How it Works
The Quiz Bowl National Championships will have four sites: West, South, Midwest, and Northeast. Each one will have a Middle School, High School Junior Varsity, and High School Varsity division. Each site will produce a Champion; from there, the top team in each division from each site will travel to Birmingham, at LIQBA expense, for the chance at being crowned the National Champion.
Dates and Locations
The Quiz Bowl National Championships will take place in May and June 2026 on the following dates at the following sites:
Northeast
May 30-31, 2026
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison (NOT Hackensack), New Jersey
Varsity, Junior Varsity, Middle School
West
May 30-31, 2026
Holiday Inn Denver-East, Denver, Colorado
Varsity, Junior Varsity, Middle School
Midwest
June 6-7, 2026
University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana
Varsity, Junior Varsity, Middle School, Elementary School
South
June 13-14, 2026
Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center, Birmingham, Alabama
Varsity, Junior Varsity, Middle School
Finals
June 15 (Monday), 2026
Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center, Birmingham, Alabama
Varsity, Junior Varsity, Middle School
The regions are not “locked”, and any team may play at any site, but we strongly recommend playing at the site nearest to you.
The Elementary School competition will only be offered at the Indianapolis site, and the finals for that division will be played on Sunday.
The general Quizbowl-loving public is invited to see the Finals in Birmingham!
Tournament Schedule
Teams will check in on Friday night, play the Preliminary Rounds on Saturday, and, should they “make it”, play playoff games on Sunday. For the Finals, teams will arrive on Sunday night and play the finals games on Monday, with the tournament wrapping up on Monday evening.
SATURDAY
6:30 AM: Staff Check-In and Meeting
7:00 AM: Opening Meeting for Morning-Session Teams
8:00 AM: Round 1 Begins
8:40 AM: Round 2 Begins
9:20 AM: Round 3 Begins
10:00 AM: Round 4 Begins
10:40 AM: Round 5 Begins
11:20 PM: Round 6 Begins
12:00 PM: Round 7 Begins
12:40 PM: Round 8 Begins
1:20 PM-2:20 PM: Lunch for morning teams and staff
1:30 PM: Opening Meeting for Afternoon-Session Teams
2:30 PM: Round 9 Begins
3:10 PM: Round 10 Begins
3:50 PM: Round 11 Begins
4:30 PM: Round 12 Begins
5:10 PM: Round 13 Begins
5:50 PM: Round 14 Begins
6:30 PM: Round 15 Begins
7:10 PM: Round 16 Begins
7:50 PM: Day is over; Dinner
Overnight: Seedings for Sunday posted online
SUNDAY
6:00 AM: Staff Check-In and Meeting
6:30 AM: Opening Meeting for All Playoff Teams; Individual Awards for All Teams
7:30 AM: Playoff Round 1 Begins
8:10 AM: Playoff Round 2 Begins
8:50 AM: Playoff Round 3 Begins
9:30 AM: Playoff Round 4 Begins
10:10 AM: Playoff Round 5 Begins
10:50 AM: Playoff Round 6 Begins
11:30 AM: Playoff Round 7 Begins
12:10 AM-2:00 PM: Lunch
2:00 PM: Site Semi-Finals and Finals Begin
FINALS DAY
8:00 AM-9:00 AM: Breakfast
9:00 AM: Staff Check-In and Meeting
9:30 AM: Opening Meeting for All Teams
10:30 AM: Finals Round 1 Begins
11:10 AM: Finals Round 2 Begins
11:50 AM: Finals Round 3 (Semi-Finals) Begins
12:30 PM-2:00 PM: Lunch
2:00 PM: Middle School Final Game Begins
3:00 PM: Junior Varsity Final Game Begins
4:00 PM: High School Varsity Final Game Begins
Questions and Format
The Quiz Bowl National Championships will use a premier purpose-written set by the LIQBA’s celebrated in-house writing team. Questions will be challenging, while still being accessible to most players capable of competing in a National Championship. Questions for the Finals will be more difficult and accessible to only the top teams in the country.
The tournament will guarantee 8 games for High School and Middle School teams and 6 games for Elementary School teams. Games are timed to 35 minutes at all but the Elementary School level, where there is no clock.
