Click here for History Bowl Middle School Nationals Draws
For High School Nationals results, visit the Nationals page

Welcome to the website of The National History Bowl, a history quiz competition for teams of students throughout the USA! Founded in 2010, The National History Bowl is gearing up for its third school year of qualifying tournaments, leading to the National Championships in Washington, DC and Arlington, VA in the spring of 2013. This year, we are expanding our middle school division, adding many regional tournaments, introducing new features to our National Championships, and lots more. Please explore our website and learn how you and your school or homeschool association can form a team (or teams) to take part in our tournaments. Good luck in the 2012-2013 school year, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

- David Madden, Founder and Executive Director, The National History Bowl, director@historybowl.com

Regional & State Bowl Sites

Congratulations to our 2013 National Champions!
Bellarmine College Preparatory (High School Varsity – San Jose, CA)
Northmont High School (High School Junior Varsity – Clayton, OH)
Plymouth Regional High School (Varsity Small School – Plymouth, NH)
Rolla Junior/Senior High School (Junior Varsity Small School – Rolla, KS)

Latest News – Last Updated on May 14, 2013

Middle School Nationals This Weekend in Washington, DC and Northern Virginia!

The National History Bowl is delighted to welcome 26 teams to our 2013 Middle School National Championships on May 18-19. We’re excited to have players and coaches from as near as Falls Church, VA and as far away as Guam and Tokyo contest the 2013 national title. Special thanks to our Saturday host sites – the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA (the host hotel), the National Museum of the American Indian, and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Headquarters. A big thank you as well to George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate for being the host for our Sunday playoff matches, where the title of National Champion will be decided! If you have any questions during the tournament, please email help@historybowl.com from Friday through Sunday for the quickest response. We’re looking forward to a great weekend, and we will see you soon at Nationals!

Congratulations to our 2013 High School National Champions!
Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) – Varsity, Northmont High School (OH) – Junior Varsity, Plymouth Regional High School (NH) Varsity Small School, Rolla High School (KS) Junior Varsity Small School!

(May 1) After a memorable weekend of competition on April 27-28 in Arlington, VA and Washington, DC, The National History Bowl is proud to announce its new National Champions! In the high school Varsity, #1 seed Bellarmine A survived a close semifinal match 330-300 against Dorman (SC) and a close final 310-250 against LASA (TX) to win the title. And even more impressive, Bellarmine A consisted only of a sole high school junior, the incomparable Sameer Rai (who also won the Varsity History Bee title for good measure). In the high school JV, defending champion Northmont needed to close a 60 point gap with 3 questions to play to reach a tiebreak question against Centennial (MD). JV MVP Sam Blizzard then converted a tossup on American composer Charles Ives to bring the JV Bowl back to Ohio.
Our small school National Champions this year are Plymouth Regional (NH) and Rolla (KS). Plymouth and Small School Varsity runner up Irvington (NY) both made the overall quarterfinals which set up a Sunday showdown in which Plymouth prevailed. Rolla took the JV title on the basis of being the only JV small school team to make the JV playoffs.
Thanks to the 198 teams who came and competed, to the well over 100 staff who came and assisted, to our host sites (Anderson House, Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft LLP, the Crystal Gateway Marriott, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Headquarters, the Kosciuszko Foundation, the Middle East Institute, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Phillips Collection), and to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for their generous support of prizes for our top teams. Next up – our Middle School National Championships on May 18-19!

Welcome to the 2013 National History Bowl National Championships!

198 teams from around the world are competing for the title of National History Bowl National Champion this weekend in Washington, DC and Arlington, VA! The staff of The National History Bee and Bowl welcomes everyone attending this year’s Nationals in whatever capacity, be it player, coach, staff, or fan, that they may be attending as. From 6pm on Thursday until the end of the tournament, please direct all questions to help@historybowl.com or to 201 951 1956. Please do not contact director@historybowl.com or the usual NHBB phone number during this time. We’re looking forward to a great weekend of competition and wish all teams the best of luck, and a fun, fair, and exciting tournament!

Nationals Draw to Be Posted Soon – 132 Varsity and 66 JV teams in action on April 27!

NHBB’s 3rd Annual National Championships are now less than 10 days away, with 198 teams coming from as far away as Guam, London, and Tokyo and from all across the USA to compete! We’ve been spending months preparing staff, host sites, questions, logistics, and all the aspects of running a tournament of this size, and we can’t wait for you to join us. We’ll be posting the draw for Nationals on Sunday or Monday (4/21 or 4/22) here so you can see who your competition is in the morning. We’ll also explain how the draw is made, and how the tournament will progress at the time we post the draw.

