NHBB Opening Announcement for 2014-15 High School Division

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Great Bustard
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NHBB Opening Announcement for 2014-15 High School Division

Post by Great Bustard »

The National History Bee and Bowl is delighted to announce the start of its 2014-2015 competition season of high school level history quiz tournaments across the USA. This will be our fifth anniversary season, and as in years past, we are excited to announce a number of new programs and changes that will make this our largest and best year yet. Registration is now open for all Regional and State level events that are scheduled (i.e. have a green dot on the map) at http://www.historybowl.com/registration and http://www.hs.historybee.com/registration though as in years past, advanced registration is not required for the high school level History Bee events. Registration for the US History Bee and the US Geography Olympiad will open shortly, and an announcement will be made when that is possible. USHB and USGO do not require prior registration for the National Qualifying Exams, but DO require registration for their new National Qualifying Quiz Tournaments (see below for details). Registration closes for the Bowl on the Thursday before each event, though it makes things much easier if you register with as far in advance as possible once you know how many teams you will be bringing.

Individual NHBB tournaments do not typically have an announcement posted on the forums, though for some of the larger tournaments, there will be announcements (and subsequent post-tournament feedback discussions) on the individual NHBB forum. That said, NHBB will do its best to communicate news of upcoming tournaments to area teams, and to try as hard to avoid date conflicts with standard quizbowl tournaments.

Here is a summary of what's new and noteworthy with NHBB at the high school level this year (including the US History Bee, US Geography Olympiad, and International History Olympiad). Keep in mind that all NHBB high school level events are open to middle school students and teams as well.

1. National History Bee and Bowl - http://www.historybowl.com and http://www.hs.historybee.com
In most respects, our high school division for the National History Bee and National History Bowl will work the same way it has in past years. That said, there will be some changes; here are the most important ones:
-We will once again be having 3 regional and state question sets. This year, we'll be looking to hold events in all 50 states, Guam, CNMI, Puerto Rico, and the USVI, for about 105-125 standard tournaments total.
-We will be mailing the majority of high schools in the USA to get the word out over the next two months, visiting hundreds of schools in the USA, spreading the word at quizbowl tournaments, social studies conferences, and ramping up our online presence. This will include a new high school website with many new features that will debut in October. The new website will be a combined site for the Bee and Bowl, which will streamline registration procedures and browsing results.
-In the Bee, we will continue to use the scoring system introduced at last year's Nationals. Namely, if you get 8 points in 8 questions, you get 7 bonus points for a 15. If you get your 8 on question 9 or 10, you get 6 bonus points for a 14. Thereafter, it will work as in past years. Bee finals at some events will use the format as in past years; at some events, though, we will experiment with having a set number of questions in the Bee finals to help save time. The winner in these instances would be the student who has the most points at the end of the round, or who reaches a set number of points first within a limited number of questions. Your directors will explain individually how finals at each event will work.
-At B and C Set events, we will have a separate version (i.e. the star version, so e.g., B*) of the questions. This will have as many questions as the standard version, but certain questions will be somewhat easier and shorter. This will be used in newer regions for both Varsity and JV, and in other regions, just at the JV level. At A Set events, everyone will play the same questions. A complete list of which events will used which sets will be available by early October, including exact use of starred sets.
-Regionals, for the third straight year, will still cost $75 for Bowl teams of 3-6, $50 for Bowl teams of 2 students, $25 for solo Bowl players, $15 for the Bee, and -$5 for each buzzer system. Nationals will cost $575 for Bowl teams of 3-6, $380 for Bowl teams of 2, and $190 for Bowl teams of 1. The Bee at Nationals will cost $95, as will the US History Bee and the US Geography Olympiad (see below for more details on those). There will be discounts at Nationals again for bringing readers, buzzers, and hosting. Details will follow on the amounts of these discounts soon on our website.
-At Nationals, the morning rounds will consist of 8 questions in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th quarters. The afternoon and evening rounds will consist of 10 questions in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th quarters, while the Sunday rounds will consist of 12 questions in the 1st, 2nd and 4th quarters.
-For Nationals playoffs, we will be taking the top 32 teams in both Varsity and JV. The 32 Varsity teams will then each be guaranteed 3 more games on Saturday evening as they split into 8 brackets of 4 teams (snaked according to afternoon results). The winner of each bracket will then advance to the Sunday single elim games. The 32 JV teams will play single elimination throughout the playoffs. This will mean that the JV and Varsity finals will still run in succession on Sunday. See: http://www.historybowl.com/national-championships/ for further details on Nationals.

