National History Bee and Bowl

The National History Bee, and its sister competition, the National History Bowl, are nationwide history quiz competitions for individuals in high school and middle school students in the United States. Both the National History Bee and the National History Bowl were contested for the first time in the 2010-2011 academic year. Both competitions consist of a series of approximately 80 state-level qualifying tournaments, from which the top students advance to the National Championships in and near Washington, DC. A single organization oversees both competitions, and qualifying tournaments for both the National History Bee and the National History Bowl are offered on the same days at all of the regional host sites.^[1] The competitions were founded in 2010 by David Madden, a former 19-day champion on Jeopardy!, who serves as Executive Director for both the National History Bee and the National History Bowl.

In 2011, the National Championships were held on April 15-17, 2011, with an orientation day being held on April 15, and the Bowl and Bee championships being held on April 16, and April 17, respectively. In 2012, the National Championships will once again be held in Washington, DC and at Mount Vernon on April 28 and April 29.

National History Bee

The National History Bee is entirely different in format from the National Spelling Bee or National Geography Bee as it is a buzzer-based competition primarily for high school students, though middle school students are able to participate as well. Approximately 1500 students from 300 schools across the United States competed in the National History Bee in its inaugural year. In future years, additional tournament sites are expected to be added throughout the United States and abroad at international schools.

Format

The format of the National History Bee starts out with contestants competing in a room with up to nine other competitors. The placement is random for each round. As the questions are read, the contestant may interrupt the moderator to answer the question early. The first two contestants to answer early, but miss the question, receive no penalty. If a third person buzzes in and answers incorrectly before the question is finished, they will be receive a one-point penalty, and the question is dropped. If a third person buzzes in after the question is read and answers incorrectly, they receive no penalty, but the question is still dropped. If a contestant reaches 8 points at any time during the game, they are no longer allowed to answer. Reaching 8 points results in the contestant receiving a bonus, with more bonus points possible if the 8-question limit is reached earlier in the game.

Preliminary rounds at both the regional level and the National Championships have themes, starting with early history and ending with more recent history. They also alternate between world history and American history. In 2011, the preliminary rounds were held at the School Without Walls, a Washington DC magnet school, and the final rounds were held at Mount Vernon.

Varsity Division Winners

Year	Varsity Winner	School	State
2011	Mark Arildsen	University School of Nashville	Tennessee

Varsity Division Runners-Up

Year	Runner-Up	School	State
2011	Nick Brumfield	Parkersburg High School	West Virginia

Junior Varsity Division Winners

Year	JV Winner	School	State
2011	Sameer Rai	Bellarmine College Preparatory	California

Junior Varsity Division Runners-Up

Year	JV Winner	School	State
2011	Mickey Gioia	Shepton High School	Texas

National History Bowl

The National History Bowl is an entirely different competition from the National History Bee, as the competitors qualify and compete as teams in a buzzer-based format very similar to that used by standard high school quiz bowl tournaments. It is also open to both high schoolers and middle schoolers. Teams qualify for the national tournament by winning a majority or all of their rounds at the state tournament. The students are separated by the Junior Varsity (Grades 6-10), and Varsity divisions, with roughly the top half of the draw for both Varsity and Junior Varsity at each regional tournament qualifying for the National Championships. The questions for the National Championships in 2011 were written by High School Academic Pyramid Questions (HSAPQ), a provider of questions for quiz bowl tournaments. Preliminary rounds for the 2011 National Championships were held at approximately 20 different sites in and around Washington, D.C., including the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the National Museum of the American Indian, Anderson House, the International Spy Museum, the National Museum of Crime & Punishment, and the Embassies of Uruguay, Malawi, and Slovenia. The final rounds in the evening were held at the Newseum.

Format

The format of the National History Bowl differs slightly from a traditional quiz bowl format. Each game is divided into four quarters, and there are no penalties for incorrect answers at any point within the game. However, if a student on one team buzzes in and answers a tossup question incorrectly, that student's teammates are prohibited from ringing in and trying to answer that particular question. The tossup questions are "pyramidal," that is, they become easier towards the end of the question, which rewards depth of knowledge for students able to ring in early, just as is the case in the NAQT format.

The first quarter consists of short tossups, which are each worth 10 points. There are no bonus points for correctly answering the tossup question early (powered questions), or bonus questions for getting the tossup question correct.

The second quarter consists of longer tossups, also worth 10 points each. However, in the second quarter, if a team answers a tossup question correctly, they get a chance at a related bonus question worth an extra ten points if correctly answered. On the bonus questions, team members can confer with each other, in contrast with the tossups.

In the third quarter, teams are given a choice of three categories of questions to choose from, with the trailing team deciding first. Each team is given one minute to answer as many short questions on that category as possible, with each question being worth 10 points. There are eight questions total per category; if all are answered correctly, a 20 point bonus is added. Each question a team answers incorrectly in their category is given to the other team to answer for the same number of points, but only after the full 60 seconds are over and the first team has had a chance to go through the entire category, or as many questions as they get through before time elapses. If time elapses, then only those questions that have been read (and answered incorrectly) are turned over to the other team; unheard questions (or parts of a question, if time elapses mid-question) remain unread to the other team.

The fourth quarter consists of tossup questions with the longest length. At the regional tournaments in 2010-2011, these were worth twenty points each, regardless of at what point a student rang in and answered correctly. At the 2011 National Championships, these questions were worth ten points, with five bonus points given for if the question was correctly answered early on (i.e. off of the more obscure information at the start of each question.)

Varsity Division Winners

Year	Varsity Winner	City	State
2011	Maggie Walker Governor's School for Government	Richmond	Virginia

Varsity Division Runners-Up

Year	Varsity Runner-Up	City	State
2011	Parkersburg High School	Parkersburg	West Virginia

Junior Varsity Division Winners

Year	JV Winner	City	State
2011	The Charter School of Wilmington	Wilmington	Delaware

Junior Varsity Division Runners-Up

Year	JV Runner-Up	City	State
2011	Bellarmine College Preparatory	San Jose	California

References

1. ^ History in the making; History bee and quiz bowl premieres at PHS, NewsandSentinel.com (Parkersburg, WV), January 23, 2011

External links

• National History Bee Official website
• National History Bowl Official website