If you need to adjust any aspect of your registration, or if your school is interested in being a standby team for Nationals, please email director@historybowl.com as soon as possible. We will attempt to fill any holes in the draw caused by teams backing out last minute (though ideally this won’t happen in the first place). Also, if you had said you’d be bringing buzzers, please don’t forget to bring them!

For any basic questions on Nationals, see the relevant links on the website first, then email us if something’s still unclear. Please do not contact director@historybowl.com from 6pm on Thursday 4/25 until the Monday following the tournament though. We’ll be providing an official 24 hour a day phone number and email address to call or contact during that time for questions instead. Good luck with your final preparations, and we’ll see you here in Washington, DC and neighboring Arlington, VA very soon!

Regionals Are Done! Sets Posted Online. Nationals Registration Extended Through April 8!

The National History Bowl has finished its third year of Regional and State qualifying tournaments, with the conclusion of our Colorado and Minnesota tournaments, both of which were held on Saturday, March 30. Throughout the 2012-13 school year, we ran 79 such tournaments throughout the USA, with many memorable performances from over 1000 participating teams! We are gratified and thankful to everyone who participated in, volunteered at, directed, or helped us in any capacity with any of our tournaments this year. The question sets we used have now been posted online at http://www.hsapq.com/samples (scroll down to the bottom of the page). We’ll be keeping Round 10 of the History Bowl for all 3 sets in reserve to use for our scrimmages at Nationals on Friday evening. After Nationals, those rounds will be added to the sets as well, along with the questions from Nationals.

Finally, please be advised that our National History Bowl National Championships registration deadline has been extended until 11pm Eastern on Monday, April 8! We can assure you that there will be no further extension of the registration deadline, so if your team qualified and will be joining us, don’t delay – sign up now! We’re maintaining a list of Teams Registered for Nationals accessible through the link on the left-hand side of the page if you’d like to see who else will be coming. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the History Bee Nationals (deadline 4/18) at www.hs.historybee.com; the US Geography Challenge Nationals (deadline 4/10) at www.usgeochallenge.com, and the National Entertainment and Sports History Bees (deadline 4/15) through the “Friday Night Events” link. Good luck with your preparations, and we’ll see you at Nationals!

National History Bowl Regional and State Tournaments in their final 3 weeks; HS Nationals is less than 7 weeks away!

With roughly 70 Regional and State History Bowls down and about 10 to go, we’re nearing the end of our tournaments for NHBB’s third year. Except for Nationals, of course, where the registrations are pouring in, with a projected field of about 200 high school and 30 middle school teams! We’ve had a busy last few weeks, with our first ever tournaments in Nevada, the Florida Panhandle, and the Central Valley of California, with our inaugural East Tennessee and Oregon tournaments coming up soon. Numerous teams have been staking down their Nationals credentials; check the “Teams Coming to Nationals” page on the left for an updated list of top seeds and who all will be joining us. Will your school get to take on one of the four teams from Iolani, making the trip from Honolulu for their second Nationals? Our defending JV National Champions, Northmont, who bring their two star players back? Or how about Saratoga, whose JV team became the first NHBB team to win 3 Regional or State titles in one year and whose Varsity team is set for a deep run at Nationals?

Having relocated NHBB headquarters to DC in January, we’re making lots of plans for high school Nationals on April 26-28, and middle school Nationals on May 18-19. Sign up soon – registration closes on April 1 for high school (no joke!) and May 1 for middle schools. If you have any Nationals related questions, please direct them to director@historybowl.com. See you there!

National History Bowl High Season is Here! Over 30 Tournaments Scheduled for February Alone!

Jan. 31, 2013 -  The National History Bowl had a banner month in January, and is looking forward to its busiest month ever in February, with 31 tournaments on offer around the USA (plus 2 in Japan)! January highlights included what was by far our largest ever regional tournament – the Northern New Jersey History Bowl with 65 teams (the old record was 44); great turnouts in Missouri, Florida, Maryland, Georgia, and Long Island; our first international tournament of the year in France; and numerous great performances among teams. Some of these include St. Joseph (NJ) putting up a record-breaking 560 points in a game en route to their Northern NJ Varsity victory, Richard Montgomery having both their Varsity teams in the Maryland Finals for the second straight year, and Baton Rouge Magnet traveling 3 hours up to Natchitoches to win the Northern Louisiana Varsity Bowl. Meanwhile, Ladue and Chattahoochee defended their respective Missouri and Georgia State titles, Lexington (MA) won its first Varsity Bowl, and Ridgewood (NJ), Alpharetta (GA), Ransom Everglades (FL) among others turned in great Junior Varsity wins. Finally, defending National Champions Hunter College High School (NY) won the Long Island Varsity History Bowl and look to be back in force at Nationals in the spring.

