The World Quizzing Championships is an individual
quiz
A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth ...
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 (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 2022,
Pat Gibson
Patrick Gibson (born 19 July 1961) is an Irish quizzer. On 24 April 2004 he became the fourth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the wo ...
and
Jesse Honey
Jesse Honey (born 1977) is an English urban planner and quiz player from South London, best known for winning the ''Mastermind'' series 2010 and holding one of its records, becoming a member of the English National quiz team la ...
, both from
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, hold the title for the highest-scoring quizzers with 186 out of 240 total points.
Format
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.
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.
The genres and general content areas are a combination of academic and popular culture topics including:
However, there is a chance that a question will seem to fit into one, two, or even several genres.
List of WQC winners
By number of wins
The table below shows the medalists from each year, along with the years that a player won the championship.
By year
The table below shows the top-three placings from each year.
Competition history
2003
A fledgling event was first staged by Quizzing.co.uk in 2003 at
Villa Park
Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...
football stadium,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. 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.
2004
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
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
), Belgium (joined by quizzers from the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
),
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
, India, and
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. Over 300 quizzers took part. The UK leg was staged at Manchester United's
Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
football stadium. The 2004 winner was Kevin Ashman.
[
# Kevin Ashman – 154][Website of the Belgian branch of the International Quizzing Association]
IQA World Quizzing Championships 2004 (WQC)
/ref>
# Pat Gibson – 135
# Ashish – 128
# Nico Pattyn – 126
# Frank Van Nieuwenhove – 124
# Ian Bayley
__NOTOC__
Ian Bayley is a British quiz player who has won several medals in quizzing, both in singles and as a member of a team. He won the European Championships three times straight from 2007 to 2009 with " ...
– 118
# David Stainer – 117
# Arul Mani – 116
# Stephen Pearson – 115
# Lauri Naber – 115
2005
The 2005 championship on July 2, saw further significant growth with the event benefiting from the sponsorship of MSN Search
Microsoft Bing (commonly known as Bing) is a web search engine owned and operated by Microsoft. The service has its origins in Microsoft's previous search engines: MSN Search, Windows Live Search and later Live Search. Bing provides a variety ...
. Countries joining the original five competing nations included Australia, Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, Norway and Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. 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
Trine may refer to:
People
* Ralph Waldo Trine, American philosopher and educator
* Trine Dyrholm, Danish actress
* Trine Jensen, Danish handball player
* Trine Tsouderos, American journalist
Religion and mythology
* Trine (astrological aspect), ...
of Norway in the 'Lifestyle' category and a sixth place overall for Dorjana Širola
Dorjana Širola (born 9 June 1972) is a Croatian quizzer, linguist, anglicist and software tester. She has been the highest placed woman at the World Quizzing Championship from 2005 to 2011, and again from 2013 to 2018 (losing out in 20 ...
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.[
# Kevin Ashman – 161][Web site of the Belgian branch of the International Quizzing Association]
IQA World Quizzing Championships 2005 (WQC)
/ref>
# Pat Gibson – 154
# Nico Pattyn – 151
# Marc Van Springel – 144
# Arul Mani – 144
# Dorjana Širola
Dorjana Širola (born 9 June 1972) is a Croatian quizzer, linguist, anglicist and software tester. She has been the highest placed woman at the World Quizzing Championship from 2005 to 2011, and again from 2013 to 2018 (losing out in 20 ...
– 139 (first woman)
# Ove Põder – 138
# Lauri Naber – 138
# Erik Derycke – 138
# Ian Bayley – 138
2006
On June 3, 2006, the World Quizzing Championships were held at more than 15 locations. First time organisers were Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
, Germany, Switzerland, Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. People of a multitude of nationalities took part, including representatives from the United States, Australia, Russia, Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, Hungary, and France. The title was, for the 3rd year running, won by Kevin Ashman.[
# ]Kevin Ashman
Kevin Clifford Ashman (born 2 November 1959) is an English quiz player. He is often considered one of the greatest quizzers in the world, and since 2002 has been a professional quizzer; he has been an '' Egghead'' since 2003. He has won most o ...
– 166[Web site of the Belgian branch of the International Quizzing Association]
IQA Wereldkampioenschap Quizzen 2006
/ref>
# Pat Gibson
Patrick Gibson (born 19 July 1961) is an Irish quizzer. On 24 April 2004 he became the fourth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the wo ...
– 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 – 133
2007
On 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.[International Quizzing Association]
WQC 2007 official results
# Pat Gibson
Patrick Gibson (born 19 July 1961) is an Irish quizzer. On 24 April 2004 he became the fourth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the wo ...
– 179[
# ]Kevin Ashman
Kevin Clifford Ashman (born 2 November 1959) is an English quiz player. He is often considered one of the greatest quizzers in the world, and since 2002 has been a professional quizzer; he has been an '' Egghead'' since 2003. He has won most o ...
– 176
# Mark Bytheway Mark Bytheway (22 July 1963 – 9 July 2010) was an England International Quiz player best known for becoming Quizzing World Champion in 2008 and winning the ''Top Brain'' competition of Brain of Britain.
Brain of Britain
I ...
– 171
# Olav Bjortomt
Stein Olav Bjortomt (pronounced Bortom) (born 13 December 1978 in Eastbourne) is an English international quiz player, four-time world champion (2003, 2015, 2018, 2019) and three ti ...
– 164
# Jesse Honey
Jesse Honey (born 1977) is an English urban planner and quiz player from South London, best known for winning the ''Mastermind'' series 2010 and holding one of its records, becoming a member of the English National quiz team la ...
– 159
# Ronny Swiggers – 158
# Ian Bayley
__NOTOC__
Ian Bayley is a British quiz player who has won several medals in quizzing, both in singles and as a member of a team. He won the European Championships three times straight from 2007 to 2009 with " ...
