The US Geography Olympiad is delighted to announce the debut of its 2015-16 competition season throughout the USA! As was the case last school year, we will once again be offering USGO at four separate age ranges: Elementary (6th grade and younger), Middle School (7th-8th grade), Junior Varsity (born on or after July 1, 2000), and Varsity (born on or before June 30, 2000). Note that Elementary and Middle School Division students can also compete in the Junior Varsity Division, but must qualify within the JV Division for JV Nationals, if they wish to attend it. As was the case last year, though, if a Elementary or Middle School qualifies for JV Nationals, then they are automatically qualified for Elementary or Middle School Nationals, and do not have to take a separate Elementary/Middle School version of the Qualifying Exam.
For the 2015-16 school year, the National Qualifying Exam (NQE) will be the sole method of qualification to the National Championships for all divisions. Within each division, though, there will be multiple versions of the NQE, so that students have multiple chances to qualify. We will not be offering the National Qualifying Quiz Tournaments in 2015-16 (this was an alternate way of qualifying for Nationals), but we do expect the NQQT to return in the future, perhaps as early as the 2016-17 school year.
We are also in the process of redesigning the structure of our National Championships – full details will be available later on in the fall of 2015, though we do expect all National Championships to have both exam and quiz bowl components. For further details, please contact info@geographyolympiad.com or explore the website. Good luck in the new competition year from everyone at USGO!
