An amazing event takes place every year at Camp Babcock-Hovey on Seneca Lake in Ovid, NY. 2500+ Scouts and Scouters get together from all over the region and Canada for a weekend of fun, patch trading and more than 600 different patrol challenges. The event is hosted by the Tow Path district of Seneca Waterways Council BSA. As of this post, the camporee held its 21st year.
Here is more information about the camporee:
About
Challenge Trophy Camporee location?
The 21st CTC will be held October 25th, 26, 27th, 2019 at Camp Babcock-Hovey, 7294 County Road 132, Ovid, NY. We rent the entire Camp!
Who attends the CTC?
Everyone is welcome to attend the Challenge Trophy Camporee regardless of district, council, region or country of origin. We normally have at around 7 different BSA Councils, Canadian Troops and Girl Scout Troops attend the CTC.
Webelos, Troops & Venturers may attend for the weekend.
Cubs, Webelos, may attend on a Day Pass & participate in the program on Saturday. Troops and Venturers that do not want to attend for an entire week may use the Day Pass for a full day of fun on Saturday.
Crews, Senior Youth, Explorers, adults may attend with their respective Units or as Staff.
If you have never attended this event, please consider visiting us. Your scouting youth will thank you!
What is the CTC Camporee based on? How did it originate?
People have asked these questions and the answer is:
The CTC Sub-camps are designed after a Traditional Subcamps used at a camporee near the Canadian / Michigan border since the 1950’s – the Wadiscoca Fall Camporee. The name is not a NA Indian word as most people believe.
WAllaceburg DIstrict SCOut CAmp = WADISCOCA
This was Scouterdoug’s original home Camp / Camporee during the ’90s when Volunteers ran the small annual Camporee that used different colors to identify 3 Subcamps. Adults held the leadership roles in subcamps and event areas. Souterdoug was a volunteer in charge of the logistics & program at the 41st Annual Wadiscoca Fall Camporee in 1996 and he relocated to NYS the next year in Nov 1997.
Sadly, Camp Wadiscoca was closed in 2009 so the Camporee Series was discontinued.
Challenge Trophy Camporee History:
The Challenge Trophy Camporee (CTC) series was started in May 1999.
The subcamp structure from the Wadiscoca Fall Camporee was used where subcamp are named after colors, but at the CTC the Leadership roles were given to 2 youth, Mike and Jon Reynolds, who ran the 2 Subcamps at the 1st CTC. To make things easy and better organized, the Campsite were staked out with stakes of the Subcamp’s Flag colors.
Everything else was done to meet the Goals set out for the CTC Camporee series.
At the closing of the 1st CTC, youth stepped forward seeking Youth Staff Roles at the 2nd CTC. The snowball was now rolling down the hill so to speak! In 2015 we had around 180 Staff at the 17th CTC. Around half of staff was youth.
The attending units competed for plaques had their Unit’s number engraved on a brass plate which is attached to the original Challenge Trophy. The CTC grew so big that the “Trophy” had to be retired.
Most people are surprised to hear that there is an actual “Challenge Trophy”. 
Yes – the Challenge Trophy Camporee is based on an actual Trophy.
The Best Troop at each CTC kept the Trophy for a year after winning it. This practice continued from the 1st to 7th CTC. The Trophy was retired after the 7th CTC.
The Trophy was made from scrap materials in my workshop. It is made of several hard woods (Maple, Oak, Walnut, and Cherry) and varnished natural. It stands 18” tall is 10” wide.
CTC Goals:
We had 6 goals when the CTC was envisioned and planned. They are as follows,
1) The CTC is to be designed and run using the 7 teamwork Principles
2) The Program is to be youth run where legally possible.
3) The Events are to be unlimited in quantity.
4) Patches are to be of excellent quality to be a sought after trading patch, and it is not to be tied to a single Theme.
5) Scouts are to be awarded for Scouting Excellence.