2014 National History Bowl Natl Championship Wild Card Rules

[Great Bustard]

As the National Championships of the National History Bee and Bowl approach, NHBB has received a number of questions regarding its wild card policy. To clarify how that will work, please note the following:

Wild card applications are welcome in the following cases:

1. Teams who had signed up for a tournament that was cancelled. In most cases, these applications are accepted outright. If the tournament is rescheduled and the school in question attends, however, then qualifying will be done on the usual basis. We realize this may create a perverse incentive for schools to stay away, however, this is a very unusual circumstance, and most schools in this position will opt to attend the make up tournament if they can. If the tournament is made up after March 10, then typically, we will accept the bid outright even if the school or student attends and doesn't qualify.

2. Teams affected by serious illness. If a student could not attend an event due to an illness or family emergency, then the coach may send me an email asking me to take this into account. In this instance, I must be contacted by the coach, and the student in question should have a track record of competition that I can review.

3. If a regional tournament has not been held before March 10, then the team can apply for a bid by emailing me with grounds for their bid. If they have already had a chance to compete within their area (i.e. within a two hour driving distance) prior to this, then bids will not be accepted, even if a tournament was held in the area and the team/student in question didn’t attend. On the other hand, if teams apply under these grounds and then compete but do not qualify, this would not overrule the initial bid if it had already been granted.

4. If there was no tournament scheduled at all within a two hour drive, then teams may apply for wild card status on the basis of performance in other all-subject quiz competitions.

5. The number of teams and their division granted wild card bids is at the discretion of NHBB, though if teams are applying under the basis of 1, typically it will be for no more than the number of teams they had registered. If teams are applying under the basis of #3 or #4, then teams should request the number of teams they are applying for.

6. Wild card bids are typically not accepted solely because a team came very close to qualifying, had a difficult schedule, or otherwise is a nationals-caliber team but didn’t qualify. If, however, teams feel that their qualification was affected by a violation of NHBB rules, or other extenuating circumstances surrounding the administration of a tournament, teams may apply on that basis.

7. National History Bee bids work the same way as outlined above.

8. For the US Geography Olympiad, interested students who failed to qualify the usual way may ask a teacher during the month of March to proctor a version of the exam they didn’t take. Students should then send a check for $10 or $20 or $30 made out to US Geography Olympiad (depending on how many chances they wish to have, though of course this is limited if they have competed at regionals). The check should be sent to the following address together with a note saying whom (name, position, and email) the Exam(s) should be sent for purposes of proctoring. This offer is valid until April 5 – scores must be received by then. Send checks to:
NHBB / USGO
PO Box 875
Tenafly, NJ

9. All wild card decisions at high school nationals for both NHBB and USGO will be made by me alone. All bids should be sent via email to [email protected] with as much justification and/or links to results as possible.

10. Questions regarding wild card bids for Middle School Nationals or the US History Bee should be directed to [email protected]. Note that Middle School History Bowl Nationals does not have a qualification threshold this year – all teams are welcome.

11. These guidelines supersede any Wild Card policy contained with the NHBB Official Rules through April 30, 2014.