– 151
# Mark Grant – 151
# Nico Pattyn – 150
# Arul Mani – 150
Dorjana Širola of Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
was the highest placed woman in 12th position. Paul Paquet from Canada placed highest in the New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
leg, the first time the WQC was held in North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
2008
The 2008 World Quizzing Championships were held on June 7, 2008 at more than 30 locations, including for the first time Australia, the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, Canada, China, Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, and Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
. Mark Bytheway took the world title in a close race with Belgium's Ronny Swiggers
Ronny Swiggers (born 1961 in Belgium) from Mechelen is one of Belgium's most successful quiz players. In November 2013 he became European Quizzing Champion, winning the individual competition at the European C ...
and Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
's Tero Kalliolevo
Tero Kalliolevo (born 1977) from Finland is the Nordic countries' most successful quiz player in international competitions.
In 2007 he won his first European Quizzing Championships medal in the pair ...
.[International Quizzing Association]
WQC 2008 official results
# Mark Bytheway – 173[
# ]Ronny Swiggers
Ronny Swiggers (born 1961 in Belgium) from Mechelen is one of Belgium's most successful quiz players. In November 2013 he became European Quizzing Champion, winning the individual competition at the European C ...
– 172
# Tero Kalliolevo
Tero Kalliolevo (born 1977) from Finland is the Nordic countries' most successful quiz player in international competitions.
In 2007 he won his first European Quizzing Championships medal in the pair ...
– 170
# Kevin Ashman – 167
# Pat Gibson
Patrick Gibson (born 19 July 1961) is an Irish quizzer. On 24 April 2004 he became the fourth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the wo ...
– 165
# Nico Pattyn – 163
# Olav Bjortomt – 155
# Ian Bayley – 154
# Jesse Honey
Jesse Honey (born 1977) is an English urban planner and quiz player from South London, best known for winning the ''Mastermind'' series 2010 and holding one of its records, becoming a member of the English National quiz team la ...
– 152
# Dorjana Širola – 150 (best performing woman)
2009
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!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
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.[International Quizzing Association]
WQC 2009 official results
# Kevin Ashman – 177[
# ]Ronny Swiggers
Ronny Swiggers (born 1961 in Belgium) from Mechelen is one of Belgium's most successful quiz players. In November 2013 he became European Quizzing Champion, winning the individual competition at the European C ...
– 174
# Mark Bytheway – 166
# Olav Bjortomt
Stein Olav Bjortomt (pronounced Bortom) (born 13 December 1978 in Eastbourne) is an English international quiz player, four-time world champion (2003, 2015, 2018, 2019) and three ti ...
– 165
# Nico Pattyn – 165
# Pat Gibson
Patrick Gibson (born 19 July 1961) is an Irish quizzer. On 24 April 2004 he became the fourth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the wo ...
– 164
# Tero Kalliolevo
Tero Kalliolevo (born 1977) from Finland is the Nordic countries' most successful quiz player in international competitions.
In 2007 he won his first European Quizzing Championships medal in the pair ...
– 156
# Jerome Vered
Jerome Vered (born March 13, 1958) is a Studio City, California writer, publicly known for his record-setting success as a contestant on the U.S. television game show ''Jeopardy!''
Biography
Vered graduated from Harvard College and the USC School ...
– 155
# Jesse Honey – 152
# Thomas Kolåsæter – 148
Dorjana Širola of Croatia was the highest placed woman in 22nd position with 135 points.
2010
The 2010 World Quizzing Championships were held on June 5, 2010 at almost seventy locations, adding Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, and the Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
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.[
Dorjana Širola of Croatia was the highest placed woman in 17th position with 140 points.
]
2011
The 2011 World Quizzing Championships took place on Saturday, June 4 with the planned addition of venues in Denmark, Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
and Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. 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.
2012
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
Jesse Honey (born 1977) is an English urban planner and quiz player from South London, best known for winning the ''Mastermind'' series 2010 and holding one of its records, becoming a member of the English National quiz team la ...
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.
2013
The 2013 World Quizzing Championship took place on 1 June. A record 1,992 participants competed with India being the most represented country.[
]
2014
The 2014 World Quizzing Championship took place on 7 June with 1,833 participants.[
]
2015
The 2015 World Quizzing Championship took place on 6 June with over 2,000 participants.
2016
The 2016 World Quizzing Championship took place on 4 June with over 2,500 participants.
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
See also
* Australian Quiz Champion
In the late 1940s and 1950s the Australian National Quiz Championships were run and broadcast live by ABC Radio. The quiz was arranged to promote the federal government's security loans for post-war reconstruction.
Since 2007 the Australian Quiz ...
* British Quizzing Championships
The British Quiz Championship (BQC), also termed the British Quizzing Championship, is a quiz competition in the United Kingdom. The current competition has been organised since 2004 by Chris Jones' and IQA-CEO Jane Allen's company Quizzing Ltd. ...
* European Quizzing Championships
The European Quizzing Championships (EQC) are an annual multi-disciplinary quiz event, in which representatives from various countries compete as individuals, in pairs, and/or in teams (club or national).
History
As most of the top players in the ...
* Asia-Pacific Quiz Championships
Notes
References
External links
Official site
World Quizzing Championships 2006: Results
World Quizzing Championships 2005: Results
IQA Belgium with full results previous World and European Championships
IQA Great Britain
IQA United States
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814031738/http://iqausa.googlepages.com/ , date=2009-08-14
IQA Norway – all WQC results
Quizzing Australia
World Quizzing Championship in Lithuania – information, results, photos
World Quizzing Championship in Ireland – information, results, photos
Quiz games
Student quiz competitions
Trivia competitions
Recurring events established in 2003