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 World Championships, though students can already qualify for the World Championships at the Regional level as well.
The Regional level has two variants, Regional Quiz Tournaments and the Championships Qualifying Exam. The Quiz Tournaments follow 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. If any Regional Quiz Tournaments are held at the intramural level, then the winning student qualifies for the World Championships, and the top 25% qualify in each age division for the Canadian 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. Click on the dots on the map at 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 nolwenn@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 by April 15. Students who finish in the top 25% either at their site or across all students taking Alpha or Beta 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 IGB World Championships, which is held every two years. In 2020, the IGB World Championships will be held on a Caribbean cruise from July 12-19. Qualification is valid for two years; thus students can qualify for the 2020 IGB World Championships in either the 2018-2019 or 2019-2020 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.
For further questions about IGB, please email us at info@iacompetitions.com. Good luck!