Announcing The National History Bee & Bowl European Division
Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 3:50 am
The National History Bee & Bowl is delighted to announce the creation of its new European Division! Building upon our successful first year in the USA last year, we saw no reason why European schools couldn't begin to benefit from participating in The National History Bee and Bowl in 2011-2012. Nolwenn Léon, of Riedisheim, France, has been appointed International Director and will be responsible for recruiting teams and tournament organization. In her first three weeks of traveling throughout Europe as a roving ambassador for NHBB, Mlle Léon has enjoyed a warm welcome at schools throughout France, Belgium, and Italy. She and I will be visiting schools in Britain, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Austria, Portugal, and (if there's time) Luxembourg over the course of the next four months. The American School of Paris and St. Stephen's School in Rome have already offered to host, and we anticipate no unforeseen difficulties in finding our remaining host schools by the end of the calendar year.
The National History Bee & Bowl's European Division will consist this year of 6 tournaments in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and Britain. Expansion to additional countries is anticipated for 2012-2013. Teams and students who finish in the top half of the draw at their 6 qualifying tournaments will be invited to the European Championships on the weekend of 18-20 May on the French Riviera. They will additionally be eligible to compete at NHBB Nationals, should they choose to cross the Atlantic.
Furthermore, we are pleased to announce that the winner of this year's Varsity Division of The National History Bee High School Competition in the USA will receive a stipend of $2000 to be used for travel purposes to take part in our European Championships. This will consist of an exhibition match against the winning team of the Bowl and a match against the winner of the European Division of the Bee to determine the first ever National History Bee World Champion.
In addition to our European Division, we will also be inaugurating our Asian Division this year, with three tournaments in Shanghai, Tokyo, and Bangkok (the latter in conjunction with the finals of the World Scholar's Cup). For 2012-2013, this will expand to a full-fledged Asian Division, along the lines of our European Division with a separate Asian Championships. Full details on the Asian Division will be posted by the end of November once our website is up.
For more information on all aspects of NHBB's European Division, please see our website at http://www.nhbbeurope.com The site needs some fine tuning (notably, the registration function got accidentally deleted yesterday, but will be up again by Monday) but this will largely wait until our Middle School Division's website is finalized. The basics are all there though.
Finally, please note that as Nolwenn, Greg Bossick, and I travel throughout Europe, Asia, and the USA to promote The National History Bee and Bowl, we are always eager to help promote and spread the gospel of quiz bowl as well. By sharing knowledge of the quiz bowl community in the USA, along with standard best practices, such as the use of well-written pyramidal tossups, we hope to lay a foundation for the future spread of the game we love to all who might benefit from it. We're always looking for new contacts and if you yourself or anyone you know abroad or in the USA might be able to help us in our mission, please let us know!
Please contact me with any questions and to all who would aspire to join us for "Riviera Bee," better go study your history! The Torrey Pines Database is back up - what are you waiting for...?
The National History Bee & Bowl's European Division will consist this year of 6 tournaments in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and Britain. Expansion to additional countries is anticipated for 2012-2013. Teams and students who finish in the top half of the draw at their 6 qualifying tournaments will be invited to the European Championships on the weekend of 18-20 May on the French Riviera. They will additionally be eligible to compete at NHBB Nationals, should they choose to cross the Atlantic.
Furthermore, we are pleased to announce that the winner of this year's Varsity Division of The National History Bee High School Competition in the USA will receive a stipend of $2000 to be used for travel purposes to take part in our European Championships. This will consist of an exhibition match against the winning team of the Bowl and a match against the winner of the European Division of the Bee to determine the first ever National History Bee World Champion.
In addition to our European Division, we will also be inaugurating our Asian Division this year, with three tournaments in Shanghai, Tokyo, and Bangkok (the latter in conjunction with the finals of the World Scholar's Cup). For 2012-2013, this will expand to a full-fledged Asian Division, along the lines of our European Division with a separate Asian Championships. Full details on the Asian Division will be posted by the end of November once our website is up.
For more information on all aspects of NHBB's European Division, please see our website at http://www.nhbbeurope.com The site needs some fine tuning (notably, the registration function got accidentally deleted yesterday, but will be up again by Monday) but this will largely wait until our Middle School Division's website is finalized. The basics are all there though.
Finally, please note that as Nolwenn, Greg Bossick, and I travel throughout Europe, Asia, and the USA to promote The National History Bee and Bowl, we are always eager to help promote and spread the gospel of quiz bowl as well. By sharing knowledge of the quiz bowl community in the USA, along with standard best practices, such as the use of well-written pyramidal tossups, we hope to lay a foundation for the future spread of the game we love to all who might benefit from it. We're always looking for new contacts and if you yourself or anyone you know abroad or in the USA might be able to help us in our mission, please let us know!
Please contact me with any questions and to all who would aspire to join us for "Riviera Bee," better go study your history! The Torrey Pines Database is back up - what are you waiting for...?