Academic WorldQuest

Challenging the Leaders of Tomorrow

Academic WorldQuest is a flagship program of the World Affairs Councils of America. The game was invented by the World Affairs Council of Charlotte and is now an annual event for many councils across the country. It is a team game testing competitors’ knowledge of topics such as international affairs, geography, history and culture. The World Affairs Councils of America began a national competition in Washington, D.C. in March 2003. There are currently 43 local competitions around the country. The winners of these local competitions are invited to compete in the national competition held in D.C. each spring.

The World Affairs Council of Jacksonville began its own local Academic WorldQuest competition in 2005 and has held it annually in November ever since. Area high schools from counties throughout Northeast Florida (Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, etc.) are invited to attend. Participating high schools bring up to two teams of four students each to compete. The competition is held at the University of North Florida, where teams gather to test their knowledge and answer six rounds of multiple choice questions that are projected onscreen using a visually-compelling PowerPoint and presented by an emcee. Board members of the Jacksonville Council, volunteers, Council members and staff, as well as university affiliates, work together to develop questions for six categories for the local competition. The Jacksonville Council sends the winning Academic WorldQuest team and their high school advisor to D.C. to compete in the national competition each year. The competition is held annually at the National Press Club. While in D.C., students have the opportunity to interact with other students from all over the country and visit area museums and historical sites. Organizing a Team Identify a teacher for your school. Teachers are typically drawn from history, social studies and related fields. These teachers work with Council staff to promote the event within the school and select team members for up to two teams. There may be four members on each team. The winning team and their high school advisor are sent to Washington, D.C. to compete in the national WorldQuest event. The World Affairs Council of Jacksonville funds their travel to D.C., accommodation and program fees and seeks sponsors to help underwrite the cost of this trip.
This year’s competition, with WJCT’s Scott Kim as the event emcee, took place on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at the University of North Florida.Winners 20111st Place: Stanton's XAOC 2nd Place: Stanton's The Act of Supremacy 3rd Place: Stanton's Superturbofliegenaffen

2011 Categories

US Energy Policy
Middle East
Afghanistan/Pakistan
China
NATO
Current Events

Funding and Sponsorship
Do consider participating as a team or title sponsor, or providing in-kind contributions. Volunteers are also needed to assist the evening of the contest. The costs of the Academic WorldQuest program are underwritten by:

Sponsors ($3,000 to be a Title Sponsor, which supports the winning team’s trip to Washington, D.C.)
Additional contributions from members ($250 to sponsor a team)
Council members’ dues
In-kind contributions (Prizes and gifts for teams)

Title Sponsor 2011