Welcome to the Canadian Division of The International Geography Bee!
The International Geography Bee is delighted to offer a new year of geography quiz competition to Canadian students! Within the Canadian Division, the same three age divisions (Varsity – Year 11 and 12; Junior Varsity – Years 9 and 10; Middle School – Year 8 and younger) apply as they do for the International History Bee and Bowl. Please see www.ihbbcanada.com for more details on IHBB’s history quiz tournaments in Canada. For Canadian students, the IGB consists of three levels: Regionals, the Canadian National Championships, and the International Geography Championships, though students can already qualify for IGC at the Regional level as well.
The Regional level has two variants, an Online Geography Bee and the Championships Qualifying Exam. The Online Geography Bee follows the same rules as the International History Bee Regional Tournaments and the IGB Canadian Championships. Students who finish in the top half qualify for the National Championships and the World Championships.
There are two versions of the International Geography Bee Championships Qualifying Exam – Alpha and Beta. Each is offered at International History Bee and Bowl Regional Tournaments held on that respective question set. Visit www.ihbbcanada.com to see which question set is offered where. Both versions are also available for students to take at their school if they wish, with a teacher or administrator proctoring – this variant is free of charge. Students interested in taking a version of the Championships Qualifying Exam at their school should email david@iacompetitions.com to register for this option. 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. Students must finish in the top 50% of students in their age division, either at their tournament site or across all students taking the Alpha or Beta version in their age division. Students who score high enough also qualify for the World Championships.
At the Canadian Championships of The International History Bee and Bowl, the Canadian Championships of the International Geography Bee are also contested. If they are not already qualified, the top 50% of students in the Canadian IGB Championships in each age division receive eligibility to compete at the International Geography Championships which is held every two years in even-numbered years. Qualification is valid for two years; thus students can qualify for the 2024 International Geography Championships in either the 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 school years.
The Canadian Championships for the International Geography Bee consists 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. Please see the questions used at the past Canadian Championships on the Resources page to get a sense of the sort of questions that are asked at the Championships.
The International Geography Bee’s European Division was founded and is overseen by IAC’s Executive Directors, David and Nolwenn Madden who are based in the USA. They can be reached at david@iacompetitions.com and nolwenn@iacompetitions.com – please direct any questions about the International Geography Championships to them. The IAC Operations Director for Canada (including the International Geography Bee) is Joan Dietrich, who lives in British Columbia. She can be reached directly at joan@iacompetitions.com – please direct any questions about the Canadian Championships to her.
Please contact us at info@iacompetitions.com for all other questions. Thanks, and we look forward to your participation in the International Geography Bee! Good luck!