IHBB is delighted to announce the launch of The International Geography Bee, a new worldwide geography quiz competition for primary and secondary school students! Within Asia, the International Geography Bee effectively replaces the “Geography Bee of Asia” that has been held for the past two years at the Asian Championships of The International History Bee and Bowl. IGB will also allow Asian students to then compete at the IGB World Championships, which will be held every other year in conjunction with the International History Olympiad, beginning in Berlin, Germany in July 2018.
The Asian Division of the IGB consists of the Asian Championships Qualifying Exam and the Asian Championships. Within the Asian Division, the same three age divisions apply as they do for the International History Bee and Bowl.The top 50% of students in each age division at the IGB Asian Championships then receive eligibility to compete at the IGB World Championships. Qualification is valid for two years; thus students can qualify for the 2018 IGB World Championships in either 2017 or 2018. Students who graduate secondary school in 2017 are permitted to come back after one year of university studies to compete as well.
There are two versions of the International Geography Bee Championships Qualifying Exam – Alpha and Beta. The version offered at each IHBB regional tournament site corresponds to the set of questions being played there that day. Both IGB Championships Qualifying Exam versions are meant to have equal difficulty. Students only need to qualify off one version of the Qualifying Exam. If they are unable to compete at a site, then they can take the Exam at their school with a teacher proctoring it; this option costs $25 USD, or equivalents in other currencies. Students interested in taking a version of the Championships Qualifying Exam at their school should email nolwenn@historybowl.com to register for this option.
The Asian Championships for all three age divisions for the International Geography Bee will be held in conjunction with the Asian Championships of the International History Bee and Bowl. This will consist of 3 preliminary rounds of 30 paragraph-length buzzer quiz questions, and one or two rounds of playoffs for the top students from the preliminaries. You can see sample questions here from past years’ Geography Bee of Asia. The date and location of the 2017 Asian Championships will be announced shortly – most likely, it will be held in Shanghai during one of the first three weekends in June.
For further information, please see the IGB website at www.internationalgeographybee.com. For further questions about IGB, please email us at nolwenn@historybowl.com. Good luck!
