Tournaments

Once again, because of the pandemic, our clubs will not organize or take part in any tournament until it is safe for everyone.

Burleigh Manor's It's Academic team will send teams to several tournaments throughout the year. Participation in tournaments is optional (but they are a lot of fun so we encourage students to attend!).

Local tournaments typically cost about $10 - $18 per student and are in the MD/DC/VA area. Regional and National tournaments cost more and can be anywhere in the country. (For example, last year's National History Bee was in Chicago, IL. It has also been held in Atlanta, GA.) Regional and National tournaments require a student or team to qualify either through performance in a local tournament or by exam. The cost of tournaments might be defrayed if the team does fundraising (usually a concession/bake sale at a local tournament).

Tournaments are usually on weekends lasting any where between a few hours to a FULL DAY (8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.). Each tournament is different so please understand the time commitment involved with each tournament before you sign your child up so he/she can participate for the entire tournament. The students play several rounds against other teams/individuals, and may advance to playoff rounds depending on their record during the preliminary rounds. When signing up for a tournament, students are expected to stay the entire day.

There are a few different organizations that run these tournaments across the country. Each organization has their own format and/or specialization and slightly different set of rules. But all of them are buzz-in competitions (a la Jeopardy!) Here are the main ones that our school knows about:

- National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) - This group quizzes on all academic subjects (history, science, literature, geography, math, art, music, religion, philosophy, mythology, etc.) They only have high school and middle school divisions. Our school will go to these tournaments when they are local, but we have to play against middle school students.

- US Academic Bee & Bowl (USABB) - This is basically the same as NAQT but they have an elementary division for 6th grade and under. This tournament also quizzes on all academic subjects. They also have side tournaments like a Science Bee and Humanities Bee.

- National History Bee - This organization only quizzes on history information. But that is a little misleading since they can ask questions about the history of science, the history of math, or the history of art, etc. But yes, most of it is "normal" history as taught in traditional history classes. They do have side events besides the History Bee - they have a History Bowl team competition, a Geography Olympiad, a Pop Culture competition, etc.

- TV Tournaments - This is general knowledge but again, a different format. This is the circuit that the "It's Academic!" TV show uses.