NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divisions

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NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divisions

Post by Great Bustard »

Posted on http://www.historybowl.com as well:
The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce the start of its sixth year of history quiz tournaments for students and teams throughout the USA! For the 2015-2016 school year, we expect to hold approximately 100 tournaments across America at the high school level (i.e. Varsity and Junior Varsity), leading to our 2016 National Championships in Arlington, VA and Washington, DC on April 22-24, 2016. We invite you and your school or homeschool association to take part in the fastest growing academic competitions in the USA and around the world!
Registration is now open for all events that have been finalized. Please note our new registration policy regarding registering close to the tournament date. If you register less than 8 days in advance of a tournament, there is an additional $10 charge per team. If you register less than 5 days in advance of a tournament, the surcharge increases to $20 and you are not guaranteed a spot. There is also a new penalty fee for dropping teams less than 5 days in advance. These surcharges apply to the History Bowl only and are there to encourage early signups (which helps us in determining how many buzzers, awards, and question packets to ship to events). See http://www.historybowl.com/registration for the registration page and a full explanation of the policy.
For the 2015-16 season, much will work as in years past, though we do have a few other changes to report. The US History Bee and US Geography Olympiad will consist solely of the National Qualifying Exams at the regional and state levels – the National Qualifying Quiz Tournaments for these events are on hiatus until further notice (we expect to bring them back in future years, but not for 2015-16).
At our 2016 National Championships, we will use a new playoff system for the National History Bowl and The National History Bee will debut a new system of power points, negative points, and bonus points. Note that for the first time, we are also instituting a field cap of 168 Varsity teams and 108 Junior Varsity teams, so be sure to sign up as soon as you qualified to reserve your spot in the field! See http://www.historybowl.com/nationals/2016-nationals/ for a full explanation of the new rules and all the information on Nationals. Note that the Bee Rules at Nationals will also be used for the US History Bee and US Geography Olympiad quiz bowl portions. The US Geography Olympiad Nationals will also look slightly different, with the introduction of a Written Exam component. See http://www.geographyolympiad.com/nationals/ for more details.
We will also be once again holding the International History Olympiad in the summer of 2016, most likely in Hawaii, though final confirmation will be forthcoming later this fall. Students and teams who either won either a Bee or Bowl regional or state tournament in 2014-15 or who finished in the top half at 2015 Nationals in either competition, are eligible to attend, as are any students who do the same during 2015-16. However, we are also announcing that after the 2016 Olympiad, the Olympiad will, for the foreseeable future, become a biennial event. The subsequent Olympiad will take place in 2018 in Asia with the next Olympiad taking place after that in Europe in 2020. So, if you’re interested in competing against the world’s best, we encourage you to qualify and join us in 2016!
Lastly, we also have a new system of Regional Coordinators in place. The Regional Coordinators are listed on the Staff Page and are responsible for overseeing outreach and tournament coordination for a given geographic area. If you have questions about our tournaments, the Regional Coordinator for your region is the best person to email. General questions about NHBB may still be sent to [email protected]
Best of luck to you and your team this year in all your competitions, and we look forward to seeing you at a National History Bee and Bowl tournament near you soon!
David Madden
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Ndg »

Great Bustard wrote: We will also be once again holding the International History Olympiad in the summer of 2016, most likely in Hawaii, though final confirmation will be forthcoming later this fall.
So I've heard this actually is still happening? I still can't find any information about it.
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Cody »

Ah, yes, Hawaii. I like my tournaments as inaccessible as possible!
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce the 3rd annual International History Olympiad will be held on June 21-25, 2017 at Olympus Mons University.
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy »

Yawar Fiesta wrote:The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce the 3rd annual International History Olympiad will be held on June 21-25, 2017 at Olympus Mons University.
NHBB is on Mars now??!?!?
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Everything in the Whole Wide World »

Yawar Fiesta wrote:The National History Bee and Bowl is pleased to announce the 3rd annual International History Olympiad will be held on June 21-25, 2017 at Olympus Mons University.
You stole my NHBB Nats 2040: Hilton at Moon Base #3 joke!
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Great Bustard »

Cody wrote:Ah, yes, Hawaii. I like my tournaments as inaccessible as possible!
So, what you're saying here is that you'd like to ATD in Kathmandu with me then next Sunday, right?!
http://www.ihbbasia.com/tournament/nepal/
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Ndg »

Obviously, with a worldwide competition, anywhere is going to be relatively inaccessible to someone. I think IHO's plan to rotate around the world in the future is about as good as one could hope for.

