National Academic Bowl

The first stage of the National Academic Bowl are the Regional Tournaments. In-person Regional Tournaments are held in conjunction with Middle and Elementary School Regional Tournaments in the National History Bowl. Tournaments consist of 3 preliminary rounds and 3 playoff or placement rounds. The first three rounds are typically played as a round robin among four teams, though at some tournaments, the matches may be scheduled without the use of pools. The top team(s) in each pool or in the standings then advances to the quarterfinals. All teams will play a 4th and 5th round; only the top 2 teams in a division will play in the final round. After Round 3, teams are reseeded, so that their Round 4 and 5 matches will be against teams who finished in similar position in the preliminary rounds.

To qualify for Nationals, a team needs to finish in the top 50% of teams in its age division after Round 3, finish with a winning record after Round 3, or, if it goes 1-2 in the first three rounds, and wins rounds 4 and 5, then it also qualifies. Teams with all students in 5th grade and younger at a regional tournament qualify for Nationals if they finish in the top 50% of all teams at that regional tournament that consist entirely of students in 5th grade and younger. However, in many cases, teams will find it easier to qualify for Academic Bowl Nationals if they just ensure that at least one player on each team has qualified for the National Championships of the National History Bee, National Geography Bee, or National Science Bee.

In-person Regional tournaments feature two age divisions: Middle School (8th grade and younger), and Intermediate (6th grade and younger). Online Regional Tournaments follow the same age division structure as Nationals: 3 age divisions, with Middle School (oldest student on the team must be in 8th grade or younger), 6th grade (all students on the team must be in 6th grade), and Elementary School (oldest student on the team must be in 5th grade or younger).

Past questions can be found on the website here for practice, though note that Academic Bowl packets from 2016-2022 followed a different game format. The National Academic Bowl now uses the exact same format and rules as the National History Bowl (except the focus of the questions is on all subjects, not just history).

For all questions on the National Academic Bowl, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com

The second stage of the National Academic Bowl is the National Championships which is held on Memorial Day weekend at the Hyatt Regency Orlando. We hope that you and your team will be able to join us! All teams play six preliminary matches, with the top teams each playing 3 playoff rounds for placement.

All schools and homeschool associations that qualified at a Regional Tournament in the National Academic Bowl can compete. Schools and homeschool associations can also field a team (or teams) in the National Academic Bowl National Championships if at least one competing student on each team qualified for the National Championships in the National History Bee, National Geography Bee, or National Science Bee. All students on a team in the Standard Division of each Age Division at the National Championships must attend the same school or homeschool association.

There is no limit on team size at Nationals (i.e. a team can carry an unlimited number of alternates), but no more than four students can compete at once. Solo-student and dual-student teams are welcome to compete and play at a discounted rate. At Nationals, we will have three separate age divisions: Middle School (students 8th grade or younger), Intermediate (all students must be 6th Grade and younger), and Elementary School (students 4th grade and younger). At Nationals, teams in all three age divisions will only play other teams in the same age division. Younger students can compete in older divisions (e.g. a 6th grader can play on a Middle School Division team).

Based on their performance in Rounds 1-3, teams then advance to either the Upper Bracket or Lower Bracket rounds in Rounds 4-6; only teams in the Upper Bracket remain eligible to contend for the National Championship. The top Upper Bracket teams advance to the playoff rounds on Monday evening. There are numerous other competitions that take place on Nationals weekend at the same hotel (e.g. the National History Bee, National Geography Bee, National Science Bee, US History Bee, etc.), so students can take part in all of them if they are eligible to do so.

The cost to compete in the National Academic Bowl National Championships depends on whether a team consists of 1, 2, or 3 or more students. Registration for the National Championships runs through early May on this page which outlines the costs for each team size. Nationals weekend will also feature many other events, including the Opening Ceremonies, a Family Quiz Night, Universal Studios Night, Intro to Model United Nations, various talks and receptions, and the Jeopardy! Charity Games. A full schedule of Nationals Events is available here.

For all questions on the Middle & Elementary School National Championships, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com.