NAQT Virginia State Championship
An NAQT state championship in Virginia was established in 2000 to complement the VHSL Scholastic Bowl championship. While Scholastic Bowl is generally considered a well-run event on fair questions, the NAQT tournament provided the only opportunity for schools from different VHSL enrollment divisions and non-VHSL members to compete in one field for a single overall title.
The tournament has been run under various names from year to year. It was originally dubbed the "Commonwealth of Virginia High School Academic Championship" and a large travelling trophy was ordered with this name, though both the name and the trophy were almost immediately lost.
Only in the 2000 tournament was a separate JV state championship held. The B team from Thomas Jefferson won it, collecting the only JV state title ever awarded in Virginia.
In 2006 and 2007, a separate division was run for "small schools" as defined by the tournament hosts (grade 10-12 enrollment under 750 -- official NAQT cutoff is 500). The small school title was awarded again in 2019 to the highest-finishing small school in the overall field.
The tournament was notorious for ending with Thomas Jefferson's A team being upset by its own B team and excluded from the final, which happened four times between 2004 and 2013.
After being severely underpromoted in 2018 and 2019, the tournament was not a priority for running online during the COVID-19 outbreak and has not operated since. Whether it will return in the future is uncertain.
Results
Teams in bold italic unified the championship by winning NAQT Virginia and their respective class of VHSL Scholastic Bowl in the same year.
- ↑ Quince Orchard was allowed to enter this tournament despite being from Maryland; all other years have been Virginia teams only.