Many 9th grade students have experience with the National History Bee’s Middle School Division. Unlike the National Spelling Bee, National Geographic Bee or other competitions, though, the National History Bee also extends through 12th grade, and we hope that if you have prior experience, you will still compete now that you are in 9th grade (or the homeschool equivalent). If you have no prior experience with the National History Bee, then don’t worry – it’s never too late to start competing! Note that at the high school level, more time at each tournament is spent on the History Bowl (the team competition, though “teams” of one are welcome to compete) though the History Bee is important and contested at each event too.

At the high school level, there are no intramural or qualifying competitions in order to make it to the Regional or State tournaments. There are just two stages: Regional and State tournaments (these are considered one stage) and the National Championships. Schools and homeschool groups may sign up as many teams and students as they wish for each tournament aside from the National Championships for which students and teams must qualify at any Regional or State tournament, usually by finishing in the top half of the draw in the Bee or by posting a .500 winning percentage in the History Bowl preliminaries. All Regional and State tournaments consist of a Varsity Division and a Junior Varsity Division for 10th graders and younger. The JV Division is also open to middle school-aged students as well who are looking for additional competition opportunities and a chance to qualify for JV Nationals in Arlington, VA on April 27-29, 2018. Students in 10th grade and younger may play together with older students from their school or homeschool group in the Varsity Division, but must play in the JV Division in the Bee.

Students, however, may attend up to 3 Regional or State tournament sites (none of these require any prior qualification), and there is no geographic restriction on where they play – only that they cannot play the same question set twice (each tournament runs on either A, B, or C Set). A full list of tournament sites is maintained here – this is updated on a regular basis as new tournaments get arranged.

Registration is done for JV tournaments at www.historybowl.com/registration though we only need to have advance registration for History Bowl teams – it’s possible to sign up the day of the event for the History Bee.

For further questions, please email Mr. Jason Russell at jason@historybowl.com