2. International History Olympiad - http://www.historyolympiad.com
The biggest expansion within NHBB/IHBB this year will be the debut of the International History Olympiad. This will be a competition, or rather, a whole series of competitions like no other event before. The Olympiad will take place next July 9-15 at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is open to any student born on or prior to December 31, 2002 who finished in the top half (defined as Upper Bracket in the high school Bowl, or in the top half of the preliminary rankings in the Bee or middle school Bowl) at our 2014 National Championships. Students can qualify again in 2015; those who qualify in 2015 will also be eligible to attend the 2016 Olympiad.

More information, including costs, as well as a dedicated website, will be available for the Olympiad within the coming weeks. Registration will open on November 1. However, we have just posted a draft schedule of events, along with some explanations on how these will work at http://www.historyolympiad.com. Please look this over, and we welcome any and all feedback in the appropriate forum thread. The schedule will be finalized by the time registration opens. A full list of eligible students will be posted by the end of October at historyolympiad.com as well. Students born after 2002 who otherwise qualified will be able to defer their eligibility to a year of their choice.

3. US History Bee - http://www.ushistorybee.org
The US History Bee is back for its second year - just to avoid any confusion, the US History Bee is overseen by NHBB, but is a separate competition from the National History Bee. Some changes for USHB in 2014-15 include the following:

-The scoring system for rounds will change to reflect the standard high school scoring system used by the National History Bee. That is to say, the "minus one" is in effect for the 3rd incorrect answer prior to the end of a question, while there is otherwise no threat of being ineligible for the remainder of the round for accruing too many "incorrect interrupts."
-A Junior Varsity division will debut for 10th graders and younger. This is open to middle schoolers (including at Nationals who qualify), but there is no exclusive middle school division.
-There is no longer a way to qualify for Nationals by writing an essay. However, we are debuting a National Qualifying Exam which students can take at all NHBB Regional and State High School level tournaments. The cost is $10, and students can take both the NQE for the USHB and the US Geography Olympiad at the same site (there is no discount though for doing so). Like with the USGO NQE, there are 3 versions of the USHB NQE, which correspond to the Question Set being used at the State or Regional tournament. To qualify for Nationals this way, you need to finish in the top half of your division at your site, or above the official National Median Score for your division, which will be posted a bit earlier this year, namely on February 25.
-We are also running National Qualifying Quiz Tournaments for USHB this year. These contain 3 preliminary rounds, and a final round of 30 questions. They will be held after school in conjunction with the new National Qualifying Quiz Tournaments of the US Geography Olympiad. We are actively seeking host schools for these, who will receive four free entries in each division (Varsity and JV). Contact me at [email protected] if interested. The cost of the NQQT for either the US History Bee or the US Geography Olympiad is $20 per student, though if a student competes in both, the combined price is $30.
-If you are interested in taking the National Qualifying Exam for either the US History Bee or US Geography Olympiad at your school, you may do this if a teacher proctors it. This option now costs $20 per student per Exam version. Students who compete in this way can only qualify for Nationals by finishing above the official National Median Score within their division for the version of the NQE they took.
-The US History Bee National Championships will once again be held during the day on Friday at Nationals. All 6 preliminary rounds will be held by lunch. The price has been reduced from $115 to $95, though it is likely that the champion's prize will also be somewhat lower than the $5k won by Bruce Lou of Saratoga HS last April. On the other hand, there will be cash prizes for, at a minimum, the champion and runner up in both the Varsity and Junior Varsity divisions.

4. US Geography Olympiad - http://www.geographyolympiad.com
Aside from the new National Qualifying Quiz Tournaments for USGO as described above, there are a number of other changes to USGO for the 2014-15 season. The largest change is that we will be launching the USGO at the Junior (6th grade and younger) and Middle School (i.e. 7th and 8th grade) levels. There will be a separate forum post regarding NHBB's elementary and middle school start for 2014-15, so I will not go into further detail on that here, except to say that students in 8th grade and younger may still compete in the the Junior Varsity division of USGO. If they qualify for JV Nationals in USGO, they may attend both high school and elementary/middle school USGO Nationals, since they will use different questions. USGO National Qualifying Exams at the high school level cost $10 at the site or $20 if a teacher proctors them. There are 3 versions of the USGO NQE at the high school level, as in past years, but just one at the junior and middle school levels. The sites for the Junior and Middle School USGO NQE's will be held in conjunction with the Regional Championships of the National History Bee for elementary and middle school students, although this version can also be proctored by a teacher for $20. The cost of the USGO NQE at the Regional Championships of the National History Bee for elementary and middle school students is free for participating students in the Bee or $20 for other students.