With numerous tournaments on offer in February and March, there are still many chances for teams to compete and qualify for our upcoming National Championships on April 27-28 (for high schools) and May 18-19 (for middle schools). Click on the tabs on the left for more information and to register for all of our Regional/State and National tournaments. Best of luck to your team in its remaining competitions this school year!

National History Bowl Wraps Up its 2012 tournaments; Looks Ahead to a Busy 2013!

Dec. 19, 2012 – With 17 tournaments from October-December, the 2012 portion of the tournament season wrapped up for the National History Bowl on December 15, with tournaments all across the USA in New York, Ohio, Idaho, and California. On January 5, we’ll resume, with about 70 tournaments slated between January and March! The last remaining tournament sites are getting lined up for this school year – most tournaments have long since been scheduled. Check the State Bowl Sites page, or click on the map for the tournaments nearest you.

So far, it’s been a great year, with many very impressive teams in action, many schools making their National History Bowl debut, and lots of great matches across the USA. Arcadia and Bellarmine (CA), Irvington (NY), Solon and Northmont (OH), Athens Academy (GA), and others have established their national contender credentials; more will certainly follow in the months to come. Nationals registration is now open – we’ll begin posting a list of registered teams at some point in the next week or two. We’ll also post a list of staffers, and their affiliations so teams can see who will be helping us out this year. If you have experience playing or reading for NHBB and would be interested in helping us staff our National Championships – let us know!

Finally, special mentions from our Lower Hudson History Bowl on December 15 go out to Benjamin Franklin, our first Middle School Regional Champions this year as well as to Team Tenafly – the first ever elementary school team to compete at a History Bowl! Team Tenafly also shares the distinction of being the first team to compete from the hometown (Tenafly, NJ) of NHBB. That said, we’re moving our headquarters to Washington, DC on January 1 to prepare for Nationals, though we’ll continue to maintain the Tenafly PO Box address throughout this year. Happy holidays to your team from all of us at The National History Bee and Bowl!

Berkeley Prep Wins Inaugural Central Florida History Bowl! Seminole triumphs in North Florida; Archimedean in South Florida.

November 10 was a red-letter day for NHBB across the state of Florida with 3 tournaments happening simultaneously; the first time ever that NHBB has run 3 tournaments on the same day in the same state. In South Florida, hosts Archimedean Upper Conservatory (the only Greek-language immersion school to compete in NHBB, so far, at least) triumphed over powerhouse Ransom Everglades in two exciting matches in the JV and Varsity finals to win both competitions. Ransom students Danny Lopez and Alex Petros took the History Bee, titles, though. 24 teams enjoyed Archimedean’s hospitality and Greek food at lunch – thanks them Archimedean for hosting! In Central Florida, Berkeley Prep, who brought five teams in their History Bowl debut, counted the winning Varsity team among their ranks, while a chimera team from Freedom HS and Hillsborough High School IB won in the JV. Thanks to Ron Heller and Shorecrest Prep for hosting! Finally, in North Florida, Seminole High School, another team competing in its first NHBB tournament took home the champion’s plaque. Thanks to Steve Wolfson and Spruce Creek High School for hosting for the second year in a row!

Next up are regional tournaments in Washington state, New Jersey, Georgia and Pennsylvania on November 17 before NHBB takes the weekend of 11/24 off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Happy Turkey Day to all from everyone at NHBB!

Previous Updates

National History Bowl 2012-2013 Season Underway

The National History Bowl’s third year has gotten off to a great start with the inaugural Southwest Virginia History Bowl on Oct. 20 at Blacksburg High School, and the second annual Northeast Ohio History Bowl at Western Reserve High School, and the Eastern Georgia History Bowl at Cedar Shoals High School; both on Oct. 27. Congratulations to Cave Spring HS in Virginia, Solon (Varsity) and Lowellville (JV) in Ohio, and Athens Academy (Varsity) and Westminster (JV) in Georgia for being our first champions of the new competition year!

