USABB
The United States Academic Bee and Bowl is an all-subject academic competition founded by David Madden in January 2016. It is open to elementary and middle school students. It also includes two side events, the National Science Bee and National Humanities Bee. Questions for the competition are pyramidal.
Format
In the United States Academic Bowl, matches are divided into two halves, separated by a category round. Each half is seven tossups with 3 part bonuses. Each bonus part is worth 10 points. The bonuses have the same subject as the tossup. The bonuses are bounceback. The questions are powermarked. In the US Academic Bowl, powers are worth 20 points. There are no negs in US Academic Bowl. For the category round, the trailing team chooses one of four categories first. Category rounds include six one-line questions, which bounce back if missed by the answering team. A team gets 20 more points for a sweep. After the trailing team has answered and the bounceback has been completed, the remaining team chooses from one of the three remaining categories.
The United States Academic Bee follows a format similar to the National History Bee.
Regional Tournaments
USABB holds regional tournaments. The top half of the field after the preliminary rounds qualifies for nationals. During the 2015-2016 season, USABB held regional events in Northern California, Maryland, Northern Illinois, West Virginia, Alabama, North Georgia and Connecticut.
National Championships
The inaugural national championships were held at Arlington, Virginia's Crystal Gateway Marriot between 20 May and 22 May 2016. 46 teams attended, with Middlesex Middle defeating Longfellow in the middle school final. In the elementary school final, Pi-oneers C defeated Challenger-Ardenwood B to win the championship for the elementary division. Longfellow's William Wang won the middle school division of the US Academic Bee and Shiva Oswal of Pi-oneers won the elementary division.
To qualify, teams had to finish in the top half after the preliminary rounds, have at least a 50% winning percentage, or win a playoff game at the regional tournaments. Teams could also qualify by finishing in the top half or with a 50% winning record at another pyramidal quiz bowl tournament (such as an NAQT event). The tournament was divided into elementary and middle school divisions.
Nationals Results
US Academic Bowl
| Year | Middle School Champion | Middle School Runner-Up | Elementary Champion | Elementary Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Middlesex A | Longfellow A | Team Pi-oneers (solo) | Challenger Ardenwood |
| 2017 | Team Pi-oneers | Aptakisic | Centennial Lane Elementary | Middlebrook Middle |
| 2018 | Team Pi-oneers | Midtown Classical | ? | ? |
US Academic Bee
| Year | Middle School Champion | Middle School Runner-Up | Elementary Champion | Elementary Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | William Wang | Justin Young | Shiva Oswal | Robert Muñiz |
| 2017 | Shiva Oswal | Bilal Ron | Anurag Sodhi | Pareekshith Krishna |
| 2018 | Robert Muñiz | Karsten Rynearson | Rohan Ganeshan | Anurag Sodhi |
International
IHBB edited a middle school question set and Yale a high school set for the Canadian Academic Bowl, which was to have been held on 1 May 2016, the day after the IHBB Canadian Championships. However it was cancelled due to low turnout. Similar events were held after the 2016 IHBB European Championships and before the 2016 IHBB Asian Championships.