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2016 International History Olympiad – General Email #1

Posted Jun 26, 2016

This email was sent on June 5

Dear Students, Parents, and Friends of the International History Olympiad!

We are just over six weeks away from the start of the 2nd International History Olympiad in Honolulu, Hawaii, and we hope that you are getting excited to join us for an unforgettable week of fun, sun, and a slew of history competitions against the top history scholars from around the world! On this rare tournament-less weekend for your directors, we figured this would be a good time to check in with a few important updates. As always, please email us with any questions you may have (though between this coming Thursday and Sunday, we’ll be running our Asian Championships and will be somewhat slower than usual to answer emails during that time).

1. Registration

A number of people receiving this email have expressed interest in coming (or expressed interest on behalf of their students) but have not yet formally registered (or, in some cases, submitted payment for the Qualifying Exam if you didn’t qualify from participation in NHBB/IHBB). If you plan on coming to the 2016 International History Olympiad in Hawaii from 17-24 July, then please sign up as soon as possible if you haven’t yet done so, and if you need to submit payment for the Qualifying Exam, you must do this, and then pass the exam before you can officially register! While registration will remain open through the end of June, it makes it much easier for us in terms of reserving rooms and securing staff for the event if you can register as soon as possible if you haven’t yet done so.

2. Payments

The credit card and PayPal payment page is now open. Note that if you wish to pay for the Civilization tournament and/or Polynesian Cultural Center trip in cash (US dollars only) in Hawaii, you can do this – all other payments must be by US dollar denominated check, by wire transfer, or by PayPal.

3. Post Olympiad Hotels

We have posted information regarding the recommended hotels for the Post-Olympiad stay on the website here. Note that it is NOT necessary to stay at any of the hotels listed there in order to be able to participate in the Post-Olympiad events.

4. Event Update – Simulation

Olympiad staff member Shravan Balaji has both participated in and overseen numerous historical simulations – he also wrote the guide for and designed the Boxer Rebellion simulation last year. This year’s historical simulation will focus on the 1941 Pearl Harbor attacks. A preliminary version of the simulation guide from Shravan is found here. Depending on interest levels and requests for further details, supplemental information may be provided if needed, but this guide should explain things in good detail.

5. Event Update – U Pick, We Write

As mentioned on the website here one of the new features of this year’s Olympiad is a specific competition where players suggest a topic for a Bee-style competition, then we will write it. But first, we need suggestions! See the website for how this works, and then post your suggestions on our Facebook page. We will take suggestions through the end of June 12 over the Facebook page, then voting will go on during the following week.

6. Event Update – U Pick, U Write

Likewise, if anyone else would like to write a question packet on the topic of their choice, see: the U Pick, U Write guidelines for how we can then incorporate this into the Olympiad. Note that this will not be an official medal event (due to obvious concerns of question security and quality control), but if anyone is interested in writing a packet or two on their favorite topic, please email me so we can give everyone who’s interested a chance to play it.
7. Other Events
Event selection forms will be sent in the last week of June or the first week of July, though we may be in touch regarding some specific events to try and get a better idea about participation levels in advance. That won’t happen until at least June 15, though.

8. Competition / Housing Venues

All Olympiad housing at the University is at Frear Hall; see here for a map of Frear on the Univ. of Hawaii-Manoa campus. A number of the competition spaces will take place in Frear as well. Other venues will depend on the final number of Olympiad attendees, but in general, the amount of time it takes to get from housing to competition sites to meals should be far less than it was last year at William and Mary in Virginia.

9. Scheduling Update
At this point, given the registration numbers, ALL students will do the USS Missouri encampment on July 23 – the middle school division students will also do the encampment then; we will provide an update on the schedule with the next email that reflects this.

That’s all we have for now, but there will be many additional updates to come over the next six weeks. Please be in touch with us if you’d like to suggest topics for the U Pick events, and if you need to clarify registration or payment questions.

Thanks, and hope to see you in Hawaii next month!

Best regards,

David and Nolwenn Madden

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