And I'm betting that Hawaii is actually much more accessible than Virginia to the Asian players that made up most of the first olympiad's international contingent.
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by J. Young »

Cody wrote:Ah, yes, Hawaii. I like my tournaments as inaccessible as possible!
So what about the Hawaiian quiz bowl scene and the (re)invigorating effect IHO presence there will have?
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Bosa of York »

Considering how expensive the IHO already was, I don't think that having it in Hawai'i will cause that many more people to not go to it.
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by acrosby1861 »

Xochiquetzal wrote:Considering how expensive the IHO already was, I don't think that having it in Hawai'i will cause that many more people to not go to it.
True. Just getting plane tickets to Hawaii is already expensive.
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Great Bustard »

I'm hardly denying that IHO is very expensive, compared to just about any other event that quizbowlers can attend. Having said that, last year, it basically broke even, once we factored in all the discounts we offered, thousands of questions, the food and housing expenses, staff pay and travel, equipment, events, and other expenses. Beyond that, consider that we would love to get more qualified writers writing for NHBB/IHBB and that if a player wrote 10 tossups a week, something well within the grasp of many students who might be interested in attending, that could equate to roughly $40 a week, or over $2000 over the course of the year. For most American students, that would pretty much cover travel and program expenses in full. Maintaining the discipline to write this many tossups is easier said than done, but if students are seriously interested in attending, this is a way to make attending it in the grasp for just about anyone, regardless of socioeconomic background.
Also, one of the reasons behind moving IHO to a biennial event is that if players have two years to save up for it, that will make it more accessible for more students, and make it more likely that the best history players in the world will attend, which is important for the legitimacy of the event. I feel very strongly about that, and combined with discounts for top performances at Nationals, that should go a long way to ensuring that many, and hopefully most, of the top players from both the USA and throughout the world can attend.
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Cody »

Great Bustard wrote:
Cody wrote:Ah, yes, Hawaii. I like my tournaments as inaccessible as possible!
So, what you're saying here is that you'd like to ATD in Kathmandu with me then next Sunday, right?!
http://www.ihbbasia.com/tournament/nepal/
I like this response, and I might've taken you up on this if I wasn't doing something this weekend. ;)
Ndg wrote:And I'm betting that Hawaii is actually much more accessible than Virginia to the Asian players that made up most of the first olympiad's international contingent.
"Major region"-of-origin for 2015 IHO. North America: 54 (1 Puerto Rico, 8 Canada). Asia: 50 (27 Hong Kong). Middle East: 2 (UAE). Europe: 4 (3 UK, 1 Switzerland). Africa: 1 (Nigeria).

There are multiple locations in the US that serve a good compromise for the continents represented in 2015 IHO. Consider flying out 07/15 and in 07/25, from Shanghai. Honolulu: $1579. DC: $1618. LA: $1241. Same dates, Hong Kong. Honolulu: $870. DC: $1069. LA: $898. Obviously, prices change and flying in Saturday and out Tuesday will save a bucket of money, but I don't see how you can say that Honolulu is "much more accessible" for Asia, much less over the entire field. (DC to HNL: $1052. DC to LA: $414. LA to HNL: $628. LA to DC: $360).
Xochiquetzal wrote:Considering how expensive the IHO already was, I don't think that having it in Hawai'i will cause that many more people to not go to it.
For US players, a flight to Hawaii can cost nearly as much as the registration fee for IHO last year! (whereas flying into IAD / DCA for last year can almost universally be done, in-US, for well under <$400). Whether it will dissuade people from coming, I can't speculate -- but let's not pretend that this isn't a very significant additional expense.
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Ndg »

Cody wrote: I don't see how you can say that Honolulu is "much more accessible" for Asia
Ha! Because I was to lazy to look up flight prices. You got me.
Cody wrote: much less over the entire field.
I definitely didn't make that more general claim. I'm not trying to defend Hawaii as the best possible site. I was merely trying to provide an upside, which turned out to not really exist. So it goes.

But in the end, those getting the short end of the stick, if we assume the alternative is holding the olympiad at another site in the continental US, are North American students who qualified and are willing to go, can afford to travel to our hypothetical site but not to Hawaii, and who didn't qualify in time to go in 2015, but will be too old in 2018 --- the last of which, based on my understanding of the qualification rules, amounts to high school seniors who will have qualified this academic year but didn't previously qualify. You can pick a few nits based on you sympathy for players who want to go twice or who were qualified last year but just didn't want to go at the time, but in any case, I suspect the intersection of all of these sets is not large.

