Registration and Costs for History Bee and Bowl Regional Events – In-Person Events (Updated 8/26/25)

Preregistration prices (at least 8 days ahead of the event) for the 2025-2026 academic year are:

Buzzer-based Events ($10 discount for bringing a buzzer system (only applicable to Bowl registrations)
$99 – National History Bowl team of 3-6 students
$79 – National History Bowl team of 2 students
$59 – National History Bowl team of 1 student

$50 – National History Bee student ($20 discount if playing on a History Bowl team)

National Qualifying Exams ($20 per exam)
Biology
Geography
Humanities
Political Science
Science
US History

Please note that registration and participation in International Academic Competitions implies the acceptance of the following policies. In particular, please note our policy on preregistrations, cancellations and reader requirements!

Advance Registration
Advance registration for the History Bowl is REQUIRED. Registration for the History Bowl will not be accepted via email or any other means; all Bowl teams must register online. The National History Bee and the six National Qualifying Exams still do not require advance registration (though recommended) and have no cancellation fees. Preregistration by credit card includes a 5% online processing fee.

Late History Bowl Registration
Registrations for History Bowl teams (regardless of team size) are subject to an additional $15 per team penalty if made after 11:59pm Eastern time 8 days in advance of a tournament (i.e. to avoid this penalty, you need to register by 11:59pm Eastern time by the second Friday before a Saturday tournament).

Very Late History Bowl Registration
All History Bowl registrations fewer than 5 days in advance (i.e. after 11:59pm Eastern time on the Monday before a Saturday tournament) are subject to an additional $25 per team penalty and are only allowed by emailing the Tournament Coordinator for the tournament and seeing if it is still possible. At this point, registration is no longer guaranteed.

Team Cancellation
There is a $40 fee, regardless of team size, for not bringing a registered team if the cancellation occurs after 11:59pm Eastern time 5 days in advance (i.e. at that time on the Monday of the week before a Saturday tournament); if this means a team no longer can attend, the fee must be paid prior to the next IAC event they do attend.

Refunds
Refund requests made 5 days in advance (i.e. at 11:59pm on the Monday of the week before a Saturday tournament) will be honored minus $10; refunds will not be given after that point.

Because they can be taken online at any time, National Qualifying Exams cannot be refunded, they can only be rescheduled.

Team Size
There is no penalty for dropping in team size (e.g. from 3 students @ $99 to 2 students @ $79) at any point.

Reader Requirements
Schools are required to bring at least one coach/parent/other adult for every one or two Bowl teams they bring in order to read and keep score or pay a $99 penalty fee. If you do not indicate this when you sign up, and we only find out about it on the day of the tournament, or if you drop your reader within 5 days in advance, there is an additional $50 penalty on top of this per missing reader!

These penalty fees are used to then go hire additional readers for the tournament. Schools must bring one reader for every one or two teams they bring, with a minimum of one reader per school. Schools bringing three or four teams must bring two readers/scorekeepers; schools bringing five or six teams must bring three readers/scorekeepers, etc. This also applies to the host school! Penalty fees are assessed by school, but vary by number of teams, i.e. a school with 3 teams and no reader pays $198 in penalty fees. Please do not make us have to enforce this rule! Readers should expect to read for the Bee rounds as well as the Bowl.

  • Schools entering solo teams only, or schools entering students participating in the Bee and/or exams ONLY, do not need to bring readers.
  • Teams of 2 may be able to have this fee waived, but only if they email the Tournament Coordinator at least 5 days in advance, and the Tournament Coordinator explicitly allows it. Teams of 2 students should plan on bringing a reader or paying the penalty fee as well.

Team Rosters
While we will ask you for your team rosters ahead of time in order to make sure your divisions are correct and to calculate your entry fee more efficiently, you do not have to have your rosters finalized, nor do you have to specify which students are participating in the National History Bee or the National Qualifying Exams until the morning of the tournament.

Team Names
Teams do not need official school approval and are permitted to register using a pseudonym if this would help facilitate their participation. However, all teams must consist of students from the same school, even if the school is not sponsoring the team. The only exceptions to this are 1) our homeschool policy and 2) non-magnet and non-selective public high schools may have students from their feeder middle schools play together with their students on a team.

Payments
An official invoice and confirmation will be emailed to you upon submission. If you do not receive an immediate confirmation, please email hs-info@iacompetitions.com to get confirmation. Payment must be made by one of the following options:

  • At the tournament by cash or check (made payable to “International Academic Competitions”)
  • At the time of registration by credit/debit card (which includes a 5% online processing fee).
  • We do not accept payments sent by mail in advance of any regional/state tournament!

Returned Checks
Any checks of $500 or less that are returned will incur a $30 charge, while any returned checks greater than $500 will incur a $50 charge.

Nonpayment
No one is ever turned away at a tournament for lack of payment, but if you haven’t paid your registration fees by the end of the event, there will be a 15% penalty charged to you, and you will not be allowed to participate in the next event until your balance is paid.

For any other questions pertaining to registration matters, contact hs-info@iacompetitions.com.