The tournament will follow the LIQBA’s New Four-Quarter Format, which consists of:
Quarter 1
The “Warmup Round”
10 Short Easy tossups, worth 10 points each
Quarter 2
The “Bonus Round”
5 Long Tossups, Powermarked, worth 10 (or 20 points in power) each, with each leading to a Bonus. Each bonus has 4 parts, in approximate difficulty order, with parts worth 5, 10, 15, and 20 points for 50 possible points. Bouncebacks are possible on bonuses.
Quarter 3
The “Collaboration Round”
5 Collaboration Questions given to each team, very similar to our 30-20-10 Competition
Quarter 4
The legendary “Stump the Experts Round”
15 Short Hard tossups, worth 20 points each.
On Saturday, each team will be placed into a round-robin pool of 8 teams, for 7 rounds of play, plus one extra cross-bracket game. The top teams from the preliminary rounds, by win-loss record, will be seeded for playoffs; the exact number of playoff teams will be determined once the field has been finalized, but it is planned that all teams with records of 5-3, 6-2, 7-1, or 8-0 will advance to the playoffs.
On Sunday, there will be a double-elimination bracket in each division of all the teams that qualified. The bracket winner from each division at each site will qualify for Finals.
Finals will consist of a 4-team double-elimination bracket for each division, with the last team standing crowned the National Champion.
Morning or Afternoon?
There will be two sessions for the Saturday events: you can choose the Morning (7 AM-1 PM) or the Afternoon (1:30 PM-8 PM). If one session is full, you may be assigned to a session at our discretion, though every request will be attempted to be fulfilled.
Seeding
We want to give every team a fair shake, so all teams must play, free of charge, a short 30-20-10-like game a few weeks prior to the competition to give us an idea of your skill at the game. This will be a virtual seeding event and should take no more than an hour. We will give you details on how this works once you register for Nationals.
The seeding event Does Not Count For Anything, but allows us to determine your approximate skill relative to the other teams so we can accurately make the preliminary seeds. Your score will not be revealed to anyone but your team and the LIQBA, and will not be posted anywhere.
Teams and Eligibility
Teams consist of one to six players, up to four of whom may play at once.
Our eligibility rules are simple: any players who go to the same school can play on a team. If you have a question about what “The Same School” is for special situations or for homeschools, write to Joe@liqba.com and we will discuss your case. We permit any duly enrolled person, without regard to age or grade (such as “super-seniors”), to play at our tournaments, though students in GED programs are ineligible.
Middle Schoolers may “play up” to a HS Varsity division team, but not a JV division team, without restriction, but they may then only compete in the division they select. Elementary schoolers can “play up” to a Middle School or HS Varsity team without restriction, but they may then only compete in the division they select. In order to “play up”, the Elementary or Middle Schooler must:
A. Play for the school they are zoned for if in a Public School, and not for any school that they must apply to get in to;
B. Play for the same school if the school has both their regular grade level and future grade levels (for instance, a K-12 private school, a 7-12 High School) and not one that they must apply to get in to.
In general, the High School Varsity division covers grades 9-12, JV 9-12, Middle School 6-8, and Elementary K-5.
If your district uses a different grade breakdown than that, you can play in the division that would be appropriate for you (for instance, a Junior High School that contains grades 7-9 should play in the Middle School division, or a K-6 School should play in the Elementary School division).
If your entire team wants to “play up”, they can do so, though this is not recommended.
Coaches, Chaperones, and Spectators
A team can have any number of coaches, including none, but only two can be Official Coaches as designated according to our rules. A team can also have an unlimited number of spectators, who may view any game free of charge, but may not take video or audio recordings of the game. Pictures are fine, though! Just not flash photography, which is strictly prohibited. If there are more spectators with a team than the capacity of a given room, they will have to wait elsewhere; no room will be changed or moved due to an abundance of spectators.
Elementary and Middle School teams must have one chaperone per team who are legal adults in the state where they reside, and must stay with the team during the competition.
High School teams should have at least one chaperone per school, though they need not stay with the team during the competition. Chaperones for High School teams are not enforced by the LIQBA; however, it is generally required that you bring a chaperone in order to do other important tasks like drive to the tournament or check in to a hotel, most of which require a person who is at least the age of 21.
