National Academic Bee

The sole stage of the National Academic Bee for the Middle & Elementary School Divisions is the National Championships, which for the 2025-26 academic year will take place in-person at the Hyatt Regency Orlando in Orlando, FL on Saturday, May 23 and Monday, May 25, 2026. No prior qualification is required, and the competition is open to any students in Grade 8 or younger during the 2025-26 academic year who wish to compete. The preliminary rounds will take place on the evening of Saturday, May 23,  and the playoff rounds will take place in the afternoon of Monday, May 25. A full schedule of all events at the National Championships is available here. All students will play four preliminary round matches using standard International Academic Competitions buzzer-based online rules with 30 questions each. There will then be either one or two playoff rounds. One playoff round will be played if there are 30 students or fewer in an age division; two playoff rounds will be played if there are 31 or more students in an age division. The exact number of students who make the playoffs will be a function of the total number of registrants.

Different age divisions will be held at the National Championships for students in 8th Grade, 7th Grade, 6th Grade, 5th Grade, 4th Grade, and 3rd Grade & Younger.

The cost to compete at the 2026 National Academic Bee National Championships is $135. Registration for the National Championships of the National Academic Bee will open in November and run through early May on this page.

For all questions on the 2026 Middle & Elementary School National Championships, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com.