A new academic year is on the horizon, and with it comes a slew of quizbowl tournaments, from old staples to brand-new endeavours. With seven tournaments scheduled, this will be our busiest season yet! We plan for every tournament to be held in-person, with the exception of NASAT. The following summaries use the difficulty scale from one to four dots.
September 16th – NASAT ●●●. We kick off the season with an online mirror of IQBT’s National All-Star Academic Tournament which will be open to non-students. This is a difficult tournament suitable for experienced quizbowl players.
October 14th – ACF Fall ●. This staple of the quizbowl calendar is suitable for both novice players and those with a little bit of tournament experience. This is an in-person tournament, and eligibility rules will apply for those entering. Submitting a half-packet is optional, but you can bag a nice discount on the entry fees if you do write one.
October 28th -– Penn Bowl ●●●. Another staple, this tournament is recommended for experienced quizbowl players. It will be open to non-students, although we may initially reserve a certain number of places for student teams – check the Facebook event page closer to the date.
November 4th – CREEK+ ●◖. A new addition, this tournament is intended to bridge the gap between novice and medium difficulty. This would be suitable for those who have performed well at novice tournaments, or new players looking for a manageable challenge.
November 11th – ACF Winter ●●. The traditional medium-difficulty tournament, suitable for intermediate players and above. Please note that if your team has two or more “experienced” players (i.e. those who played a non-novice tournament prior to September 2022), you will be required to submit a half-packet of questions to ACF. Please leave plenty of time for this, because the fines for late submission can be very steep indeed.
November 25th – British Novice ●. The easiest tournament of the term, the British Novice tournament is ideal for players who are new to quizbowl. As such, it skews slightly less academic compared to other tournaments listed here. Eligibility rules will apply to ensure a fair tournament, but we can be lenient on borderline cases; contact UKQB if you’re unsure.
December 9th – ARCADIA ●●◖. Wrapping up a busy term is the third iteration of ARCADIA, at a difficulty level above ACF Winter but not quite like the trickier NASAT and Penn Bowl. This will be the most difficult student-only tournament this term.
Hosting bids for these tournaments is now open; if you are interested in hosting a tournament at your university, please fill in the bidding form. If you’re new to hosting, worry not — you can expect guidance from the UK Quizbowl Tournament Supervisor, and we’ve written our own advice for hosts here.