World Quizzing Championships

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 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.

1. England Kevin Ashman – 154
2. England Pat Gibson – 135
3. India Ashish – 128
4. Belgium Nico Pattyn – 126
5. Belgium Frank Van Nieuwenhove – 124
6. England Ian Bayley – 118
7. England David Stainer – 117
8. India Arul Mani – 116
9. England Stephen Pearson – 115
10. Estonia 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.

1. England Kevin Ashman – 161
2. England Pat Gibson – 154
3. Belgium Nico Pattyn – 151
4. Belgium Marc Van Springel – 144
5. India Arul Mani – 144
6. Croatia Dorjana Širola – 139 (first woman)
7. Estonia Ove Põder – 138
8. Estonia Lauri Naber – 138
9. Belgium Erik Derycke – 138
10. England 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.

1. England Kevin Ashman – 166
2. England Pat Gibson – 163
3. Belgium Nico Pattyn – 155
4. Belgium Marc Van Springel – 146
5. England Olav Bjortomt – 142
6. Belgium Ronny Swiggers – 140
7. Croatia Dorjana Širola – 140 (highest placed woman)
8. England Mark Bytheway – 136
9. Belgium Erik Derycke – 136
10. England 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.

1. England Pat Gibson – 179
2. England Kevin Ashman – 176
3. England Mark Bytheway – 171
4. England Olav Bjortomt – 164
5. England Jesse Honey – 159
6. Belgium Ronny Swiggers – 158
7. England Ian Bayley – 151
8. Wales Mark Grant – 151
9. Belgium Nico Pattyn – 150
10. India Arul Mani – 150 Dorjana 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.

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, 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.

1. England Mark Bytheway – 173
2. Belgium Ronny Swiggers – 172
3. Finland Tero Kalliolevo – 170
4. England Kevin Ashman – 167
5. England Pat Gibson – 165
6. Belgium Nico Pattyn – 163
7. England Olav Bjortomt – 155
8. England Ian Bayley – 154
9. England Jesse Honey – 152
10. Croatia 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! 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.

1. England Kevin Ashman – 177
2. Belgium Ronny Swiggers – 174
3. England Mark Bytheway – 166
4. England Olav Bjortomt – 165
5. Belgium Nico Pattyn – 165
6. England Pat Gibson – 164
7. Finland Tero Kalliolevo – 156
8. USA Jerome Vered – 155
9. England Jesse Honey – 152
10. Norway 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, 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.

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

Notes

References

References

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