At USGO Nationals, the competition will once again consist of 3 events. The first event will be a multiple choice exam, similar to those in years past but perhaps slightly more focused an applications of geography as opposed to straight up knowledge, so as to bring it a bit more in line with the multiple choice exam used at the International Geography Olympiad. This event will focus primarily on physical geography. The second event will also be a multiple choice exam, but it will be similar in form and content to the AP Human Geography Exam, though some physical geography questions may also be used here. The third event will, as in past years, be a quizbowl tournament. There will be 4 preliminary rounds, not 3, though, at the 2015 USGO Nationals on April 24. These will be held during the afternoon, and only the final rounds will then take place after the Opening Ceremonies of NHBB Nationals that evening. We should finish by 10pm at the absolute latest, and likely earlier. USGO Nationals will cost $95 this year; the increase reflects the cost of the additional quizbowl round and the extended multiple choice exams.

5. International History Bee and Bowl - http://www.ihbbglobal.com
Nolwenn and I just returned to Washington, DC yesterday from a week in Australia and New Zealand, where we ran five events and visited about 15 new schools. I am delighted to report that IHBB, and by extension, pyramidal quizbowl, is now off the ground in the Southern Hemisphere. We expect significant growth for the 2015 season in Australia and New Zealand. Elsewhere, since the end of last season, we have visited schools in Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Scotland, and Ireland. In the 2014-2015 season, in addition to the debut of the Olympiad, within Europe and Asia we will be debuting a second set of Regionals questions, thus giving students there additional incentives to study hard and compete. We will also be visiting schools in Quebec and Nova Scotia in early October, with additional outreach efforts and trips in Canada likely this school year in advance of our first Canadian tournaments in 2015, including Canadian Nationals at Lisgar in Ottawa in May 2015 (full details at http://www.ihbbcanada.com) Yesterday, I also received an email from an interested school in Puerto Rico, and we will be exploring options regarding Latin America as well. Africa will most likely wait until 2016-17, but advanced planning has begun there too. We have every intention of having tournaments in a majority of the world's countries by our tenth anniversary in 2020-2021.

6. Staff
High School level questions for the 2014-15 season, including for the quiz bowl portions, the Battery, and the Written Exam at the Olympiad, with the exception of the USGO exams (both for Regionals and Nationals which will once again be done by Raynell Cooper and me) will be overseen by Matt Weiner. Matt will be doing most (or possibly all; he is authorized to subcontract as needed) of the writing for these, though NHBB does have approximately 10 other writers at present, who are writing questions for future years in advance of future expansions. I will continue to edit all questions used at the high school level as well.

Aside from Matt who is working as our writer as an independent contractor and not officially with NHBB or HSAPQ, NHBB/IHBB currently has five full time staff members. I primarily oversee high school events within the USA, though I also help my wife, Nolwenn, with international recruiting and directing. She handles international logistics and assists with US events here and there. Bunnie Hadsall works out of Arizona and will handle the bulk of Tournament Coordinating and a number of directing assignments, both domestic and international. Eric Huff and Nick Clusserath oversee the National History Bee for elementary and middle school students and assist with high school nationals. Raynell Cooper will begin working full time for NHBB on January 1, 2015, and together with Bunnie will oversee the National Qualifying Quiz Tournaments for USGO and USHB, the National History Bowl at the middle school level, and will help with the History Tour of the elementary and middle school National History Bee. We expect to bring in additional full time staff for the 2015-16 season as well.

Aside from this, NHBB will continue to work to assist the broader quizbowl community wherever possible with tournament consulting, free buzzer loans (just email me if you're interested - you'll need to cover shipping costs though), and encouraging students to compete in good quizbowl tournaments. We are always happy to announce news of upcoming events at our events and/or hand out flyers; again, just let me know if you'd like us to do this. We will also be sponsoring the National Quizbowl Awards and the NASAT awards banquet again in 2015. That said, we're also always looking for help with spreading the word about our tournaments, directing, writing, outreach to schools, and reading at events. If you are interested in any of these, please just let me know! There are many jobs available, and our future growth depends on the support of people like you. Thanks for helping us get to where we are now in just four years, and we continue to look forward to many years of great tournaments to come!
David Madden
Ridgewood (NJ) '99, Princeton '03
Founder and Director: International History Bee and Bowl, National History Bee and Bowl (High School Division), International History Olympiad, United States Geography Olympiad, US History Bee, US Academic Bee and Bowl, National Humanities Bee, National Science Bee, International Academic Bowl.
Adviser and former head coach for Team USA at the International Geography Olympiad
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