Especially noteworthy was Solon’s impressive 2100+ preliminary point total, and the fact that both Lowellville and Westminster were one student teams! We have always encouraged teams of one or two students to compete, even though up to four players are allowed to play at any given time. Cole Baird of Lowellville and Nilai Sarda of Westminster have now joined a select group of one student Bowl champion “teams.” Furthermore, at the Eastern Georgia History Bowl, Ricky Yoder of Wesleyan (a one student champion in the Bowl last year) made the finals on his own, while in the JV, we had an unprecedented situation of two one student “teams” going up against one another. Nilai’s opponent was Garrett Johnston of River Ridge High School, turning in a very impressive performance in his National History Bowl debut.

If you are a single student considering playing in the History Bowl, please also note that there is a discounted rate of $25 on offer for playing on your own. For teams of two, you can play for $50. Simply email director@historybowl.com to inform us that this is how you intend to participate. Finally, please note that if you play as a team of 1 or 2 at Regionals or States, you can still have more team members at Nationals if you qualify.

United States Geography Challenge Debuts this Year at All NHBB Tournament Sites!

(Oct. 20, 2012) The National History Bee and Bowl has helped to foster history education in a fun and exciting way over its first two years. For this school year, we’re now pleased to also help a new competition, The United States Geography Challenge, promote geography education as well. If you competed in the National Geographic Bee while in middle school, this is a way for you to hone your geography skills and put them back to good use! If you didn’t compete in that but have an interest in geography, the USGC is for you too!

At each of NHBB’s regional and state tournament sites around the USA this year, students will have the opportunity to take the USGC Regional Qualifying Exam during the lunch break. Students who score in the top half, either at their site, or nationally, are then welcome to compete in the USGC National Championships, which will be held on Friday evening, April 26, 2013 – at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s also the weekend and host hotel for NHBB’s National Championships next spring, so anyone who is planning on coming to NHBB’s Nationals, has qualified, and can arrive early enough (i.e. by 4:30) on Friday evening, can then also compete in the USGC National Championships too.

The top 4 Varsity (defined as born before July 1, 1997) students at Nationals are then intended to become the first ever Team USA at the 2013 International Geography Olympiad in Kyoto, Japan next summer. For younger students, including anyone still in middle school who would like to try it, there’s a separate JV Division for both the Regional Qualifying Exam and the National Championships. One of the components of the National Championships will be a geography quiz tournament, with questions provided by HSAPQ, the official provider of NHBB. For more information on the US Geography Challenge, please see www.usgeochallenge.com or email info@usgeochallenge.com Good Luck!

Middle School Division Set to Expand for 2012-2013 School Year!

(Oct. 1, 2012) Last school year, a number of middle schools sent teams to compete in the regional and state tournaments, which culminated in 12 teams contesting our first Middle School National Championships last April. This year, we hope to see many more middle schools compete at the regional and state tournaments, and will be stepping up our middle school outreach efforts accordingly. In recognition of having likely a much higher middle school turnout at Nationals, we are also moving our Middle School National Championship to a different weekend (in May 2013) from our High School Championships. This tournament will also feature questions written specifically at a middle school level.

Middle schools (including homeschool associations) are welcome to attend any of our regional tournaments, though we recommend C set tournaments in particular, as they feature slightly easier questions. If we have five or more middle school teams at a given tournament, middle schools will compete only against other middle schools. If we have four or fewer middle school teams, then middle school teams will compete against some high school teams as well, though we will do our best to match to ensure competitive matches (for example, by matching middle school teams against junior varsity teams wherever possible). In any case, middle schools can qualify for Nationals by either having a .500 or better record against middle school teams, or by having one win against a high school level team, so this is well within the grasp of many teams.
Finally, middle schools are also encouraged to enroll in their own division of The National History Bee; click here for details. Please note that The Junior Division of The National History Bee functions differently from the High School Division of The National History Bee, for which the qualifying tournaments are held at the same locations and dates as the History Bowls. Middle School Students who attend a History Bowl, however, are also welcome to compete in the High School Junior Varsity Division of the Regional and State History Bees if they’d like an additional challenge.

