4-H Ontario and The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair gratefully acknowledge Ontario Mutuals for their generous sponsorship of the 4-H Ontario Go For Gold Competition.
DATE: Saturday November 8, 2025 REGISTRATION: 9:30 AM COMPETITION GAMES: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM LOCATION: C2, C3, and 109
RULES AND REGULATIONS:
The Go For The Gold regions are the same regions as the 4-H Ontario structure.
Team members competing at any Go For The Gold competition must be paid members in good standing in the local 4-H Association and 4-H Ontario.
Go For The Gold questions from previous years as well as the current year must not be used for practice and/or study.
Teams cannot compete without a coach or chaperone present at the local levels. Teams are required to have both a male and female screened and trained coach/chaperone in attendance in order to participate at the regional and provincial levels if a team has members of each gender participating in the competition. If a team consists of only one gender, then both coaches/ chaperones can be of the same gender as well. All teams must have two coaches/chaperones.
Teams consist of four members, one alternate and two adult coaches/chaperones. One alternate per team will be allowed to attend the provincial competition. This person must have played at least one (1) game at both the local and regional levels of competition. At the discretion of the coaches, an alternate may replace a team member during the provincial competition if for any reason one of the original team members is unable to continue playing.This substitution can only take place at the beginning of a game and not during a game. Once the original member has left the team, that person may not return to play in a subsequent game during the rest of that day’s game play.
No substitutions will be permitted to a team beyond the regional level (i.e. the team members who play at the regional competition must be eligible to compete at the provincial competition). Three person teams will be permitted to compete at the provincial level.
Competition questions will be based on 4-H project material released prior to March 31st of the current year for local and regional competitions. For the provincial competition, questions will be based on 4-H project material released prior to September 1st of the current year. General knowledge of 4-H, agriculture, food and current events will also be included at all levels of competition.
Dress code for the provincial competition will be business casual. Caps and jeans will not be permitted. Shirts will be provided to each team member at the provincial competition. Participants will be required to wear the shirt they are provided during the competition.
The provincial Go For The Gold competition is considered a Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF) Youth Activity and as with all RAWF Youth Activities, 100% participation is expected by participants. Members competing in the provincial Go For The Gold Competition must be in attendance from registration through to the completion of the program. Members may not be involved in another youth activity during that time period. This does not mean that members may not compete in another youth activity at The Royal. It does mean that members cannot compete in two (2) youth activities occurring at the same time.
Judges’ decision is final on all answers.
Teams will be guaranteed minimum of three (3) games and will compete in a round robin competition. The two (2) highest accumulative scores will meet in the championship game. Each game will consist of 50 questions:
Six (6) question types are featured in each game:
Short Answer: First to buzz in answers for 10 points. If incorrect, the second team can answer for 5 points. If a member buzzes in before the adjudicator completes the question and their answer is incorrect, 5 points will be deducted. The other team has a chance for 10 points.
Assigned: Assigned questions in each game will be multiple choice, for 10 points. If incorrect, his/her corresponding member of the second team may answer for 5 points.
Who/What Am I: Four clue questions with diminishing point values. Each team has an opportunity to answer at each level. If a team interrupts a clue and gives an incorrect answer, 5 points will be deducted from the team’s score. This applies to all four of the clue questions.
Pop-Ups: One question in each game. This will be an interactive question which may be visual, audio etc.
Team Discussion: One (1) question in each game. Teams will have up to a maximum of 30 seconds to discuss the question and have one person give the answer on behalf of the team. First team to buzz in answers for 10 points. If incorrect, the second team can answer for 5 points.
Snapper: True or false type questions. 10 points for a correct answer, 5 points deducted for an incorrect answer. If a team interrupts a snapper question and gives an incorrect answer, 10 points will be deducted from the team’s score
Other Rules
10 second time limit between the question and possible responses applies to all questions, except the Team Discussion question in which a 30-second time limit applies.
A 10 point penalty is given to a team for any discussion among themselves before the question is answered, except for the Team Discussion Question.
Questions will be read once, clearly and slowly. The entire question will only be repeated if interrupted and the answer given was incorrect.
Contestants may have their hands on the signal buttons, but the signal lights must be visible at all times.
Questions must be answered immediately after the buzzer sounds.
The decision of the judges is final on all answers.
The first answer given will be the only answer accepted by the judges. If clarification of an answer given is needed, the judges will ask for it.
Challenges to a question can only be issued by the team coaches at the time the question is asked and answered during the game. Once the adjudicator has started to read the next question, a challenge will not be accepted. At the beginning of the game, the adjudicator will acknowledge who the coaches are for each team. Challenges CANNOT be issued by team members, parents or audience members. If a challenge is issued by anyone other than one of the team’s coaches, there will be an automatic 10 point penalty issued to the team.
For more information about 4-H Ontario's Go For The Gold Program please contact events@4-hontario.ca or the 4-H Ontario Office at 519-856-0992 (toll free at 1-877-410-6748).
