World Quizzing Championship

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Banner publicising the championship in Bangalore, one of a number of cities simultaneously holding the July 2005 event

The World Quizzing Championship 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.

Multiple WQC winners[]

Individual	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
Kevin Ashman	6	4	2
Pat Gibson	4	5	4
Olav Bjortomt	4	1	0

List of WQC winners[]

Countries participating in the 2014 World Quizzing Championship

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
2021[1]	Ronny Swiggers	Dider Bruyere	Tero Kalliolevo
2020*[2]	Ravikant Avva	Troy Meyer	Victoria Groce
2019[3]	Olav Bjortomt	Steve Perry	Tero Kalliolevo
2018[4]	Olav Bjortomt	Steve Perry	Pat Gibson
2017[5]	Kevin Ashman	Didier Bruyere	Pat Gibson
2016[6]	Kevin Ashman	Olav Bjortomt	Pat Gibson
2015[7]	Olav Bjortomt	Kevin Ashman	Pat Gibson
2014[8]	Vikram Joshi	Steve Perry	Kevin Ashman
2013[9]	Pat Gibson	Tero Kalliolevo	Kevin Ashman
2012[10]	Jesse Honey	Pat Gibson	Steve Perry
2011[11]	Pat Gibson	Kevin Ashman	Tero Kalliolevo
2010[12]	Pat Gibson	Kevin Ashman	Ronny Swiggers
2009[13]	Kevin Ashman	Ronny Swiggers	Mark Bytheway
2008[14]	Mark Bytheway	Ronny Swiggers	Tero Kalliolevo
2007[15]	Pat Gibson	Kevin Ashman	Mark Bytheway
2006[16]	Kevin Ashman	Pat Gibson	Nico Pattyn
2005[17]	Kevin Ashman	Pat Gibson	Nico Pattyn
2004[18]	Kevin Ashman	Pat Gibson	Krishnakant
2003	Olav Bjortomt	Pat Gibson	Alan Gibbs

* The 2020 competition was largely contested online.

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.^[19]

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.^[18]

1. Kevin Ashman – 154^[18]
2. Pat Gibson – 135
3. Ashish – 128
4. Nico Pattyn – 126
5. Frank Van Nieuwenhove – 124
6. Ian Bayley – 118
7. David Stainer – 117
8. Arul Mani – 116
9. Stephen Pearson – 115
10. 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 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.^[17]

1. Kevin Ashman – 161^[17]
2. Pat Gibson – 154
3. Nico Pattyn – 151
4. Marc Van Springel – 144
5. Arul Mani – 144
6. Dorjana Širola – 139 (first woman)
7. Ove Põder – 138
8. Lauri Naber – 138
9. Erik Derycke – 138
10. 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.^[16]

1. Kevin Ashman – 166^[16]
2. Pat Gibson – 163
3. Nico Pattyn – 155
4. Marc Van Springel – 146
5. Olav Bjortomt – 142
6. Ronny Swiggers – 140
7. Dorjana Širola – 140 (highest placed woman)
8. Mark Bytheway – 136
9. Erik Derycke – 136
10. 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.^[15]

1. Pat Gibson – 179^[15]
2. Kevin Ashman – 176
3. Mark Bytheway – 171
4. Olav Bjortomt – 164
5. Jesse Honey – 159
6. Ronny Swiggers – 158
7. Ian Bayley – 151
8. – 151
9. Nico Pattyn – 150
10. 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.^[14]

1. Mark Bytheway – 173^[14]
2. Ronny Swiggers – 172
3. Tero Kalliolevo – 170
4. Kevin Ashman – 167
5. Pat Gibson – 165
6. Nico Pattyn – 163
7. Olav Bjortomt – 155
8. Ian Bayley – 154
9. Jesse Honey – 152
10. 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.^[13]

1. Kevin Ashman – 177^[13]
2. Ronny Swiggers – 174
3. Mark Bytheway – 166
4. Olav Bjortomt – 165
5. Nico Pattyn – 165
6. Pat Gibson – 164
7. Tero Kalliolevo – 156
8. Jerome Vered – 155
9. Jesse Honey – 152
10. 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.^{[12] [20][21]}

