A tournament is a series of contests where individuals or teams compete for a prize. 

Tournaments are usually festive occasions. The original tournaments allowed warriors to practice and show off military skills and martial arts in between wars. Tournaments also were a way to demonstrate respect for rules and cultural conventions, like honor, fair play, and chivalry.

These days most tournaments are sporting contests, and they retain some aspects of their festive as well as martial characteristics. A game show, like Jeopardy, is a kind of tournament for mental skills. 

A tournament can be a fun way to decide how to award prizes, celebrate skills, and reward high performance; however it is useful to remember that the underlying metaphor is battle. Tournaments engage people in competition and result in more losers than winners. 

Could a tournament help you think differently about this situation? If a tournament could be helpful, who would compete, and for what? What rules and cultural conventions should apply in your context?

How might competition get out of hand, and how might you mitigate the risks?