid of Atlanta
442 14th St NW,
Atlanta, GA 30318

Departure Time:
10:00pm on Thursday, July 29, 2010
*Please arrive in time for Maghrib Prayer by 8:30pm

Arrival Time:
10:00am on Monday, August 2, 2010

Price:
$99/person

To reserve your seat, first complete your tournament registration at https://www.adderpit.com/MIST, and we will send you a confirmation email with further instructions.

PLEASE NOTE: Tournament registration, bus, and hotel are being processed separately.

REGISTRATION is $55/competitors, $45/guests, free/coaches. Register and pay online at https://www.adderpit.com/MIST.

BUS TRANSPORTATION is $99/person. You’ll pay by cash/check to us before you board.

HOTEL is $89/night + tax for two nights. Divide that by 4 people/room and you get roughly $50/person. Contact the hotel directly to book your own room:

Comfort Inn
4050 Powder Mill, Road,
Beltsville, MD 20705
301-572-7100 (phone)

View here.

Download here.

The missing sections will be updated soon.

- M I S T  2 0 1 0  T H E M E -

Lantern of Modesty: Reflecting the Light from Within

“Every religion has an innate character.  The innate character of Islam is modesty.”
- Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

A lantern’s innate character is its light.  It shines this light on everything around it.  A lantern must reflect this light to fulfill its purpose and illuminate the pathway for others, sharing warmth, guidance, protection, and comfort. Likewise, a person whose character sincerely exemplifies modesty would reflect it in the very same manner, allowing it to permeate through every aspect of his or her interactions with others.  Conversely, lack of sincerity would extinguish the flame of modesty. Therefore, modesty originates from within and manifests itself by reflecting outwardly in all directions.

Just as a spark lights the lantern, what sparks humility?  What inspires you to be modest?

Unlike a person, a lantern is without discernment and shines its light upon everything just the same.  Should a person shine the same way towards everyone? Should you treat your elders as you treat your peers?  Do you interact in the same manner with friends of the same gender as opposed to people of the opposite gender?  How about with relatives vs. strangers?  Countrymen vs. foreigners?  Are there different concepts of modesty in different parts of the world, or even in different regions of the Muslim world?  Is the concept of modesty in the West the same as the concept of modesty in Islam?  How are they similar?  How are they different?  How has the concept of modesty in the West changed over time?

We challenge you to take a deeper look into the North American Muslim community and analyze the various concepts surrounding this theme.  Be creative!  Projects and submissions with the most creativity and insight will receive the highest points.  Hint: Your creative projects should not be limited to, nor must they include descriptions of lanterns. Remember, this theme will encompass all of the MIST competitions and workshops at both the regional and national levels.  If you have any questions regarding this theme or anything else MIST-related, please do not hesitate to contact us!