Congratulations to Maggie Walker Governor’s School and The Charter School of Wilmington – our inaugural year Varsity and Junior Varsity National Champions!

New Sponsor, New Feature, New Nationals Info

(March 19) The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to welcome Zeecraft as its newest sponsor. Zeecraft has for years been the premier manufacturer of buzzer systems and a steadfast supporter of the academic competition community and we are delighted to be partnering with them. Zeecraft will be providing assistance at various state tournaments for the remainder of the season and will be the official provider of buzzer systems and scoreboards at the National Championships of the National History Bee and Bowl in Washington on April 16 and 17. For more information and to see Zeecraft’s line of products, visit www.zeecraft.com.
We also have a few new features on our website that will be of interest to many of you. Under “State Bowl Results” a list of all our State Bowl champions (Varsity and JV) has now been posted next to the links for full results. You can also view a sample Nationals packet under “Sample Questions.” Updated hotel and game site information is now posted at the top of the “Nationals Information” page too. More Nationals updates will be forthcoming when available.

9 More Bowls in the Bag over the last 16 days! Maggie Walker, Johnson Central establish themselves as National Title Contenders.

Long Island Varsity Champions Great Neck South on the left and Runners Up Half Hollow Hills A on the right are shown here.

(Mar. 13) The last three Saturdays have seen the peak of the inaugural National History Bowl season, with five tournaments running on March 5 alone. Highlights over this time have included dominating performances by Ransom Everglades in Florida, Johnson Central in Kentucky, Culver Academies in Indiana, Rock Bridge in Missouri and especially Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Virginia. Meanwhile, Blake in Minnesota, Guilderland in Upstate NY, Great Neck South on Long Island, and Starr’s Mill in Georgia also registered Varsity victories. Highlights among the JV teams have to begin with Mason Hill, a sophomore at the Sayre School in Lexington, KY singlehandedly going 4-1, including victories against 3 Varsity teams in Indiana after a six hour drive to reach the tournament. Another Kentucky school, Johnson County Middle School also made history by defeating 3 other JV teams to win the JV Kentucky History Bowl, our first victory from an all Middle School team! Other JV winners included Duluth in Georgia, Ransom Everglades B in Florida and Maggie Walker B in FL and VA (who both finished second in their Varsity fields!), Rosati-Kain B in Central Missouri, and North Babylon B on Long Island. Queensbury and Eden Prairie B in Upstate NY and MN were the only JV teams in their fields, like Maggie Walker B, but also did great against Varsity level teams.
Meanwhile, Nationals registrations are soaring, with now 70-100 teams expected in Washington. If you qualified, don’t delay to make reservations. Registration will close on Sunday, April 10, but please register as soon as you can if you’ll be joining in the fun in Washington on April 16!

The National History Bee and Bowl Is Pleased to Welcome Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as a New Sponsor!

(March 2) The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce a new sponsorship arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, one of America’s leading publishing firms. For the remainder of the 2010-2011 competition season, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will be offering NexText historical fiction readers to all Varsity and Junior Varsity State Bee Champions, while participating students on teams that qualify for the playoffs at the National Championships for both the National History Bee and the National History Bowl will receive will receive a special gift courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The National History Bee and Bowl and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt look forward to working together to promote history education throughout the United States for years to come.

Plano Senior and Shepton Win Varsity and JV at Inaugural Texas History Bowl!

(Feb. 26) Ten teams convened at Plano Senior High School on Feb. 19 for the inaugural Texas History Bowl, and a great time was had by all. Despite the small size of the field, the level of competition was tight and spirited throughout the day, and it featured some memorable matches. Trinity came from well over an hour away and did great for a school just getting started in academic competition. Prosper came down and led by captain Brian Lanier had a great tournament, reaching the semifinals and hanging tough with eventual champion Plano Senior A for most of the match. In the other semifinal, Plano B prevailed over Plano West, but only on the penultimate question, thereby producing an all Plano Senior final, which their A team won handedly. In the Junior Varsity, Shepton A won a 3 team field over Jasper and Shepton B. Shepton A was led by Bee winner Mickey Gioia, the first sophomore Varsity Bee champion in the country, and they gave Plano A a good match in the Varsity quarterfinal which they advanced to after having won the JV in the prelims. Thanks to Plano Senior and their Coach Jason Barton for giving us an opportunity to bring the National History Bowl to Texas, and thanks to all who helped out and attended! We hope to see the top teams at our National Championships in Washington in April!

3 New Rules/Clarifications

(Feb. 18)
1. Middle school students are now allowed to compete in both the Bee and the Bowl, though there is no separate middle school division. Middle schoolers can play in either the JV or Varsity division and can play either with students from their school in the Bowl, or with students from the high school that they would normally feed into. This can be either the standard public high school to which students would go, or in the case of private schools, the school that a plurality of graduating 8th graders from that middle school attend.
2. Regarding Nationals: your players at Nationals do NOT have to be the same ones who competed at the state tournaments for the Bowl. You qualify teams for your school; there is no requirement that the players be the same ones who competed on that team at the state tournaments, or for that matter, that they even attended the state tournament at all. Once rosters have been set for Nationals, though, there is no going back and forth between multiple teams from a school.
3. Teams who are competing on 3/12 or later may qualify using alternate means for Nationals, based on performance at a separate quiz bowl tournament. All teams, however, who are interested in attending Nationals must either compete at a state bowl, have signed up for a state bowl that got canceled, or attend school over 200 miles from the nearest tournament site. See the specific Bowl site pages for more information. For further questions regarding Nationals eligibility, please email the director.

