Plot Synopsis

Started in 2012, the annual National History Bee culminates in the televised finals, where top scorers, one from each of 32 regions, compete for a $50,000 scholarship and a national championship title. In the 2012 finals, the brightest young historical minds from around the country battled it out at Trinity Washington University in a game show-style contest that was filmed live for television. The 32 regional winners were narrowed down to 16 and then four, culminating in a face-off between two finalists. Moderator Al Roker challenged students with questions like: Who was the first U.S. President from New York? What pre-Revolutionary event involved an unauthorized boarding of the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver? Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable were decoys created to distract German forces during what WWII operation? Judges for the 2012 History Bee were: Steve Gillon, Scholar-in-Residence for HISTORY and Professor of history at the University of Oklahoma; Rhonda Haynes VP, Editor-in-Chief of the K-12 Social Studies Department at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) publishing company; and Greg Bossick, Assistant Executive Director for The National History Bee and Bowl.