Is Hawaii an odd choice? Sure. Is it something to get worked up about? Probably not.
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Great Bustard »

Accessible can also refer to flight times – flight times to and from Hawaii from many places in Asia are much less than a flight to the mainland US, especially if they can fly direct., though obviously, on balance, more students are going to need to fly longer distances – we know this. Another nice thing is that the distance to the U of Hawaii campus from the airport is about 30 minutes, compared to 2 hours 30 last year and long wait times on top of that (the logistics of the airport transfers were very complex and it often took over 4 hours for those flying into DC area to then get to Williamsburg, so that will be a very welcome change this year).

Beyond that, there are obvious perks to doing the Olympiad in Hawaii – the ability to hold an overnight stay on the USS Missouri, our closing ceremony there too, tour Pearl Harbor, and incorporate aspects of Hawaiian/Polynesian culture into the program, to say nothing of the post-Olympiad stay and playing quizbowl on the beach. For US students who can make it, the experience will be very different from what IHO was like last year – that’s a reason for trying something new as well.

Truth be told, though, this is a bit of an experiment and quite possibly a once in a lifetime thing, even for Nolwenn and me. After 2016, IHO won’t return to the US until 2022 – at that point, it’s likely to be either on the East Coast or West Coast, unless the registration numbers and the experience this summer suggest that Hawaii is a better recurring fit for a US IHO site. While I kind of doubt that, Hawaii certainly gets people's attention the whole world over, so we'll see.

Otherwise, for those who are looking into coming – some advice: flights to Hawaii often are best booked using frequent flyer miles, if you have them. The ratio of miles you need to burn for a ticket there and back vs. the cost is often advantageous for using miles in terms of Hawaii flights. Another tip for students to tell their parents – get an airline credit card if you don’t yet have one. That’s a great way to earn a lot of miles and other perks, even if one doesn’t normally fly much. Miles can then be used to book flights for others (in almost all cases, but read the fine print), so parents can use their miles for their children. Finally, always do research into various combinations of flights, departure airports, and websites. Look at both individual airline sites, as well as metasearch engines and aggregators like kayak.com None of this is going to make things cheap, but it can help bring costs down.

Finally, the question was raised upthread about how/if this can kickstart Hawaii quizbowl. We are going to reach out to Hawaiian schools and offer an alternate way of qualifying via exam to them so that even if they can’t get to Nationals, they may have a chance to compete. Yes, this is a bit of a double standard, but Hawaii schools typically face huge expenses to get to NHBB Nationals, and this can have beneficial impacts on its nascent quizbowl circuit, so that's a good thing too. Hopefully, this can bring a significant number of students into NHBB on an ongoing basis once the Olympiad is over, and maybe even kickstart circuits on Maui and the Big Island. We’ll look to start USABB in Hawaii in 2016-17, so we are certainly interested in the carryover into regular quizbowl too. We’ve had students from 4 different Hawaii schools attend NHBB Nationals over the past few years, so there is reason to think we can hopefully use IHO to further the growth of academic competition in Hawaii - there's definitely an appetite for it there (and everywhere...)
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by snadkarni »

Great Bustard wrote:Beyond that, consider that we would love to get more qualified writers writing for NHBB/IHBB and that if a player wrote 10 tossups a week, something well within the grasp of many students who might be interested in attending, that could equate to roughly $40 a week, or over $2000 over the course of the year.
Mr. Madden, as a student in New Jersey who has participated in History Bowl for two years, I was wondering how I could get involved in writing questions for the NHBB, what is the process for writing and submitting questions? Although I have not qualified for the IHBB, I would love to write tossups for the tournaments that NHBB runs regionally in the NJ/NY area (if the writing works like that)
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Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Post by Great Bustard »

snadkarni wrote:
Great Bustard wrote:Beyond that, consider that we would love to get more qualified writers writing for NHBB/IHBB and that if a player wrote 10 tossups a week, something well within the grasp of many students who might be interested in attending, that could equate to roughly $40 a week, or over $2000 over the course of the year.
Mr. Madden, as a student in New Jersey who has participated in History Bowl for two years, I was wondering how I could get involved in writing questions for the NHBB, what is the process for writing and submitting questions? Although I have not qualified for the IHBB, I would love to write tossups for the tournaments that NHBB runs regionally in the NJ/NY area (if the writing works like that)
Anyone interested in writing for NHBB should contact Brad Fischer, our Director of Question Production at [email protected] Thanks!
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