IHBB is delighted to announce the launch of The International Geography Bee, a new worldwide geography quiz competition for primary and secondary school students! The Canadian Division of the IGB consists of the Canadian Championships Qualifying Exam and the Canadian Championships. Within the Canadian Division, the same three age divisions apply as they do for the International History Bee and Bowl.
From 2017 onwards, at the Canadian Championships of The International History Bee and Bowl, the Canadian Championships of the International Geography Bee will also be contested. The top 50% of students in the Canadian IGB Championships then receive eligibility to 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. 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 Canadian Championships Qualifying Exam – Alpha and Beta. The Beta version is offered at each IHBB regional tournament site in Canada; the Alpha version is available for students to take at their school if they wish, with a teacher or administrator proctoring. Both IGB Championships Qualifying Exam versions are meant to have equal difficulty. Students only need to qualify off one version of the Championships 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 Canadian dollars. 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 Canadian Championships for the International Geography Bee 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 Europe to get a sense of the sort of questions that are asked at the Championships.
For further details, the website of IGB is located at www.internationalgeographybee.com – in particular, see the FAQ page here. For further questions about IGB, please email us at nolwenn@historybowl.com
Good luck!
