For the 2025 National History Bowl National Championships, IAC is pleased to announce that we will inaugurate Standard and Open Classifications for the Small School National Title.
A Standard Classification Small School is considered to be a non-selective public, private, or magnet school with 1000 or fewer students in 9-12th grade or 800 or fewer in 10-12th grade. An Open Classification is any Standard Small School plus any school (public, private, religious, magnet, etc.) with fewer than 600 students in 9-12th grade or fewer than 480 students in 10-12th grade.
Homeschoolers and Homeschool Associations are not eligible for either classification.
For both Varsity and JV teams, the top 4 Open Classification Small School teams who are not otherwise still alive among the top 8 Varsity and JV teams for the overall National History Bowl National Championships will compete in the first two Sunday Superplayoff rounds to determine placements. If one of these teams is in the top 8 overall, then that team will be the Open Classification Small School National Champion and the Sunday rounds will be for placements 2-5; if two of these teams are in the top 8 overall, then the Sunday rounds will be for placements 3-6, etc. If no teams are in the top 8 overall, then these 2 rounds will determine placements 1-4, including the Open Classification Small School National Champion.
Likewise, if any of the top 4 Standard Classification Small School teams are also eligible for the Open Classification, then they will play in those rounds, and the next 4 highest teams will play for placement in the Standard Classification placement rounds.