International Academic Competitions (IAC) is pleased to announce that it will be organizing an expanded slate of US Academic Bee and Bowl (USABB) tournaments from January through May 2019, leading to the 4th annual USABB National Championships in June 2019. As was the case in 2018, the USABB National Championships will be held at the same location on the same extended weekend as the Middle School and Elementary National Championships of the National History Bee and Bowl, National Science Bee, US Geography Olympiad, International Geography Bee, and National Humanities Bee. The dates are expected to be June 6-10 or June 7-11. The Academic Bee is projected to run on June 8-9 or June 10-11, and the Academic Bowl is projected to run on June 9-10 or June 10-11 (the last day will only feature the final rounds of the Academic Bowl in the morning). As soon as the dates and site for Nationals are confirmed, they will be announced here and on usacademicbowl.com.
USABB regional tournaments (projected and confirmed sites are posted on the map at www.usacademicbowl.com) will take two different forms this year. One set of events (those shown in dark green and blue on the map) will be held in conjunction with National History Bee and National Science Bee Regional Finals tournaments. These will take place between the History and Science Bee tournaments which take place on weekend or holiday dates. These events will feature the Academic Bee only (no Bowl) and will be limited to students competing in the History or Science Bee that day. IAC is eager to promote all-subject quiz bowl to the thousands of middle school and elementary students who will be competing in the History and Science Bee regionals each year, and we see the Academic Bee as a great conduit for these students to start getting involved in quiz bowl. At these events, we will have separate age divisions for 8th grade, 7th grade, 6th grade, and 5th grade and younger students in the Academic Bee.
The other set of USABB regional tournaments will feature all day Academic Bee and Bowl competitions with 5 rounds of Bowl and 2 prelim rounds of Bee. These are denoted by light green and light blue dots on the map at www.usacademicbowl.com. These are open to anyone and are primarily geared toward preexisting quiz bowl teams, though in many places we are planning on running these two to five weeks after the National Science Bee and National History Bee Regional Finals taking place in the area. The Academic Bee set used here will be a different set than what is used at the tournaments held in conjunction with the Science Bee and History Bee Regional Finals. Students may attend both and qualify for Nationals at either.
During November 2018, IAC staff will be traveling throughout the USA to meet with schools and teams about USABB as we look to line up and promote new tournaments. If you are interested in learning more about USABB and would be interested in a visit or phone call from our staff, please email [email protected]. We are looking to hold about 40 US Academic Bee regional tournaments in conjunction with the History Bee and Science Bee regionals this year and about 12-18 USABB full day events. If you are potentially interested in hosting one of these, please see here. At USABB all day regional events, we will hold separate Academic Bee and Bowl competitions for students in 7th and 8th grade and 6th grade and younger wherever we can (but these will not be divided further into smaller age ranges). At USABB Nationals we will have the same two divisions in the Bowl, but the Bee will have 8th Grade, 7th Grade, 6th Grade, and 5th and Younger divisions.