Show Older Updates

National Championships Coming Up this Saturday April 25, 2012 – Regionals are over, and the Nationals field with 198 teams (132 Varsity, 48 JV, 12 Middle School) is now set! We are thrilled to have more than doubled the number of participating teams (last year’s inaugural Nationals had 98) for the National Championships of the National History Bowl which will be contested this Saturday in Washington, DC and at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA. We are especially grateful to all of our participating host sites, and look forward to a great day of competition. Registered teams will be receiving a number of emails this week regarding all aspects of Nationals weekend, which we’re busy preparing for you all this week. Please note that teams are required to check in with NHBB Staff at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, even if you are not staying there, at any time from 12 noon to 12 midnight on Friday, April 27. If you cannot make check in, you must make separate arrangements by emailing director at historybowl dot com this week. More information regarding Nationals is available on the website, though for the most up to date information, please consult the forthcoming emails. If you don’t find the answers to your questions there, please email greg at historybowl dot com, though bear in mind that turnaround time for emails this week is slightly longer than usual due to the high volume of inquiries. We will make every effort to respond as soon as we can; and within 24 hours at all possible. Good luck with your final preparations, and see you on Friday night at the Crystal Gateway Marriott! Regionals Nearly Complete – National Championships Are Approaching! Coach Merle Johnston with the team from Frenchtown High School (Frenchtown, MT) winners of the inaugural Northern Idaho History Bowl on March 3, 2012 March 25, 2012 – With 60 regional qualifying tournaments now complete, The National History Bowl is beginning to gear up for its second annual National Championships in Washington, DC and Northern Virginia on the weekend of April 27-29, 2012! We’ve had a tremendous second year, which has seen more than double the number of teams compete around the world, from Guam to Miami, Idaho to Rome, New Hampshire to Shanghai, and everywhere in between. As of March 25, 93 teams were registered for Nationals, with the projected number of teams at Nationals to fall between 150-175, up from 98 last year. Details on all aspects of Nationals, including registration, and a list of registered teams can be found on the tabs above. Don’t overlook the events on Friday evening – we’re inaugurating the National Sports History Bee and National Entertainment History Bee – which are even open to teachers, coaches, and parents! For any questions pertaining to our National Championships, please email NHBB Executive Director, David Madden at director@historybowl.com. See you there! A list of tournament winners is maintained under “State Bowl Results” – congratulations to all champions and Nationals qualifiers! Special mentions go out to the following teams: 1. Ricky Yoder of Wesleyan (GA) who became the first ever student to win a History Bowl playing without teammates on Nov. 5 at our Eastern Georgia tournament. 2. Menifee County (KY), Irvington (NY), and Ridgewood (NJ) for being the only schools to play all 3 question sets. 3. Dorman (SC) for putting up the highest one-game total (550) this year and for having the highest adjusted point total (1900 in 4 matches = 2375 over the usual 5 prelim matches) across the country. 4. Lycee Robert du Lazarches, Amiens, France for being the first winner of one of our international tournaments (History Bee and Bowl of France) and for not having a native English speaker on the team! 5. Hanover (NH – Varsity), University School of Nashville (TN – Varsity), Ransom Everglades (FL – Varsity and JV), and Rancho Bernardo (CA – JV), for posting wins at two separate tournaments this year. The National History Bee and Bowl Announces Outreach Partnership with The National History Club January 24, 2012 – The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce an outreach partnership with The National History Club. If you’ve enjoyed playing at NHBB tournaments, why don’t you take the next step and transform your team members into the newest National History Club chapter! You’ll become a part of a fast growing movement that like NHBB is seeking to help promote history education throughout the USA. According to Bob Nasson, National History Club, Executive Director: “The National History Club Inc. (NHC) inspires students and teachers to start history club chapters at high schools, middle schools, and within other student and community programs. Members of local history club chapters participate in local and national programs, and create their own projects and activities. The NHC also provides chapters with resources and services that will help them increase the activity and impact of their history club. To date, the NHC has founded history club chapters at high schools and middle schools in 43 states, and there are over 12,000 student members. To find our more information on how to form a history club and join the NHC please visit: www.nationalhistoryclub.org Happy New Year! The Heart of NHBB Tournament Season Is Here! NHBB Executive Director David Madden (wearing lei, on left) presents the Champion’s Plaque to ‘Iolani School’s A Team, champions of the inaugural 2011 Hawaii History Bowl. (Photo courtesy of Prof. Jeffrey Bingham Mead / History Education Hawaii) January 1, 2012 – With the new year upon us, the next three months will see the vast majority of this school year’s Regional and State NHBB tournaments take place. Nearly 60 sites are scheduled across the USA, and eight tournaments are planned for overseas – six in Europe and two in Asia! Check