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 Australia and New Zealand Division of the IGB consists of the Australia and New Zealand Championships Qualifying Exam and the Australia and New Zealand Championships. Within the Australia and New Zealand Division, the same three age divisions apply as they do for the International History Bee and Bowl.

At the Australia and New Zealand Championships of The International History Bee and Bowl, which will debut in August or September 2017, the Australia and New Zealand Championships of the International Geography Bee will also be contested. The top 50% of students in the Australia and New Zealand 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 2017, and for the 2020 IGB World Championships in either 2018 or 2019. 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 Beta version is offered at each IHBB regional tournament site in Australia and New Zealand; the Alpha version is available for students to take at their school if they wish, with a teacher or administrator proctoring. Both of the IGB Australia and New Zealand 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 AUD or NZD. 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 Australia and New Zealand 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, please see the IGB website at www.internationalgeographybee.com and for further questions about IGB, please email us at nolwenn@historybowl.com. Good luck!