Other Medal Events

This event is only open to Varsity and Junior Varsity Students, for whom it is required.

At the 2027 International History Olympiad, all Varsity and Junior Varsity students will compete in the Historiography competition. This event is designed to test students’ abilities to analyze historical documents, other primary sources, and secondary sources to answer research questions. Students looking to prepare for this event are advised to look over the 2022 Historiography Examination, its grading rubric, and be familiar with Document Based Questions, which are found on certain history Advanced Placement Exams. The rules for the 2027 International History Olympiad Historiography Examination will be identical to those used in 2022, 2023, and 2025.

At the 2018 International Geography Championships in Berlin, the single most popular event was a Berlin-wide geographical scavenger hunt. With that in mind, we’re delighted to be holding a Berlin Historical Scavenger Hunt as an optional official medal event at the 2027 Olympiad! Teams of 4-6 students will be put together with a priority placed on balancing team strength, not geographic coherence. Together with one or two  assigned staff members, they will then explore Berlin to complete a series of tasks for which knowledge of the city’s history will be useful, as well as a sense of direction, creativity, and general historical knowledge. Specific rules will only be given to teams at the outset of the Scavenger Hunt.

More information coming soon!

More information coming soon!

More information coming soon!

More information coming soon!

More information coming soon!

More information coming soon!

More information coming soon!

More information coming soon!

For the 2027 Olympiad, the Historical Debating Tournament will return as an event for the Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Middle School Divisions. Competing students will be seeded (according to Battery Exam results) into a single elimination bracket. Each match will take an hour, and will consist of the following:

A. A thesis statement will be drawn from a hat. No two topics will be the same. The topic may come from any aspect or field of history. A sample topic could be something like “Christianity was the primary factor that led to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.” or “The Central Powers would have won World War I had Germany not resorted to unrestricted submarine warfare.”
B. Students will have 25 minutes to study from their materials. They may (and are encouraged to bring) a smartphone and/or laptop, but this – and ensuring wifi – is up to them, and not the responsibility of Olympiad staff.
C. Students will then draw either “Affirmative” or “Negative” – they will not know which side they are preparing for while doing their research.

The debate format will be a modified version of the Lincoln-Douglas format outlined here. Speed reading will be negatively evaluated; students should assume that their judge is a history teacher, but not anyone with experience with formal competitive debate. We will consult with debaters on the format, but something close to, if not exactly the following format will be used:

1. The Affirmative side will make the first 4 minute speech (known as an Affirmative Constructive)
Notes from the research period may be used, but it is the responsibility of students to bring writing implements, paper, and a surface (e.g. a book) to write on. Smartphones and laptops are not permitted during the debate itself.
2. Then the Negative side will have 2 minutes to cross-examine the Affirmative case.
3. The Negative side will then have up to 3 minutes to reference their preparation materials; the Negative side should prepare their case against the Affirmative’s case they have just heard.
4. The Negative side will have 5 minutes to speak (known as a Negative Constructive), where they should also address the Affirmative’s case.
5. The Affirmative side will have 2 minutes to cross-examine the Negative case.
6. The Affirmative will then have up to 3 minutes to reference their preparation materials; the Affirmative side should prepare their case against the Negative’s case they have just heard.
7. The Affirmative side then has 3 minutes for the Affirmative Rebuttal.
8. The Negative side then has the balance of their preparation time.
9. The Negative rebuttal then has 4 minutes for the Negative Rebuttal. New arguments should be kept to a minimum at this point.
10. The Affirmative side then has the balance of their preparation time.
11. The Affirmative rebuttal then has 2 minutes for the Negative Rebuttal. No new arguments may be introduced at this point, as the Negative side cannot further respond.
This is a total of 28 minutes. With natural pauses, a round should likely take about 35 minutes.

Please note that this competition will take place in the evenings so that it is possible to schedule the matches without overlapping with over events that students have signed up for. Matches may be held as late as 9:30pm for Middle School Division students, and 10:30pm for Varsity and Junior Varsity Division students. Students should be prepared for this. Semifinal and medal matches on the last day of the Olympiad will take place in front of historic locations throughout Berlin and will be open to spectators, including the general public.

Knockout is a competition unique to the Olympiad and the International Geography Championships. The players sit or stand in a circle. One player begins, and then selects another player – that player then has to answer a question correctly. If they don’t, they get a strike. If they answer correctly, then they get the chance to pick the next player. If you get four strikes in the prelims, or three strikes in the finals, then you’re out! The top players in each room move on to the finals. At the end of the round, the last players to get knocked out receive bronze and silver medals, and the sole survivor is the gold medalist. If more than three students are still alive at the end of the round, then ties are broken first by the number of strikes a player has, and then secondly by the number of questions tied students answered correctly, and then finally by tiebreaker questions, if necessary. See the Official Rules file here for details:

Knockout – Official Rules            Knockout Scoresheet

* Olympiad trivia note – The idea for this event comes from Jeder Gegen Jeden (translation: Each Against Everyone) – a German language TV quiz show. If you’re interested in seeing an episode of Jeder Gegen Jeden, click here. Even if you don’t speak German, you can probably get the gist of the show – and if you listen carefully, you may even be able to figure out a few of the questions and answers.

This competition is open only to students in the Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Middle School Divisions. 

The Symposium will have three components. First, students will write a research paper on a topic of their choice on 20th Century History. It does not need to be on German history specifically.

The research paper must be entirely original, though it is permitted for students to submit a relevant paper that they have previously written as part of their academic studies in school or homeschooling. Papers must be formatted to include proper footnotes and a bibliography and should include a wide variety of sources. Any evidence of plagiarism will lead to immediate disqualification. Middle School Division papers must contain 2000-3000 words. Varsity and Junior Varsity Division papers must be 2500-3500 words. All papers must be submitted with a 300-400 word summary of their findings. Research Papers that are submitted for consideration must not have been submitted for the Symposium at any previous International History Olympiad or International Geography Championships. All papers are due by submission to olympiad@iacompetitions.com by 11:59pm PDT (i.e. Los Angeles / San Francisco) time on July 5.

Students’ papers will be due prior to the start of the Olympiad, and will be read by Olympiad staff. The top students (this is not a defined percentage; it’s more that the author of any paper of general high quality will be considered favorably) will be invited to defend their papers in an oral defense at the Olympiad in the second stage of the competition. For the 2027 Olympiad, the entirety of the medal determination will be done through the symposium defense, not the actual paper itself. The paper, however, determines which students are invited to defend their papers, and thus be eligible for medal consideration.

Then, the top three students from each of the three age divisions will then be invited to the actual Symposium, which is the third and final stage. This will take place over dinner at an upscale restaurant in Berlin with historians and IAC staff who will have read their papers. Students will then be given the summaries of the other students and then should ask insightful questions about other students’ topics, and defend their papers among the other students. The dinner is a required portion of the competition for the medalists, but the discussion does not count as part of the medal calculus. Semi-formal attire is requested (gentlemen: pack a jacket and/or a tie, ladies, pack a suitable dress or comparable attire). IAC will cover the cost of the dinner for all participants.

Note: You are welcome to use whichever citation format you prefer, although you must cite sources. Footnotes are preferred over endnotes, if you are using footnotes. You are also welcome to use MLA format (whereby, you would just indicate the author’s name [and work if citing more than one source by the same author] in parentheses, followed by the relevant page number). For all papers, a bibliography must be included, and a wide variety of sources (especially primary sources) is encouraged.

The winning Symposium paper from the 2022 International History Olympiad is attached here for reference as to what an example of a Gold Medal paper looks like: Iraq’s Forgotten Period by Ameer Sadi