Imperial College London

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Imperial A BSQC 2023.jpeg
Above:
Imperial A after winning 2023 British Student Quiz Championships

From left to right: Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays, Adam Jones

Imperial College London is a research university in London, United Kingdom with an active quiz society. Imperial is the regular host of the annual British Student Quiz Championships (BSQC) organised by UK Quizbowl, and participated in ACF Nationals for the first time in 2022. Alongside Magdalene College, Oxford, and the University of Manchester, Imperial holds the joint record for the most series wins of the University Challenge quiz show, with 4 wins as of 2022. After a society's rapid growth in the late 2010s, Imperial won their first quizbowl title in the 28-team 2021 Southeast-Midwest Housewrite tournament with Imperial A players Michael Kohn, Enoch Yuen, Felix Roberts and Richard Brooks. In 2023, a new team composed of Enoch Yuen, Michael Mays, Adam Jones and Justin Lee triumphed in the British mirrors of ARCADIA, ACF Regionals and C++ without a defeat. The same team then won the British Student Quiz Championships in 2023, providing Imperial with its first ever BSQC title.

History

Early period (1998-2003)

Imperial first participated in quizbowl after being invited to the 1997 ICT, in which they placed thirteenth. The quiz society at Imperial was first established in 1998 to host QuizIC, the first major inter-university quizbowl tournament in the United Kingdom, and the precursor to BSQC. In 2001, Imperial won University Challenge for the second time, and were runners-up the following year. Imperial was a regular participant in UK tournaments until the collapse of the UK quizbowl circuit following the 2003 BSQC, after which the society went dormant.

Re-establishment (2010-present)

Imperial returned to quizbowl in the 2010 Europe SCT, where they placed seventh. Following the return of BSQC in 2011, Imperial achieved their then-highest placing in 2012, coming fourth. The quiz society was re-established in 2013, and participated in most editions of BSQC for the rest of the decade. Society membership was low for much of the 2010s, with usually 20 or fewer members and infrequent tournament attendance.

Imperial has become much more active in quizbowl since 2018, with membership of the quiz society tripling in the space of two years, likely aided by Imperial's strong showings on University Challenge. Imperial became a serious contender in quizbowl tournaments, developing a reputation for upset victories against more established teams. This included winning the 2021 Southeast-Midwest Housewrite and placing fifth in BSQC 2021, registering a surprise victory over Cambridge A in the latter. Having been absent in the 2021 competition, Imperial placed fourth in the 2022 ACF Regionals, thus qualifying for ACF Nationals for the first time. A team of Justin Lee, Michael Mays, Felix Roberts and Fatima Sheriff placed 38th out of 51 in 2022 ACF Nationals, with 9 wins and 9 losses.

The 2022-23 academic year saw record success for Imperial. Imperial's novices placed first in the in-person edition of the British Novice tournament in December 2022, and then the Imperial A team kept a clean sheet for three successive tournaments: ARCADIA, ACF Regionals and C++. Imperial A then went on to win the 2023 BSQC, becoming the first university other than Oxford and Cambridge to place first since Manchester in 2002. Enoch and Michael would later bow out with a close victory in MRNA II.

Notable Players

Tournaments hosted

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