out www.nhbbeurope.com and www.nhbbasia.comfor more information. Our tournaments have been going great so far this year. Ten tournaments have been held, including our inaugural tournaments in Hawaii and Guam! NHBB Executive Director David Madden directed our inaugural Pacific island tournaments in December – look for the Hawaii Varsity and JV Bowl Champions from ‘Iolani School in Honolulu at our National Championships in April! A team or two from Guam may also attend. Other highlights of our tournaments this academic year include Andrew Salyer leading Johnson Central High School to their second Eastern Kentucky title, Richard Montgomery HS putting up the highest prelim point total so far en route to their victory in the Maryland History Bowl, a 34-team showdown in Westchester, won by “Team Tribeca” in the Varsity and Irvington HS in the JV, and our first ever tournaments in Idaho, Illinois (two, in fact in the Land of Lincoln), and Eastern Georgia. NHBB Assistant Executive Director Greg Bossick, also returned to his home turf in Northeast Ohio to direct our 18-team inaugural tournament there in November, won by Olmsted Falls in the Varsity and host school Boardman in the JV. Finally, we’d also like to extend a welcome to Nick Clusserath who has just been promoted to Assistant Executive Director and assumed full-time status. That brings our full-time staff to 4 – and we expect to add to that number in the future to allow us to continue to grow. Thanks for your support of NHBB and good luck to all teams competing over the next few months! September 1, 2011 – The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce that High School Academic Pyramid Questions, otherwise known as HSAPQ, will be the sole question provider for our tournaments at the high school level for the 2011-2012 academic year. HSAPQ produced our National Championships set this past April, and will also be providing the questions for our high school National Championships in 2012. HSAPQ is well-known for well-written, well-researched, and entertaining questions that encourage a deep understanding of history. Samples of HSAPQ questions will be available on our website under “Sample Questions” by September 15. 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! Plano Senior Coach Jason Barton is flanked by runner-up Plano B on the left and champion Plano A on the right. Students (L-R) are Sovik De Sirkar, Julian Michael, Richard Cao, Jessica Chao, Ilya Polkovnichenko, Kevin Wei, Sangeetha Mylvaganam and Taylor A’Latorre. (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.	National History Bowl Executive Director David Madden presents the trophy for victory at the Alabama History Bowl to Altamont team captain Leon Dure. Also pictured are (L-R) David Quinlan, Lee McAlister, and Altamont History Bowl coach Buck Crowe.
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!
(Nov. 9) The National History Bee and Bowl now has 24 confirmed tournament dates for its inaugural year. We anticipate ending up with about 35-40. All tournament sites must be finalized by November 29, so if you have an interest in bringing a National History Bee and Bowl State Tournament to your area for the 2010-2011 academic year, please email Executive Director David Madden (director@historybowl.com) as soon as possible. Meanwhile, our first ever State Tournament (New York – Lower Hudson Valley Region) is just 11 days away!
(Oct. 13) The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce that Gaius Stern, a professor of history at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University is the newest member of the Board of Advisors. Professor Stern has been the driving force behind high school academic competition in Northern California for years, and is the founder and Director of BAAL (the Bay Area Academic League). He has been active in the world of quiz bowl for over 25 years and brings a wealth of experience and nous to the National History Bee and Bowl.
(Oct. 4) The National History Bee and Bowl welcomes two new Assistant Directors to its staff in October 2010, Greg Bossick and Nick Clusserath. Both Greg and Nick have been active members of the quiz bowl world for years and both bring a wealth of experience in question writing, tournament directing, and handling pre-tournament logistics. Greg is based out of Youngstown, Ohio where he directs the pyramidal question-based Mahoning County Quizbowl League although he helps out routinely at tournaments throughout the country. Nick is an alum of Dorman High School in South Carolina, one of the perennially strongest teams of the country, and is now a student at Rutgers Law School. Greg and Nick will be assisting the National History Bee and Bowl in all respects and will be directing many of the state tournaments throughout the country. Their participation will help to ensure that the National History Bee and Bowl can run as many tournaments as possible in the early months of 2011, so that we can ensure as many teams as possible can compete around the country and have a chance to qualify for the National Championships next April 15 and 16 in Washington, D.C.
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!
(July 24) Ambassador Jack F. Matlock Jr., the former American ambassador to the Soviet Union and historian of the Cold War is the new Honorary Chair of the Board of Advisors and will be the keynote speaker at the National Championships for the National History Bee and Bowl next April in Washington, D.C.
(July 18) The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce the formation of a partnership with the Fisher House Foundation, one of America’s leading veterans’ charities. Please click on the “Outreach” tab for more information about how the National History Bee and Bowl will be helping to promote the great work done by the Fisher House Foundation on behalf of America’s veterans.