The 2026 PACE NSC will take place at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois on June 6-7, 2026. Registration for qualified teams is now open.

The Hyatt Regency O’Hare has been the site of the 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, and 2025 NSCs, as well as numerous other quizbowl national championships. PACE looks forward to continuing our partnership to bring teams a high-quality tournament in the NSC tradition.

The field cap is currently 84 teams. Given the tournament historically fills up, we encourage schools to register and complete their deposits as soon as possible.

The tournament will be directed by Anna Csiki-Fejer and the set will be head edited by Ganon Evans and Hari Parameswaran.

The current field, waitlist, and standby list can be found at the registered teams page.

If you have any questions regarding the registration process, please contact PACE Director of Communications Sadie Britton at communications@pace-nsc.org.

Qualifying for the NSC

If a quizbowl tournament guarantees at least 8 games and does not limit the field to novices, the top 20% of teams will qualify for the NSC. More details about qualifications can be found at the 2026 NSC Qualification Guidelines page.

NSC Registration

Registration for Qualified Teams

Qualified teams may register by completing the following 2 steps:

1. Filling out the NSC registration form, which has opened to qualified teams as of November 1, 2025. Please note that solely filling out this form does not guarantee a spot in the NSC field.
2. Making a $100 deposit (or alternatively, full payment of registration costs.) Teams are guaranteed a spot in the field once this payment is received.

This process must be completed for every team that seeks to register, even teams from the same school. For example, if a school seeks to register two teams, the school should fill out the registration form twice (once for each team) and make two $100 deposits or full payments. Deposits for multiple teams can be combined into a single payment (such as one payment of $200 for two teams); please make a note in the payment if this is the case.

Registration for Waitlist and Standby Teams

Waitlist

If the field is full, qualified teams may reserve a spot on the waitlist by completing registration and submitting a deposit. The order of the waitlist will be determined by the order in which registration is completed. If a team on the waitlist is unable to enter the field, their deposit will be refunded.

Standby Teams

Teams with standby status must commit to showing up for the tournament and being ready to play if a registered team fails to appear on Saturday morning for whatever reason. Standby teams play on an as-needed basis for no charge. Standby teams are responsible for arranging and paying for all associated costs of attending the tournament, just as if they were regular teams in the field. The recompense is the possibility of playing the tournament without paying registration fees and does not entitle any team to reimbursement from PACE for other attendance expenses. There is no guarantee any spots will open for standby teams to play.

Teams applying for standby status do not need to have qualified for the NSC, and may be B teams, C teams, etc. of schools already in the field. However, all members of any such standby teams must plan to be on-site Saturday morning regardless of whether they get to play.

In the event that spots do open up, PACE reserves discretion in selecting which standby teams fill the vacancies. Barring extreme circumstances, PACE will continue to do this on a first-come, first-served order, based on the time at which teams filled out the form.

The list of teams with standby status is not the same as the official waitlist for entry to the tournament. Teams on the official waitlist may also apply to be standby teams.

Teams may register for standby status by emailing NSC Tournament Director Anna Csiki-Fejer at tournament.director@pace-nsc.org.

Fees and Payment

• Base fee: $860 per team (note that this is per team, not per school)
• Buzzer system discount*: -$15 per fully functioning buzzer system, no limit
• Hosting an NSC qualifier discount: -$20 per tournament, no limit

In order to claim a buzzer discount, teams must provide a system with at least eight fully working buzzers, defined as having lockout capabilities and functional identifying lights. Buzzer systems will be tested at buzzer check-in and teams who provide non-working systems will be forced to refund the discount. Buzzers will be available for pickup no sooner than 1 PM on Sunday.

Teams may choose to pay the full fee as soon as they register, or pay a $100 deposit at registration. PACE will count the $100 deposit toward the registration fee. If your team’s registration fee will be paid in full by the team’s school or school district, but another group (such as players and/or coaches) fronted the deposit, PACE can reimburse your team $100 in the event of an overpayment.

Refunds

If a registered team withdraws from the tournament:

• Deposit is fully refundable (minus $5 processing fee) until March 15, 2026
• Deposit is half-refundable (minus $5 processing fee) until March 31, 2026
• After March 31, 2026, the deposit is non-refundable.
• After April 30, 2026, the full payment is nonrefundable.

All registration payments, online or mailed by check, must be received by May 10, 2026. For each day payment is not received after May 10, a $15 late fee will be added to your entry fee. If your payment is not received by May 21, PACE reserves the right to drop you from the tournament.

NSC entry fees go primarily toward writers and editors of the NSC question set, travel and lodging for NSC staffers, organizational operating costs, and maintenance costs for this website and the hsquizbowl.org forums.

For specific questions about the fee structure or payment methods, please contact PACE treasurer Mike Bentley at treasurer@pace-nsc.org.

Payments may be made securely online via PayPal or by mailed check. If mailing a check, please make the check out to “Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence and mail to:

Mike Bentley
5603 125th Ave. SE
Bellevue, WA 98006

Hotel Block

PACE has an agreement with Hyatt Regency O’Hare that provides teams with discounted room rates during the tournament. Teams can book rooms with two double beds at a rate of $176/night, with parking also available at a discounted rate of $25/night.

Instructions on how to book in the room block will be available soon.

Wildcard Teams

Teams that have not qualified for the NSC can submit wildcard bids starting on January 1, 2026. Additionally, a school that has qualified its A team for the NSC can submit wildcard bids for additional teams (B team, C team, etc.) if those teams from the same school have not qualified through other means.

Teams may submit wildcard bids by emailing PACE’s Wildcard Coordinator at wildcard@pace-nsc.org with their team name, contact information, and a summary of the team’s accomplishments throughout the year.

PACE will determine whether to grant the team entry to the NSC and return a decision within 10 days of receiving the application.

PACE will automatically approve wildcard bids from teams which finished highly enough for events that meet our standards for qualifier status even if those events are not officially listed as qualifiers.

(For example, if “City High School A” finishes in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place at the “City Invitational Tournament,” which was run on an NAQT Invitational Series set, had a field of 20, offered eight games to all teams, and kept team statistics – within the 20% cutoff of a qualifier – their bid would be automatically accepted regardless of whether the “City Invitational Tournament” chose to join the official list of qualifier events.)