Individual (Top 10)[12]
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Pat Gibson	Ireland	180
2	Kevin Ashman	England	169
3	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	169
4	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	166
5	Olav Bjortomt	England	165
6	Nico Pattyn	Belgium	151
7	Mark Grant	Wales	149
8	Thomas Kolåsæter	Norway	147
9	Erik Derycke	Belgium	147
10	David Beck	Belgium	146
Nation (Ranked by highest placed team member, Top 10)
Pos	Country	Highest placed team member	Score
1	Ireland	1 – Pat Gibson	180
2	Belgium	3 – Ronny Swiggers	169
3	Finland	4 – Tero Kalliolevo	166
4	Wales	7 – Mark Grant	149
5	Norway	8 – Thomas Kolåsæter	147
6	Estonia	12 – Ove Põder	144
7	Croatia	17 – Dorjana Širola	140
8	United States	19 – Steve Perry	139
9	Scotland	23 – Barry Simmons	135
10	Germany	24 – Holger Waldenberger	135

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.^[11][22]

Individual (Top 10)[11]
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Pat Gibson	Ireland	186
2	Kevin Ashman	England	176
3	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	176
4	Jesse Honey	England	172
5	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	168
6	Olav Bjortomt	England	168
7	Nico Pattyn	Belgium	167
8	Steve Perry	USA	164
9	Mark Grant	Wales	163
10	Tom Trogh	Belgium	159

Genre Winners (Top Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Entertainment	Scott Dawson	England	28
Culture	Pat Gibson	Ireland	29
Lifestyle	Pat Gibson	Ireland	27
Sciences	Pat Gibson	Ireland	28
History	Nico Pattyn	Belgium	28
Media	Jussi Suvanto	Finland	29
Sport	Tom Trogh	Belgium	26
World	Pat Gibson Paul Lujan	Ireland   Switzerland	26

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.

Individual (Top 10)[10]
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Jesse Honey	England	186
2	Pat Gibson	Ireland	177
3	Steve Perry	USA	174
4	Kevin Ashman	England	172
5	Olav Bjortomt	England	170
6	Mark Grant	Wales	170
7	Sean Carey	England	169
8	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	166
9	David Stainer	England	164
10	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	164

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Entertainment	Holger Waldenberger	Germany	27
Culture	Ove Põder	Estonia	28
Lifestyle	Sean Carey	England	29
Sciences	Pat Gibson	Ireland	26
History	Jesse Honey Tero Kalliolevo Mark Grant	England  Finland  Wales	28
Media	Ishaan Chugh	India	30
Sport	Tom Trogh	Belgium	27
World	Jesse Honey	England	27

2013[]

The 2013 World Quizzing Championship took place on the 1st of June. A record 1,992 participants competed with India being the most represented country.^[9]

Individual (Top 10)[9]
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Pat Gibson	Ireland	172
2	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	168
3	Kevin Ashman	England	163
4	Olav Bjortomt	England	161
5	Ove Põder	Estonia	158
6	Steve Perry	USA	156
7		Wales	156
8	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	155
9	Vikram Joshi	India	153
10		France	152

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Entertainment	Pat Gibson	Ireland	26
Culture	Vikram Joshi	India	27
Lifestyle	Steven Perry	USA	23
Sciences	Pat Gibson	Ireland	26
History	Ove Põder	Estonia	28
Media	Olav Bjortomt Yogesh Raut	England  USA	28
Sport	Tom Trogh Igor Habal	Belgium  Estonia	27
World	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	27

2014[]

The 2014 World Quizzing Championship took place on the 7th of June with 1,833 participants.^[8]

Individual (Top 10)[8]
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Vikram Joshi	India	176
2	Steven Perry	USA	174
3	Kevin Ashman	England	171
4	Olav Bjortomt	England	160
5	Pat Gibson	Ireland	157
6	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	154
7	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	154
8	Nico Pattyn	Belgium	151
9		Wales	150
10	Ian Bayley	England	148

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Entertainment	Steve Perry	USA	26
History	Vikram Joshi	India	30
Lifestyle	Vikram Joshi	India	24
Sciences	Joe Trela	USA	26
Culture	Kevin Ashman	England	28
Media	Kevin Ashman	England	29
Sport		Estonia	27
World	Vikram Joshi Nico Pattyn Steve Perry	India  Belgium  USA	25

2015[]

The 2015 World Quizzing Championship took place on the 6th of June with over 2,000 participants.

