International History Olympiad

International History Olympiad
International History Olympiad
Genre	History competition
Location(s)	Varies
Inaugurated	2015
Website	www.historyolympiad.com

The International History Olympiad is a competition for top history students from around the world. The International History Olympiad was founded by International Academic Competitions (IAC), though prior participation in IAC events (such as the National History Bee and Bowl or International History Bee and Bowl), is not required for students to attend the Olympiad. The qualification process, events, and awards structure at the International History Olympiad are markedly different from the International Science Olympiads. Attending the International History Olympiad in person is open to qualified students age 10-19. Students compete in four separate age ranges: Varsity, Junior Varsity, Middle School, and Elementary as is the case at other IAC events.[1] The first International History Olympiad was held in Williamsburg, VA in 2015 and the most recent International History Olympiad was held in New York City and Princeton, NJ from July 25 to August 1, 2022. At the closing ceremonies of the 2022 International History Olympiad, which were held on the USS Intrepid (CV-11) it was announced that the Olympiad would be held again in 2023 in Poland. IAC changed the venue from Poland to Rome due to geopolitical concerns.[2] After 2023, the Olympiad may be held annually if sufficient sponsorship is available, otherwise, it will be held on a biennial basis.

Qualification

One IHO tradition is having students carry their states' and countries' flags at both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Pictured above are students entering Berlin's Charlottenburg Palace at the 2018 IHO.

Students typically qualify for the Olympiad either by finishing in the top 25% of a regional or championship level tournament in either the International History Bee or the International History Bowl. US students must either win a National History Bee and Bowl regional bee or bowl or finish in the top half in either at the National Championships. Students who finish among the top students at the US National Championships or IHBB Divisional Championships may be awarded discounted or free entry, and/or travel stipends.[3] Students who live over 400 kilometers from the nearest History Bee or Bowl tournaments or who could not attend due to extenuating circumstances may qualify by taking a specific exam administered by a teacher at their school. Qualification is valid for both the current academic year and the following (e.g. a student who qualifies in November 2022 could attend all Olympiads through the summer of 2024).[4] There is no limit to the number of students from any one country or US state who can attend the International History Olympiad.

Events

The top 8 students in the Middle School Division compete in "History Knockout" at the 2018 International History Olympiad in Berlin, Germany.

Approximately half of the competition events at the International History Olympiad follow a quiz bowl style format (utilizing a lock-out device buzzer system) with students competing individually. Students answer comprehensive, paragraph-length questions about specific topics in history, depending on the type of competition (e.g. Ancient History Bee, Art History Bee, etc.).

Two of the buzzer-based competitions, the International History Bee World Championships, and the International History Bowl World Championships, do not focus on specific aspects of history, but are meant to be comprehensive. The History Bowl World Championships feature students on teams (usually from the same US state or country) rather than from the same school, as is the case at other National History Bowl and International History Bowl tournaments.

Other competitions at the Olympiad include the Symposium, where students present and defend research papers they have written, various types of exams, games, and simulations of historical events (similar to Model UN historical crisis committees). The Olympiad also features a number of guest speakers, field trips, medals ceremonies for each event (complete with flags and national/state anthems), and opening and closing ceremonies.

Three events (the International History Bee World Championships, the Written Exam, and the Battery Exam) combine to form the official Olympiad championship for Elementary and Middle School Division students, while the Historiography competition replaces the International History Bee World Championships in the overall Olympiad championship calculation for the Varsity and Junior Varsity Divisions. Students are ranked in order of their performance on the three competitions within their age division; the students with the combined best ranks are the official Olympiad champions.[5]

Affiliation and Medals

Students receive medals for the Research Competition on the stage of Berlin's Charlottenburg Palace.

All students at the International History Olympiad compete for a US state (if they attend school in the USA or are an American citizen) or for their country of citizenship or residence. Students who would be eligible to compete for two affiliations must select one.[6] Medals are awarded solely to the top three competitors in each event, but they are awarded for every event. In this way, the Olympiad more closely approximates the Olympics than the International Science Olympiads. A medals table is maintained as well - the ranking is first done by total number of golds, then total number of silvers, then total number of bronzes. Students are also assigned to teams for the team events at the Olympiad based on a number of factors, though every effort is made to keep students from the same country or state together. Teams consist of either 2 or 3 students. For team events, if a "mixed" team wins a medal, the medals are credited fractionally on the medals table depending on how many students from a state or country were on the team.[7]

Hosts

Year	Host site	Host city and country	Medals table champion	Number of attending countries	Number of attending students
2015	College of William and Mary	Williamsburg, Virginia	California	14	111
2016	University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa	Honolulu, Hawaii	Illinois	15	85
2018	Berlin Brandenburg International School	Berlin, Germany	California	24	224
2022	Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village	Princeton, New Jersey	Maryland	14	180

Overall Champions

Varsity

Year	Champion	Second place	Third place	Number of students
2015	Bruce Lou California	Suntiparp Somsak Thailand	Dashiell Yeatts-Lonske Maryland	29
2016	Jonathan Tran Oregon	Jakob Myers Illinois	Michael Nisenzon California	26
2018	Jonathan Tran Oregon	Daniel Ma New York	Kevin Le Canada	59
2022	Sanjeev Anand Georgia	Raymond Ha Canada	Adithya Madduri Tennessee	31

Junior Varsity

Year	Champion	Second place	Third place	Number of students
2015	Luke Tierney New York	Jonathan Tran Oregon	John Peter Connor Washington	40
2016	Alejandro Lim Philippines	Gareth Thorlakson Canada	Daniel Ma New York	30
2018	Govind Prabhakar India	Arjun Nageswaran India	John Phipps Argentina	94
2022	Arin Parsa California	Ethan Lu Massachusetts	Kerry Xu California	44

Middle school

Year	Champion	Second place	Third place	Number of students
2015	Priyankar Kandarpa Singapore	Vijay Siddharth Singapore	Alejandro Lim Philippines	42
2016	Enzo Cunanan Florida	Shiva Oswal California	John Phipps Argentina	29
2018	Shiva Oswal California	Karsten Rynearson Connecticut	Siddharth Kammanavar California	71
2022	Samanyu Ganesh Georgia	Shounak Bhindwale California	Padraig Finan Washington	51

Elementary

Year	Champion	Second place	Third place	Number of students
2022	Satvik Jain Maryland	Gavin Sigua Indiana	DeWitt Silber New Jersey	54

International History Bee World Champions

At the end of the International History Olympiad, the International History Bee World Championships are contested. For a full list of European, Asian, and Canadian International History Bee champions, see the International History Bee and Bowl page. For a full list of USA National History Bee National Champions, see the National History Bee and Bowl page. Please note that the "International History Bee" is an individual event, as opposed to the "International History Bowl" which is the team event.