World Quizzing Championships

[1][2] The World Quizzing Championships are in the form of a written test taken by individuals that is conducted at various points around the globe.

[3] Previously, the rule is that at the end of the allotted time, the papers are marked and each contestant's top seven category scores will be added together to find the winner.

Countries joining the original five competing nations included Australia, Finland, Indonesia, Norway and Singapore.

Quizzers sat eight papers of 30 questions each, covering: 'Culture', 'Entertainment', 'History', 'Lifestyle', 'Media', 'Sciences', 'Sport and Games', and 'World', with the lowest score from the eight genres being dropped – although these did come into play to settle tie-break situations.

The eight genres were won outright or shared by quizzers from seven countries (Belgium, England, Estonia, Finland, India, Ireland, and Norway).

Efforts to encourage the participation of women in the contest (competitive quizzing has hitherto been something of a male-dominated pastime) were rewarded in 2005 with a win for Trine Aalborg of Norway in the 'Lifestyle' category and a sixth place overall for Dorjana Širola of Croatia (who also finished 3rd among those competitors who had gathered at Silverstone motor racing circuit for the UK leg of the competition).

People of a multitude of nationalities took part, including representatives from the United States, Australia, Russia, Singapore, Hungary, and France.

Paul Paquet from Canada placed highest in the New York City leg, the first time the WQC was held in North America.

The 2008 World Quizzing Championships were held on June 7, 2008 at more than 30 locations, including for the first time Australia, the Philippines, Canada, China, Bangladesh, and Latvia.

Mark Bytheway took the world title in a close race with Belgium's Ronny Swiggers and Finland's Tero Kalliolevo.

legend Jerome Vered, whose all-time single-day winnings record lasted 10 or 12 years (depending on whether adjustment for the doubling of the clue values is used), placed eighth.

The 2010 World Quizzing Championships were held on June 5, 2010 at almost seventy locations, adding Armenia, Bulgaria, Morocco, and the Republic of Ireland for the first time.

The 2011 World Quizzing Championships took place on Saturday, June 4 with the planned addition of venues in Denmark, Gibraltar and Madagascar.