The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, volunteer alliance of advocates for high school quizbowl competition across the United States.
We run the National Scholastic Championship (NSC), an annual national high school quizbowl tournament. Additionally, PACE awards the Morgan Costa-Rhodes Memorial Scholarship for graduating seniors, the Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Awards for impactful members of the quizbowl community.
PACE is a 501c(3) non-profit. Your donations help us fund the NSC, college scholarships, outreach, the HSQuizbowl forums, and many other projects.
2025 National Scholastic Championship
The 2025 NSC will be held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Rosemont, IL on June 7-8, 2025. More details about registration will be announced soon.
2024 National Scholastic Championship
Congratulations to Barrington High School of Illinois, champions of the 2024 NSC! Their perfect 7-0 record in the Championship Bracket was enough to secure back-to-back national titles for the Broncos. Richard Montgomery A (Rockville, MD) finished in second place with a 5-2 record, while St. Mark’s School of Texas (Dallas) defeated Hastings High School (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY) 490-280 to take third place after both teams went 4-3.
Complete tournament statistics can be found here.
Latest News
- Welcome PACE’s Summer 2024 New Member Class!The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence welcomes four new members this summer! Joy An (they/them) is a rising sophomore at Harvard studying chemistry and comparative literature, and the president of Harvard’s quizbowl club. They are an avid writer and appreciator of any category that’s not history, and some will claim they are a “literature” and… Read more: Welcome PACE’s Summer 2024 New Member Class!
- Stories of the NSC: Lindbergh High Schoolby Colin McNamara Lindbergh is in their third year playing quiz bowl. While this is their first time coming to the NSC, this is not their first national championship tournament. After just competing in two local tournaments their first year of existence, they qualified two teams for the HSNCT their second year, with both teams… Read more: Stories of the NSC: Lindbergh High School
- Stories of the NSC: Hastings High Schoolby Colin McNamara Hastings is a small school with big aspirations. Their dominating title run in NAQT’s Small School National Championship Tournament was followed by a disappointing finish in the larger NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. That mellowed their expectations for the NSC, but they’re still hoping for a top 8 finish. This is… Read more: Stories of the NSC: Hastings High School
- Road to the NSC: Walter Payton College Preparatory High Schoolby Sadie Britton, PACE Director of Communications The quizbowl team at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, a public magnet school in Old Town Chicago, has a lot to celebrate as they close out their 2023-24 season at the PACE NSC this weekend. They’ve just had the most successful season of any quizbowl team in… Read more: Road to the NSC: Walter Payton College Preparatory High School
- 2024 Morgan Costa-Rhodes Memorial Scholarship Winner – Congratulations Mary Curtis!The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence is thrilled to announce Mary Curtis of Metro East Lutheran High School (Edwardsville, IL) as the recipient of the 2024 Morgan Costa-Rhodes Memorial Scholarship! Metro East Lutheran High School’s scholastic bowl coach, Shanna Covarrubias, says of Mary, “[She] never ceases to impress me with her outstanding character and achievements[…]… Read more: 2024 Morgan Costa-Rhodes Memorial Scholarship Winner – Congratulations Mary Curtis!