Knowledge Bowl

How to Participate

Schools are to note their intent to participate on their General Registration Form.

All teams must be pre-registered by the deadline. Registration details and deadlines are found on the Registration Page.

Details / Procedures

1. Each school is allowed one team of no more than five (5) members. No more than three of these students may be from above 6th Grade, and no more than two students may be from any single grade. For example:
   • 8^th, 8^th, 7^th, 6^th, 5^th – Good!
   • 8^th, 7^th, 7^th, 5^th, 5^th – Good!
   • 7^th, 7^th, 7^th, 6^th, 6^th – Nope! Too many (three) from the same grade level.
   • 8^th, 6^th, 6^th, 5^th, 5^th – Good!
   • 8^th, 8^th, 7^th, 5^th, 5^th – Good!
   • 8^th, 7^th, 6^th, 6^th, 6^th – Nope! Too many from the same grade level.
   • 8^th, 8^th, 7^th, 7^th, 5^th – Nope! More than three above Grade 6.
2. Alternates may be used as substitutes, but may be substituted only between matches, not during a match. You may have up to five alternates. When using one or more alternates, there still may not be more than three students from above 6^th Grade active at any one time.
3. Tournament format (bracket, pool play, etc.) will be determined by the number of schools entered in the Knowledge Bowl. Typically, matches will last approximately 10 minutes with no more than five (5) minutes between matches. Each round includes 10 questions or a 10-minute time limit, whichever comes first. The championship match will be 15 minutes in length, with no question limit. 
4. Questions will be selected from any of the following categories, but NOT necessarily from all: Fine Arts, Language Arts, Math, Religion, Science, Current Events, and Social Studies.
5. All questions will be worth 10 points and each team will be given the question simultaneously. The teams will have 20 seconds to write their responses. When time is up, the answer must be displayed to the judge or the team will be ineligible to receive points for that question. If a wrong answer is written the team will not receive any points. If there is a tie at the end of a round, additional questions will be asked until the tie is broken (up to five additional questions). If there is still a tie, a question with a number answer will be asked, and the team that is closest (either above or below the answer) will be the winner.
6. All answers will be written. Calculations may be necessary, but no calculators will be allowed. Writing surfaces and pens will be provided for each team. 
7. Each team will have an appointed captain who will act as the writer for each answer. The team will sit around a table, with the captain seated in a location where their answer may be easily shown to the moderator. This will be clarified at the competition, as teams are seated. If the team’s agreed-upon answer is written on a board other than the team captain’s, he/she should simply hold up that board.  
8. Each team is to have an adult “coach” who will be present at the competition. Coaches are responsible for their team’s promptness to the competition and for their team’s behavior at all times. 
9. If a scoring error is believed to have been made, the coach must notify the judge immediately. The judge can call time-out to bring the error to the attention of the moderator to be resolved.