The World Quizzing Championships is an individual quiz contest organised by the International Quizzing Association (the umbrella organisation of various quizzing organisations from more than 25 countries around the world). The competition has been staged annually since 2003 (since 2004 in more than one country simultaneously) with an increasing number of contestants from an increasing number of nations. Since 2006, the competition has been staged on the first Saturday of every June.
As of 2024, Pat Gibson and Jesse Honey, hold the title for the highest-scoring quizzers with 186 out of 210 total points. (Although the quiz is out of 240, a player's lowest scoring round was dropped at the time Gibson and Honey played, and so their scores are out of 210 not 240).[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. Each competitor faces the same questions (translated into their mother tongue in many cases) at approximately the same time. There are 240 questions, divided into eight categories, and are given out in two packs of four papers. The contestants will be given sixty (60) minutes to answer each pack.[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. However, this rule was changed in 2022. Instead, all eight papers will be counted to determine the winner.[4]
The genres and general content areas are a combination of academic and popular culture topics including:[3]
However, there is a chance that a question will seem to fit into one, two, or even several genres.[3]
The table below shows the medalists from each year, along with the years that a player won the championship.
The table below shows the top-three placings from each year.
A fledgling event was first staged by Quizzing.co.uk in 2003 at Villa Park football stadium, Birmingham, England. This saw 50 quizzers representing a handful of nations compete in a written test of quiz knowledge. The inaugural event was won by Olav Bjortomt. The event has full official status but only took place in one country and is sometimes erroneously omitted in statistics.[23]
In 2004, following the foundation of the International Quizzing Association (IQA), the event was held simultaneously in five countries: the United Kingdom (joined by quizzers from elsewhere, including Ireland), Belgium (joined by quizzers from the Netherlands), Estonia, India, and Malaysia. Over 300 quizzers took part. The UK leg was staged at Manchester United's Old Trafford football stadium. The 2004 winner was Kevin Ashman.[22]
Kevin Ashman – 154[22] Pat Gibson – 135
Ashish – 128.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small}
Nico Pattyn – 126 Frank Van Nieuwenhove – 124 Ian Bayley – 118 David Stainer – 117 Arul Mani – 116 Stephen Pearson – 115
Lauri Naber – 115The 2005 championship on July 2, saw further significant growth with the event benefiting from the sponsorship of MSN Search. 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). In India, another woman, Debashree Mitra of Bangalore took 3rd place overall also.[21]
Kevin Ashman – 161[21] Pat Gibson – 154 Nico Pattyn – 151 Marc Van Springel – 144 Arul Mani – 144
Dorjana Širola – 139 (first woman) Ove Põder – 138 Lauri Naber – 138 Erik Derycke – 138 Ian Bayley – 138On June 3, 2006, the World Quizzing Championships were held at more than 15 locations. First time organisers were Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, Liberia and Sri Lanka. People of a multitude of nationalities took part, including representatives from the United States, Australia, Russia, Singapore, Hungary, and France. The title was, for the 3rd year running, won by Kevin Ashman.[20]
Kevin Ashman – 166[20] Pat Gibson – 163 Nico Pattyn – 155 Marc Van Springel – 146 Olav Bjortomt – 142 Ronny Swiggers – 140 Dorjana Širola – 140 (highest placed woman) Mark Bytheway – 136 Erik Derycke – 136 Ian Bayley – 133On June 2, 2007, the World Quizzing Championships was held at locations including the Netherlands, the US and Hungary for the first time. Pat Gibson took the crown from three-time winner Kevin Ashman.[19]
Pat Gibson – 179[19] Kevin Ashman – 176 Mark Bytheway – 171 Olav Bjortomt – 164 Jesse Honey – 159 Ronny Swiggers – 158 Ian Bayley – 151
Mark Grant – 151 Nico Pattyn – 150 Arul Mani – 150Dorjana Širola of Croatia was the highest placed woman in 12th position. 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.[18]
Mark Bytheway – 173[18] Ronny Swiggers – 172
Tero Kalliolevo – 170 Kevin Ashman – 167 Pat Gibson – 165 Nico Pattyn – 163 Olav Bjortomt – 155 Ian Bayley – 154 Jesse Honey – 152 Dorjana Širola – 150 (best performing woman)The 2009 World Quizzing Championships were held on June 6, 2009 at more than 45 locations, including 10 venues in the US, 9 in India and 4 in Russia. Kevin Ashman regained his title and became the first ever to win 4 World Quizzing Championships. Second again was Ronny Swiggers from Belgium. Third was last year's champion Mark Bytheway. Jeopardy! 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.[17]
Kevin Ashman – 177[17] Ronny Swiggers – 174 Mark Bytheway – 166 Olav Bjortomt – 165 Nico Pattyn – 165 Pat Gibson – 164 Tero Kalliolevo – 156
Jerome Vered – 155 Jesse Honey – 152
Thomas Kolåsæter – 148Dorjana Širola of Croatia was the highest placed woman in 22nd position with 135 points.
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. Over 1200 people participated. Five nations were represented among the competitors placed in the top 10 overall. The overall winner was Pat Gibson.[16][24][25]
Dorjana Širola of Croatia was the highest placed woman in 17th position with 140 points.
The 2011 World Quizzing Championships took place on Saturday, June 4 with the planned addition of venues in Denmark, Gibraltar and Madagascar. Reigning champion Pat Gibson achieved the highest score in England with 186 and retained his title. Four times champion Kevin Ashman made 176. Tero Kalliolevo achieved the highest score in Finland with 176. Ronny Swiggers achieved the highest score in Belgium with 168. Steve Perry achieved the highest score in USA with 164. Mark Grant achieved the highest score in Wales with 163. Thomas Kolåsæter achieved the highest score in Norway with 158.[1][26]
The 2012 event was held on June 2, 2012, with over 1,700 participants competing at 88 locations in 35 countries. Defending champion Pat Gibson was beaten into second place by Jesse Honey with a score of 186. For the first time ever, someone scored full marks in one genre with Ishaan Chugh, a quizzer from India, scoring 30/30 in the Media section.
The 2013 World Quizzing Championship took place on 1 June. A record 1,992 participants competed with India being the most represented country.[15]
The 2014 World Quizzing Championship took place on 7 June with 1,833 participants.[14]
The 2015 World Quizzing Championship took place on 6 June with over 2,000 participants.
The 2016 World Quizzing Championship took place on 4 June with over 2,500 participants.