Individual (Top 10)[7]
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Olav Bjortomt	England	161
2	Kevin Ashman	England	157
3	Pat Gibson	Ireland	156
4	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	151
5	Holger Waldenberger	Germany	144
6	Ove Põder	Estonia	144
7	Tom Trogh	Belgium	142
8	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	142
9		Norway	141
10	Nico Pattyn	Belgium	141

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Entertainment	Olav Bjortomt Ove Põder	Finland  England  Estonia	22
History	Ian Bayley	England	24
Lifestyle	Daniel Melia Olav Bjortomt	USA  England	21
Sciences	Ian Bayley Nick Mills Pat Gibson	England  England  Ireland	24
Culture	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	26
Media	Olav Bjortomt	England	27
Sport	Olav Bjortomt	England	24
World	Geir H. Kristiansen Pat Gibson	Norway  Ireland	29

2016[]

The 2016 World Quizzing Championship took place on the 4th of June with over 2,500 participants.

Individual (Top 10)[7]
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Kevin Ashman	England	171
2	Olav Bjortomt	England	167
3	Pat Gibson	Ireland	165
4		Wales	163
5	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	161
6	Tom Trogh	Belgium	162
7	Ian Bayley	England	160
8	Didier Bruyere	France	160
9	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	159
10	David Stainer	England	156

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Media	Olav Bjortomt	England	30
World	Kevin Ashman Patrick Friel Tero Kalliolevo Holger Waldenberger	England  USA  Finland  Germany	22
Entertainment	Susannah Brooks David Dixon Mark Grant Paul Sinha	USA  USA  Wales  England	24
History	Kevin Ashman	England	29
Science	Pat Gibson	Ireland	27
Sport	Kevin Ashman Hugh Bennett Tim Westcott	England  England  England	26
Lifestyle	Mark Ryder	USA	26
Culture	Kevin Ashman Ian Bayley Olav Bjortomt Tero Kalliolevo Nico Pattyn	England  England  England  Finland  Belgium	24

2017[]

Individual (Top 10)
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Kevin Ashman	England	169
2	Didier Bruyere	France	163
3	Pat Gibson	Ireland	160
4	Tom Trogh	Belgium	159
5	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	156
6	Tim Polley	USA	155
7	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	155
8	Ian Bayley	England	154
9	Ove Põder	Estonia	153
10	Mark Grant	Wales	153

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Media	Olav Bjortomt	England	28
World	Mark Henry Gary Grant Nico Pattyn	Ireland  Scotland  Belgium	23
Entertainment	Olav Bjortomt	England	23
History	Andrew Frazer Kevin Ashman	Scotland  England	26
Science	Pat Gibson	Ireland	27
Sport	Igor Habal	Estonia	25
Lifestyle	Tom Trogh Pat Gibson Didier Bruyere Susannah Brooks Ronny Swiggers Steve Cooke	Belgium  Ireland  France  USA  Belgium  Scotland	26
Culture	Espen Kibsgård Kevin Ashman	Norway  England	25

2018[]

Individual (Top 10)
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Olav Bjortomt	England	164
2	Steven Perry	USA	159
3	Pat Gibson	Ireland	159
4	Igor Habal	Estonia	158
5	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	157
6	Kevin Ashman	England	156
7	Didier Bruyere	France	152
8	Tom Trogh	Belgium	149
9	Mark Grant	Wales	148
10	Nico Pattyn	Belgium	146

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Media	Ishaan Chugh	India	28
World	Tomislav Bleiziffer	Croatia	27
Entertainment	Olav Bjortomt	England	25
History	Jakob Myers Kevin Ashman	USA  England	25
Science	Pat Gibson	Ireland	27
Sport	Igor Habal	Estonia	29
Lifestyle	Steven Perry Eric Smith Jerome Vered	USA  Canada  USA	27
Culture	Kevin Ashman	England	26

