Omelas - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

The opening story of N. K. Jemisin’s collection How Long ’til Black Future Month?, in which social workers kill an “information-gleaner” in Um-Helat, responds to a story set in this city. For 10 points each:

[10m] The ethical writings of William James inspired a 1973 story set in what ostensibly perfect city, whose happiness depends on the perpetual suffering of a scapegoat child?

ANSWER: Omelas

[10h] Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” inspired the title of this author’s sci-fi novel Walkaway. This blogger and Creative Commons advocate wrote the novella Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

ANSWER: Cory Doctorow (Doctorow confirmed that the title of Walkaway alludes to “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” in an email correspondence with this tournament’s American Literature editor.)

[10e] Isabel J. Kim’s Nebula-winning story “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” was published in an online magazine named for this surname. An author with this surname wrote the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.

ANSWER: Clarke [accept Clarkesworld or Arthur C. Clarke]

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Summary


California (North)	Main Site	Y	3	26.67	100%	100%	67%
Canada	Main Site	Y	1	30.00	100%	100%	100%
Florida	Main Site	Y	3	26.67	100%	100%	67%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	9	15.56	67%	78%	11%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	9	18.89	67%	89%	33%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	6	13.33	50%	67%	17%
Overflow	Main Site	Y	4	20.00	75%	100%	25%
South Central	Main Site	Y	2	25.00	100%	100%	50%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	7	11.43	57%	57%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	6	18.33	67%	83%	33%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	9	22.22	89%	89%	44%
Upstate NY	Main Site	Y	4	12.50	50%	75%	0%

Data


Berkeley A	Berkeley D	10	10	10	30
Stanford B	Berkeley B	10	0	10	20
Stanford A	Berkeley C	10	10	10	30
Central Florida C	Central Florida B	10	10	10	30
Florida A	Florida B	10	10	10	30
Florida C	Central Florida A	10	0	10	20
McGill A	UBC B	10	10	10	30
Duke	William and Mary	10	0	10	20
North Carolina B	NC State B	0	0	0	0
NC State A	North Carolina C	10	10	0	20
South Carolina B	VCU	10	0	10	20
North Carolina A	Virginia Tech A	10	0	10	20
Virginia	Virginia Tech B	10	0	10	20
Notre Dame A	Chicago B	10	0	10	20
Illinois B	Chicago C	10	10	10	30
Chicago D	Purdue B	10	10	0	20
Chicago E	Notre Dame B	10	0	10	20
Illinois A	Indiana A	10	0	10	20
Illinois C	Northwestern B	10	0	10	20
Indiana B	Northwestern D	10	0	0	10
Northwestern C	Indiana C	0	0	0	0
Chicago A	Purdue A	10	10	10	30
James Madison A	Liberty C	0	0	0	0
South Carolina A	Liberty A	10	0	10	20
Liberty B	James Madison B	10	0	10	20
Brandeis A	MIT	10	0	10	20
Harvard A	Dartmouth A	10	0	10	20
Dartmouth B	Southern Connecticut State	0	0	0	0
Brandeis B	Bowdoin A	10	10	10	30
Bowdoin B	Brown	0	0	0	0
Yale	Harvard B	10	0	0	10
Carleton College	Washington B	10	0	10	20
Iowa State	Claremont	10	10	0	20
Georgia Tech A	Minnesota A	10	0	10	20
Washington A	Missouri A	10	0	10	20
Texas A	Murray State A	10	10	10	30
Texas B	Texas A&M A	10	0	10	20
Alabama A	Tennessee B	10	0	10	20
WashU B	Bruin	0	0	0	0
Georgia Tech D	Louisville A	10	0	10	20
Louisville B	Kentucky	0	0	0	0
Mississipi State	Georgia Tech B	0	0	0	0
Tennessee A	Sewanee	10	0	10	20
Vanderbilt B	WashU A	10	0	10	20
LSE	Bristol	10	0	10	20
Cambridge B	Imperial A	10	0	10	20
Cambridge C	Oxford A	10	0	0	10
Durham	City St. George's	10	10	10	30
UCL	Oxford B	10	10	10	30
Columbia A	Maryland A	10	0	10	20
Georgetown	Columbia C	10	10	10	30
Vassar	Maryland B	0	0	0	0
NYU A	Columbia B	10	10	10	30
NYU B	Johns Hopkins A	10	10	10	30
NYU C	Johns Hopkins B	10	0	10	20
Rutgers A	Rutgers B	10	0	10	20
Cornell C	Binghamton A	10	0	10	20
Binghamton B	Rochester	0	0	0	0
Penn State	Cornell A	10	0	10	20
Cornell B	RIT	10	0	0	10
John Jay	Catholic	10	10	10	30
Maryland C	Swarthmore	10	0	10	20
Edinburgh B	Imperial C	0	0	0	0