Bellarmine, Parkersburg, and Altamont win both Varsity & JV in California, West Virginia, and Alabama respectively! Northmont wins Ohio Varsity; Fisher Catholic takes Ohio JV!

(Feb. 15) The National History Bowl is pleased to announce four more winners at state competitions around the country. Bellarmine College Prep, a California powerhouse, dominated the inaugural California History Bowl on Feb. 12, with Parkersburg and Altamont having won in impressive fashion in West Virginia and Alabama back on Jan. 22. At Ohio State University on Feb. 12, a strong Northmont team won with an all-freshman team from Fisher Catholic winning the Junior Varsity. All of this means that our National Finals on April 16 in Washington (we’ve now secured game space at the Smithsonian!) is shaping up to be great. About 30 teams from across the country have indicated serious interest in coming so far, with dozens more to follow as our state tournaments continue. Don’t miss out – registration is now open by clicking on the tab on the upper left! A list of registered, likely, and interested teams in our National Championships will be posted later this week. Congratulations to all teams who have competed so far – we’re thrilled you’re having a great time at our tournaments based on the feedback we’ve been getting, and as always, suggestions and comments from participants are always welcome.

Oakville and St. Louis University High (JV) win in St. Louis, Wyoming Area in Pennsylvania, Wilmington Charter in Delaware!

(Jan. 19) The tournament season of the National History Bowl is kicking into high gear as we move into 2011, and three tournaments were held over the last two weekends. On January 8, Oakville won the first ever Missouri History Bowl for the Varsity division, while St. Louis Univ. High walked away with the JV title. Then on Jan. 15, simultaneous tournaments in the Poconos and some 200 miles south in Delaware saw both host schools, Wyoming Area and the Charter School of Wilmington victorious, though not without some drama in the case of Charter, who came from the position of being the 8th and final playoff team to win three straight playoff matches against higher seeded opponents. Congratulations to all teams with winning records at all three tournaments- you’ve all qualified for the National Championships and we hope to see you in Washington, DC on April 16 and 17!
Shown on the right is a picture of Wyoming Area A, champions of the Northern Pennsylvania History Bowl for 2011. From left to right, Debbie Gross, Mike DeAngelo, Coach Eileen Palmer, Eric Werbin, and Samantha Scott.

Announcement Regarding Question Sets To Be Used at State Bowls

(Dec. 15) The National History Bowl will now feature two variants of its question sets at its state tournaments. About 15 tournaments (mostly in the South and the Mid-Atlantic states) will run on Set A, a question set with somewhat harder and longer questions (especially in the first quarter). The other tournaments will run on Set B, which has comparatively somewhat shorter questions in the first quarter and slightly less difficulty throughout all four quarters. You can get a sense of the difference in the question sets by comparing them under the “Sample Questions” link to the left. The Set that each tournament will be run on is posted on each state tournament site, which can be found by clicking on the map above or on the “State Bowl Sites” link to the left. For more questions about the differences between Set A and Set B, please contact Executive Director David Madden at director@historybowl.com. We hope this adjustment gives more teams across the country a question set that is to their liking and as always, please send us your feedback and comments so that we can continue to provide a better competition.

White Plains Wins First Ever State History Bowl! Jake Freyer of Eastchester is MVP. Horace Greeley is JV Champion.

(Nov. 29) The National History Bowl is pleased to announce that White Plains High School is the champion of the New York State History Bowl for the Lower Hudson Valley Region, prevailing over Hastings B in the final match. Jake Freyer of Eastchester High School was the tournament MVP for having singlehandedly competed against White Plains in the semifinal match and giving them their closest match of the day. Two teams from Horace Greeley High School met in the final of the JV Division with the 10th graders of the A team winning in overtime against the 9th graders of the B team. The tournament was held on November 20 and was the first ever State History Bowl held, thus being somewhat historic in its own right. 30 teams competed in the Varsity Division and 6 competed in the Junior Varsity Division. Tournaments Results have now been posted. Congratulations and thanks to all those who competed on a great tournament, and we hope to see the teams who qualified come to our National Championships next April 16 in Washington!

3 New Advisory Board Members Named

(Aug. 7) The National History Bee and Bowl is proud to welcome three new members of its Board of Advisors. Rohit Prakash is a former high school quiz bowl standout and college history instructor who is currently working on a PhD in economics at Cambridge and working for the Royal Bank of Scotland. He will be advising on matters of question development and strategic planning. Retired US Air Force Colonel and Commander of Nellis AFB Dave Belote will be advising the NHBB on matters relating to military history, including helping to develop a partnership for question development with the USAF’s Office of the Historian. Bob Harris is a television and travel writer and an author of four books, including Prisoner of Trebekistan, who will be advising on matters of creative content and media relations. Look for all three new Advisory Board members at various tournaments (you’ll find Bob on the West Coast, Dave on the East Coast, and Rohit in Paris) and it should also be mentioned that Bob and Dave are former 5 time standout champions on Jeopardy!