These requirements apply regardless of the division the team plays in; so, should, for instance, a Middle School team wish to play in the Varsity division, they still must follow the Middle School chaperone requirements. As another example, should a team be playing in the Varsity division and have three twelfth graders and a fourth grader, they must follow the chaperone rules for an Elementary team.
Chaperones can be a coach or any other responsible adult; however, a player on a High School team cannot be a chaperone for a Middle or Elementary school team.
Qualification and Wildcards
Any team who finishes in the top 20%, rounded up, of any tournament, league, or Quiz Bowl TV show in the 2025-2026 season will qualify for the National Championships. Any team who finishes in the top 25%, rounded up, of any tournament, league, or TV show directly run by the LIQBA, or using LIQBA or Academic Hallmarks questions, in the 2025-2026 season, will also qualify for the National Championships.
Invitations are issued to Schools, not Teams; so, the roster need not be the same as the one you qualified with. If you would like to bring more than one team…
1) For the High School Varsity, Middle School, and Elementary School divisions, you must qualify multiple teams. To do so, you need to have two or more teams qualify at the same tournament.
2) For the High School Junior Varsity division, any school that qualified a High School Varsity team can enter as many JV teams as they would like, up to 10, so long as they all pay a separate entry fee. You cannot play in the JV division unless you have a Varsity team entered in the field.
You can also ask to be considered as a Wildcard. To do so, email Joe@liqba.com with a summary of your season and why you feel you should be considered to play in a National Championship. If one team qualifies normally, but a school wishes to enter a second (or further) team(s) into a division other than Junior Varsity, they may also apply for a wildcard to do so.
Note that a qualification is not a guaranteed spot. You should register as soon as possible to secure your spot in the field.
Waitlist and Standby Teams
Once the field cap for each site is reached, which is tentatively 100 from all divisions at each site, you will be put on a waitlist until the field expands or teams drop, or you may play at another site that is not full.
You can also become a Standby team, which is a team that fills in for a last-minute drop. You may be promoted off the standby list the same day as the tournament, or not at all, so this is recommended as teams of extra players from your school.
Lodging
The official tournament hotels, where you can receive discounted rates as well as other perks, are as follows:
| Site | Hotel | Rate | Perks | Link |
| New Jersey | Archer Hotel Florham Park | $199/night for single $219/night for double Must book by May 1, 2026 | Free Wi-Fi; Free Parking; Fitness Center; Pool; Free Bottled Water and Caramels; Free In-Room Coffee | Link |
| New Jersey | Hyatt House Morristown | $209/night Must book by May 7, 2026 | Hot Breakfast Buffet (Comp); On-site Restaurant; All Doubles/All Suites; Free Parking; Pool; Basketball; Fitness Center; Free Wi-Fi | Link (May change parameters) |
| Indianapolis | Crowne Plaza Union Station | $179/night Must book by May 5, 2026 NOTE: Hotel assesses a parking fee | Free Wi-Fi; Free Fitness Center; All Doubles; On-Site Restaurant | Link |
| Birmingham | Sheraton Birmingham | $179/night Must book by May 18, 2026 NOTE: Hotel assesses a parking fee | Free Wi-Fi for Bonvoy members (free to join); Free Fitness Center; On-Site Restaurant; All Doubles | Link |
| Denver | Holiday Inn Denver-East | $139/night Must book by May 7, 2026 NOTE: Hotel assesses a parking fee | Free Wi-Fi; Fitness Center; On-Site Restaurant; All Doubles; Free Coffee | Link |
Rules
The rules of the competition can be found at this link. Elementary School uses the same rules but without a game clock; finals also use the same rules without a game clock.
Prizes
The largest prize is pride in your achievement, but we have many prizes of token value for highly-ranking teams in each division at each event. The exact number is dependent on the size of the field. Such prizes may include trophies, medals, miniature stuffed animals, and many other small tokens, all at our discretion.
The National Champion in each division will be awarded a traveling trophy in addition to the usual prizes.
Our official trophy supplier is Mineola Trophy in Mineola, New York, and they would be happy to, for a fee, repair any trophy that is damaged, replace any trophy that is lost, or complete custom engraving on your trophy or medal.
Unfortunately, it is likely impossible to replace a lost or damaged non-trophy or medal prize.
