It's Academic
It's Academic is a high school televised Quizbowl competition in Washington, DC, Charlottesville, VA, and Baltimore, MD. The winners of each region play each other in the "Super Bowl".
The It's Academic producers refer to the tournament for Charlottesville and Staunton area schools as the "Central Virginia" edition, although that term normally refers to the Richmond area, which plays Battle of the Brains instead. (Teams in Charlottesville itself, such as St. Anne's and Charlottesville High, can and do compete in both tournaments). This leads to occasional confusion on the hsquizbowl.org boards regarding where "Central Virginia" is and which quizbowl teams are from there.
Format
It's Academic is divided into several rounds. These rounds are divided into tossup rounds and individual rounds. The format used to feature letter rounds (where all answers started with a particular letter).
The tossup rounds are all speed based, with short non-pyramidal questions.
History
It's Academic was formerly on in additional US markets. The "It's Academic" Quiz Book lists the following television stations as airing It's Academic in the United States:
- Baltimore, Maryland - WBAL, WJZ
- Boston, Massachusetts - WCVB
- Buffalo, New York - WIVB
- Chicago, Illinois - WMAQ, WBBM
- Cincinnati, Ohio - WLWT, WCET
- Cleveland, Ohio - WEWS (under the name Academic Challenge)
- Denver, Colorado - KOA
- Jacksonville, Florida - WTLV
- Lexington, Kentucky - KET (under the name Scholastic Bowl)
- Los Angeles, California - KNBC
- New York, New York - WNBC
- Norfolk, Virginia - WHRO
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - KYW
- Syracuse, New York - WNYS
- Washington, D.C. - WRC
The "It's Academic" Quiz Book also notes that the show has aired in Australia and Hong Kong as part of the government's "Our USA" program. Furthermore, "comic strips have been based on the show, and even federal prisons have staged their own It's Academic matches". The show "has received Emmys and numerous other awards, including a videotaped salute from former President Ronald Reagan".
Though the questions of the show do not adhere to all of the principles of good Quiz Bowl, the show's contribution to promoting the popularity of Quiz Bowl throughout the United States earned it the Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award in 2002.