2019[]

Individual (Top 10)
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Olav Bjortomt	England	171
2	Steven Perry	USA	168
3	Tero Kalliolevo	Finland	167
4	Kevin Ashman	England	166
5	Pat Gibson	Ireland	166
6	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	164
7	Didier Bruyere	France	164
8	Ian Bayley	England	163
9	Thomas Kolåsæter	Norway	162
10	Troy Meyer	USA	159

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Media	Ishaan Chugh	India	29
World	Pat Gibson	Ireland	28
Entertainment	Troy Meyer	USA	27
History	Olav Bjortomt Steven Perry Nico Pattyn Ravikant Avva	England  USA  Belgium  Singapore	27
Science	Ian Bayley Lander Frederickx	England  Belgium	25
Sport	Mark Preston	England	26
Lifestyle	Olav Bjortomt Ronny Swiggers	England  Belgium	26
Culture	Daoud Jackson	England	25

2020[]

Individual (Top 10)
Pos	Name	Country	Score
1	Ravikant Avva	Singapore	159
2	Troy Meyer	USA	156
3	Victoria Groce	USA	155
4	Ronny Swiggers	Belgium	154
5	Yogesh Raut	USA	153
6	Tom Trogh	Belgium	150
7	Igor Habal	Estonia	149
8	Kaarel Silmato	Estonia	148
9	Olav Bjortomt	England	148
10	Pat Gibson	Ireland	146

Genre Winners (Max. Score = 30)
Genre	Winner	Country	Score
Culture	Guy Jordan Victoria Groce Ravikant Avva Troy Meyer Ronny Swiggers	USA  USA  Singapore  USA  Belgium	25
Entertainment	Daniel Cohen	USA	25
History	Daoud Jackson	England	26
Media	Yogesh Raut	USA	27
Lifestyle	Daniel Cohen	USA	26
Science	Nick Mills Tom Trogh Ravikant Avva Ronny Swiggers	England  Belgium  Singapore  Belgium	22
Sport & Games	Ravikant Avva	Singapore	25
World	Shane Whitlock	USA	26

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 two hours in which to answer them (during one hour halves with a break in between). At the end of the allotted time, the papers are marked and each quizzers' top seven category scores will be added together to find the winner.

The categories^[23] [and general content areas] are a combination of academic and popular culture topics including:

• Culture [Architecture, Fine Arts, Philosophy, Museums, Religion, Mythology]
• Entertainment [Music (Classical, Blues, Film Score, Jazz, Rock, World), Ballet, Musicals and Operas, Radio, Television, Internet]
• History [History (<450AD, 450–1492, 1492–1900, 1900–date), Current Affairs, Explorations, Famous People, Civilizations]
• Lifestyle [Costume, Design, Fashion, Food & Drink, Handicrafts, Health & Fitness, Human Body, New Age Beliefs, Products & Brands, Tourism]
• Media [Movies (1900–1980, 1980–2000, recent), Literature (<1900, 1900–1980, recent), Poetry, Drama, Comics, Language]
• Science [Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Social Sciences, Fauna, Flora]
• Sport [Track and Field, Team Sports, Motor Sports, Winter Sports, Games, Hobbies & Pastimes, Records]
• World [Geography, Cities, Space, Technology, Transport, Inventions]

See also[]

• Australian Quiz Champion
• British Quizzing Championships
• European Quizzing Championships
• Asia-Pacific Quiz Championships

References[]

External links[]

• Official site
• World Quizzing Championships 2007: Results
• World Quizzing Championships 2006: Results
• World Quizzing Championships 2005: Results
• World Quizzing Championships 2004: Results
• IQA Belgium with full results previous World and European Championships
• IQA Great Britain
• IQA United States
• IQA Norway – all WQC results
• Quizzing Australia
• World Quizzing Championship in Lithuania – information, results, photos
• World Quizzing Championship in Ireland – information, results, photos