World Quizzing Championships

The World Quizzing Championships are in the form of a written test taken by individuals that is administered at various locations around the world. All contestants receive the same questions, typically translated into their first language, at approximately the same time. The test consists of 240 questions, with 30 in each of eight broad genres, and is distributed as two packs of four papers each. Contestants have 60 minutes to complete each pack. Once time expires, the papers are marked and contestants score one point for each correct answer. From 2003 to 2021, each contestant's lowest-scoring genre was dropped and their scores from the other seven were added to determine the final standings. Starting with the 2022 competition, all eight genres are included. The genres and general content areas are a combination of academic and popular culture topics including: Some questions may appear to fit within more than one genre. ==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 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. 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), 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. • Pat Gibson – 135 • Ashish – 128 • Nico Pattyn – 126 • Frank Van Nieuwenhove – 124 • Ian Bayley – 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. 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. • 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 – 138 2006 On 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. • 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 – 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. • Pat Gibson – 179 • Mark Bytheway – 173 • Kevin Ashman – 177 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 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. 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 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 2023 2024 2025 == See also ==