It is with heavy hearts that we are announcing the cancellation of an in-person Global Finals event in Kansas City, Missouri for this season of Destination Imagination (DI). We made this decision based on guidance from the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, state and local health officials, states of emergency that have been issued across the globe, the ever-expanding travel restrictions for schools around the world, and in light of the global developments over the past 48 hours.
However, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting a VIRTUAL TOURNAMENT. We are currently working on logistics for this event and we will be sharing information as it is finalized in the next couple of weeks. There will be a cost to participate in the Global Finals 2020 Virtual Tournament, but the cost will be significantly lower than traveling to Kansas City. Do NOT throw those props away!
The Global Finals 2020 Virtual Tournament will be open to ALL Destination Imagination teams. This includes any teams that did not get a chance to compete in their Regional or Affiliate Tournaments, as well as teams that have already competed at a tournament, regardless of the results of that tournament. Since this is a brand new experience for all of us, we want all teams to have the chance to showcase their work.
The Global Finals 2020 Virtual Tournament dates will not coincide with the original Kansas City dates (May 20-23). The submission timeline will be spread out over the summer. We do not have those exact dates planned out at this moment, but we hope to have more information on that soon.
There have been many questions in the past week regarding postponing Global Finals 2020 in Kansas City to a later date. Planning this large-scale, annual event takes a full year to complete and it is impossible for us to move it to a later date. It’s not that we didn’t want to postpone or that we didn’t try; it’s that we do not have that option.
As we said before, we are in unprecedented times. There are a lot of logistics to work out. We also know you have a lot of questions. We thank you for your patience as we work through these details and logistics. Questions will be answered and details will be communicated to our entire DI family as soon as they are available.
Stay healthy, stay creative,
Michele Tuck-Ponder
Executive Director
Destination Imagination, Inc.
