Purpose

This document is intended as a guide for formatting Certamen questions. Consistent style increases the professionalism of a set of questions and increases readability for moderators. In particular, codifying distinct formats and symbols reduces cognitive load for moderators, allowing them to focus on reading questions and judging answers.

Some guidance is also provided for the formatting of Agon questions.

This document is a work in progress and will be updated over time.

10/14/22: Added section on “praenomina” and a revision to the section on prompting.

Table of Contents

Overarching Guidelines

These guidelines concern formatting of both questions and their answerlines.

A. Fonts

Fonts should be readable.

Times New Roman is the most common font used by tournaments.


B. Latin

Latin should be bolded and macronized.

Latin can be quickly macronized using https://alatius.com/macronizer/, but make sure that ambiguous forms are correctly marked.

Ex.: Translate Catullus’ line “Dī magnī, horribilem et sacrum libellum!” into English.


C. Titles of Literary Works

Titles of literary works should be italicized.

Note: Literary works whose titles are in Latin should also be bolded and macronized.

Ex.: Vergil wrote the Georgics. Lucretius wrote Dē Rērum Nātūrā.


D. Titles of Works of Art

Titles of works of art should be italicized.

Ex.: The statue group Laocoön and His Sons was uncovered in 1506.