MONTVILLE, N.J. — A New Jersey high school student has been suspended for organizing a contest in which boys voted on the school’s best-looking girls in a bracket modeled on the NCAA basketball tournament.

Mike Butrym, of Towaco, says he was continuing a Montville High School tradition and believes his five-day suspension is too harsh.

The contest was called “May Madness.” Teenage boys chose 16 female students from each grade. Each day, they paired off the girls and judged them on their appearance. Winners advanced to the next round.

The 18-year-old says many girls in the school think of the contest as a joke. He says they even started their own version judging boys.

He was suspended for “intimidation, harassment and insubordination.”