Northern California Fall History Bowl

2026-02-19T00:00:00-05:00

Northern California Fall History Bowl

December 14, 2025

International Academic Competitions is pleased to announce the 2025 Northern California History Bowl, taking place in Central Park in Santa Clara, CA on SUNDAY, December 14th, 2025!  This event will take place weather permitting.  

This tournament will run on our C Set of questions, and like all IAC regional events, is open to all students, regardless of what state they are from, as long as they have not yet played this set of questions in the 2025-2026 academic year. 

To register, please fill out the form below. If you don’t receive a confirmation email within an hour, your registration may not have been processed and you should email hs-info@iacompetitions.com as soon as possible.

  • Teams can still register until December 8th, after which Bowl registrations are no longer guaranteed.
  • After that date, contact hs-info@iacompetitions.com to see if registration is still possible.
  • No refunds will be given after December 8th; a more complete list of our late registration fees and policies can be found here. 
  • Students who wish to take National Qualifying Exams can ONLY register ahead of time; signing up for NQEs on site will not be allowed for this event.

For further information, please email the Tournament Coordinator, Marshall Mullins at marshall@iacompetitions.com. Thank you, and we look forward to welcoming you to Silicon Valley in December!

History Bowl

  • Bowl teams players start with several preliminary rounds (see schedule below, as some preliminary rounds take place after lunch). 
  • After prelims, the top Bowl teams will play in a single elimination playoff. 
  • The number of teams/individuals playing in playoffs will vary depending on the field size; your Tournament Director will announce this on the day of the tournament. 
  • There will be plaques for the top Bowl teams in each division. Additionally, the top Bowl teams can also qualify for our Varsity/JV National Championships in April!

History Bee

The National History Bee will NOT be offered at this event; we encourage you to sign up for another event in order to participate in the Bee.

Exams
During the lunch break, we will offer the following National Qualifying Exams for $20 each.  Please note that students can only take up to 5 exams at a given History Bee and Bowl event, and will receive 20 minutes to take one exam and 40 minutes total for more than one exam.  Remember that students cannot register for exams on site for this event.

Students can also qualify for the International Geography Championships (Summer 2026) through the Geography National Qualifying Exam.

Middle and Elementary School Participation in History Bowl Events
Middle and elementary school teams and individuals are welcome to participate at this tournament in all events, following these guidelines.  We also offer our National Science/History/Geography Bee events for all ages and our Academic Bowl events for elementary and middle school students.

Weather
Everyone attending should bring a rain jacket and pack an umbrella.  This event may be cancelled at any time from 7:30am on Friday to 7:30 am on Sunday, and we’ll let you know as soon as possible if any changes are made.

Proposed Schedule
The schedule as listed below is considered tentative and therefore may still be subject to changes due to registrations or other factors. The schedule will be confirmed the week of the tournament when the pretournament email goes out, usually the Wednesday before the tournament. Students and teams looking for further guidance on the schedule should contact the Tournament Coordinator.

9:25 Check-In Begins
9:45 Please Arrive by This Time!
9:50 History Bowl Opening Meeting
10:10 History Bowl Round 1
10:50 History Bowl Round 2
11:30 History Bowl Round 3
12:10 Lunch / National Qualifying Exams
1:00 History Bowl Round 4
1:35 History Bowl Round 5
2:15 Results Meeting
2:25 Middle School History Bowl Semifinals / Intermediate Finals (if necessary)
3:00 Middle School History Bowl Finals / Intermediate Finals (if necessary)
3:30 End

Teams Attending 

Middle School

  1. Stratford Preparatory Blackford
  2. BASIS Independent Silicon Valley
  3. Challenger School – Strawberry Park
  4. Lawson Middle School

Intermediate

  1. Hamilton School
  2. John Sinnott Elementary

Elementary School

  1. TBA

Registration:

Again, please note that despite the option being on the form, the National History Bee will NOT be offered at this event.

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