Food
In Madison, the nearest town with food is about a mile-and-a-half walk to downtown. Many more dining options are a very short drive away in Morristown. The University will also be serving snacks for sale, and vending machines and water fountains are located throughout the facilities.
In Denver, there are many options available at the corner of 29th Avenue and Quebec Street.
In Indianapolis, there are options along Hanna Avenue and Keystone Avenue, as well as many locations accessible by public bus.
In Birmingham, the closest food is in the Uptown district along Arrington Boulevard and 23rd Street, across from the Westin. Many other options are located within walking distance a mile to the south. The Convention Center will have water stations, but no food.
Statistics
Full and complete team and individual statistics will be updated live during the tournament on liqba.com. Category and buzzpoint statistics will be released a week or so after the last site has concluded.
Practice Material
If you’re looking for practice material for Nationals, check out the LIQBA’s Practice Subscription, one of the most valuable study tools in the game. It generally costs $250 per year.
Registration Fees
The registration fee is $750 per team, with no discounts available. Payment is due two weeks after registration.
If you cancel before March 15, no fee is due. After March 15, the full fee is due, even if you cancel.
However, you have two weeks from your registration date to drop; if you sign up less than two weeks before the tournament and we decide to accept your registration, you must pay immediately without refund if you drop. If you are registered and, barring emergencies, do not show up to the tournament, you may be restricted from playing future competitions with the LIQBA.
You can, in order of desirability:
Pay by Check;
Pay by Purchase Order;
Pay by EFT or direct deposit, if your district allows it;
Pay by Venmo;
Pay by Credit Card;
Pay by Zelle;
Pay by PayPal;
Pay by Money Order.
Payments by Venmo, Credit Card, Zelle, or PayPal may incur additional and variable transaction fees.
If you do not pay the entry fee by the start of the tournament, you can’t play until you do.
No additional fee is due for the Finals.
Checks must be made out to “Long Island Quiz Bowl Alliance” and mailed to 16 Gilbert Avenue, Smithtown, New York, 11787. This is also where you can mail any other necessary paperwork. Our W9 is attached here for your use.
The registration fee does not cover any expense other than the tournament entry fees, so you still need to pay for hotels, transport, food, and so on, except for the Finals.
Deadlines
Check back soon for updates.
Photography and Liability Release Form
Check back soon for updates.
Registration
You can register for nationals by filling out this form in its entirety. You are not officially registered until you get a confirmation from us.
Finals Arrangements
Each winner of the Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Middle School divisions at each site will be offered the chance to travel to Birmingham to win the overall championship in their division. Such an offer must be formally accepted within 3 days of winning a site; if an offer is declined, the runner-up will be offered the chance to compete; if they decline, the 3rd place team will be offered, and so on.
The LIQBA will pay for…
–If the school is less than or equal to 9 hours driving time, with no traffic, according to Google Maps, from the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center, the LIQBA will provide a travel stipend of $500 to the team and the team will be expected to travel by car, bus, van, train, etc.
–If the school is more than 9 hours driving time from the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center as per the parameters above, the LIQBA will pay the airfare for 6 players and 1 coach to travel to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. We will choose an airline, airport, and flight at our discretion. The flight may be nonstop or connecting. We will also pay for cab fare to the Convention Center.
— We will pay for all hotel costs for 6 players and 1 coach for Sunday and Monday nights.
The LIQBA will not pay for…
— Travel expenses for the winners of the South site, but we will pay for two extra nights in whatever hotel they are staying in for 6 players and 1 coach.
— Travel expenses and hotel costs for more than 6 players and 1 coach under any circumstance.
— Travel expenses for a team to get to and from their home airport, or for players to get from their homes to the airport and back, or to and from their home to school or drop-off point.
— Food expenses of any kind.
— Any expenses for souvenirs, knickknacks, and so on.
— Bag fees for airlines, or any other airline fees beyond what we choose to.
— The costs to mail any prizes back home.
— Any other expenses incurred by a team in their travels to Birmingham for the finals.
How to Get to Each Location
Directions by plane, train, and automobile are coming soon!
What to See in Each Location
Sightseeing ideas are coming soon!
Got Questions? We Have Answers.
Please write to Chris@liqba.com with any questions you might have, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!