Brain Game

WRAL-TV (Raleigh) hosts a TV show called Brain Game for teams of 3 9th/10th graders. The show tapes two semesters (fall and spring) each year starting in August and January. If you want to be involved, email the Brain Game producer should you be interested in competing. Tapings are scheduled early in the fall and spring, but they need 42 teams for each semester and are usually looking for new competitiors. Generally the show covers the WRAL viewing area, which includes the Triangle and Cumberland County, but teams from all over compete. The champion each semester wins a Lenovo notebook computer for their school and iPod Shuffles for the players. This is worth looking into, and it is a great way to start building an academic competition team. Recent match results can be seen here.

The KMO

Academic Hallmarks runs a computer based contest twice per year called the Knowledge Master Open. You get sent a disk, run the program and answer the questions as a team. Then the results are computed after results are phoned in (special encryption codes are used for verification). That website is http://www.greatauk.com/KMO.html. This is a fun competition. There are no restrictions on team size or composition provided that all the members are students. The questions are multiple choice and you earn points based on accuracy and speed.

HI-IQ Bowl

In the fall, the Greensboro Youth Council distributes information for the formerly televised High IQ Bowl competition. The format is 4 people to a team in a traditional tossup/bonus format; however, it is restricted to seniors. The registration deadline is December 14, 2007. The first 30 teams to register will be accepted. Only non-residential high school seniors from any county in North Carolina and Virginia may enter. Scholarship money is given to the winners.

Academic Worldquest

Academic Worldquest is a foreign affairs trivia contest sponsored by the World Affairs Council. Local sections sponsor local contests to pick representatives at a national competition in Washington, D.C. Teams of four students answer multiple choice questions, displayed as powerpoint slides. 100 questions later, you could be the winner of a some-expenses paid trip to DC. The trip is fun, but the trick is finding a local WAC chapter to sponsor the competition. One exists in Raleigh and in Charlotte. Raleigh Charter finished 2nd in the national competition in 2005 and 2006.