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Last Updated on 26 October, 2011

National History Bee and Bowl Launches European Division! History Education in Europe Never to Be the Same Again!

Beginning in the 2010-2011 academic year, high schools across the United States had the opportunity to compete in the first ever nationwide academic quiz tournaments with a history focus, The National History Bee (for individual students) and The National History Bowl (for teams of students). And now, after a successful first year in North America, The National History Bee and Bowl are crossing the pond and coming to Europe! Despite our American origins, our tournaments are designed for all students throughout Europe with an interest in history and a decent command of English. We welcome all schools and students, whether public, private, religious, American, international, or otherwise.

As someone who lived and studied in Europe for over five years (in Germany, Austria, and France) while both in high school as an exchange student, and then later in graduate school and beyond, I am eager to introduce Europeans and expatriates living in Europe to the excitement and enrichment of academic quiz tournaments, which have existed for about fifty years in the USA. Although our tournaments have a history focus, our conception of history is very broadly defined, and in addition to the usual political and military history, encompasses the history of the arts, sciences, religion, philosophy, language, recent history, historical geography, and even a dash of sports and entertainment history. Moreover, at our European tournaments, about 2/3 of the questions deal with European history. North American history will only encompass 10-15% of the questions, with the remainder covering Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania. So the tournaments are really designed for one and all.

After six national qualifying tournaments in Spain, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy (these are open to schools from outside these countries!) we look forward to welcoming the top students and teams to our European Championships from 18-20 May on the French Riviera. It promises to be an exciting year, and our International Director, Nolwenn Léon and I are delighted to have the privilege of showing how educational and exciting our tournaments can be. Please contact us if you have any questions, and we look forward to seeing you and your school at one of our tournaments later this school year!

Historically yours,

David Madden
Founder and Executive Director
The National History Bee and Bowl