The Who Was? History Bee is a trivia contest being held across the U.S. during the 2022-2023 school year. Four Regional Champion student winners, each representing their own geographical region, will earn a $2,500 U.S. Savings Bond, a Who Was? Library set for themselves, and a Who Was? Library set for their classroom or library. Along with receiving their prizes, the Four Regional Champions will be celebrated in a virtual Who Was? History Bee Roblox event on a to be announced date, May 2023.

The Who Was? History Bee is open to students in grades 3rd-5th grades across the United States. Homeschooled students can participate in the Bee as well.

There will be one Champion/Finalist per geographic region as per the U.S. census. The four geographic regions are the West, Midwest, South, Northeast. Therefore, we’d have a Western Regional Champion, a Midwestern Regional Champion, a Southern Regional Champion, and a Northeastern Regional Champion. You can find what region your state, and thus school, falls into by clicking on the Census Regions and Divisions of the United States map here.

Teachers, librarians, and administrators working for a U.S. school or library that includes 3rd-5th grade students can sign up for the Bee. To sign up for 2022-2023 Who Was? History Bee complete the registration form. There is no cost to sign up for the Bee, and you will be supplied with all materials needed to promote, to prepare for, and to hold the Bee. Let us help you make history fun, exciting, and relevant to your students!

Thanks so much for signing up. You’ll start receiving emails from the Bee team in August. Please make sure that we’re not blocked from your SPAM filter–email will be our primary form of communication. We’ll also post updates on this website, so check back here as well. If you feel as though you’re not receiving communications from us and you’ve submitted your entry form, please do follow up and contact WhoWasHistoryBee@penguinrandomhouse.com

Unfortunately, parents cannot sign up their students directly for the Who Was? History Bee. But don’t be dismayed—we’ve created a letter you can send along to your child’s school. You should also sign up for the Who HQ newsletter, and like us on Facebook! We’ll have lots of exciting news to share about the Bee throughout the year.

The Who Was? book series began in 2002 with the publication of four books. Since then, over 300 titles have been published and over 60 million books are in print, making Who Was? the #1 middle-grade nonfiction series in the country. For more information about the series, including a list of titles, visit http://www.whowasbookseries.com/.

The Who Was? History Bee was built to be flexible. We understand that school districts, teachers, and librarians all face unique challenges. We’re hoping that the way we’ve set up the Bee will make it easy for every school and library to join us. We’ll be sending you full details in the coming months, and you can always reach us by email if you have additional questions at WhoWasHistoryBee@penguinrandomhouse.com

Round #1: Classroom/Group-level Bee: Students go head-to-head in this quick-moving classroom/group competition. This level of the Bee consists of oral exam questions.

Round #2: School/Library-level Bee: The top winners of each classroom/library group from Round #1 compete to win the title of school/library champion. The school/library-level Bee must have a minimum of 10 student participants. This level of the Bee also consists of oral exam questions.

Round #3: Proctored Exam: The School/Library champion takes a proctored exam. This exam will be submitted to the Who Was? History Bee judging committee and will be considered in the pool of candidates in determining the Four Regional Champion/Finalists (one finalist from each geographic region — West, Midwest, South, Northeast). The proctored exam consists of 80% multiple choice/open-ended questions and 20% short essay. Teachers/Librarians will be able to submit their student’s exams through the Who Was? History Bee website as an upload. Please note: Proctored exams will not be mailed into Penguin Random House this year.

Regional Champion Virtual Roblox Celebration: The Four Regional Finalists, selected by the Who Was? History Bee judging committee will be announced in April 2023 and honored in a Roblox Celebration in May 2023 — specific event details and timing to be announced.

Educator Note:

The Bee can work in any number of scenarios. Teachers and Librarians are encouraged to get the support of their entire school or library. In those cases, each class or group will hold its own Bee. From there, a school/library-level Bee will determine a single winner. That winner will take a proctored exam (overseen by a teacher/librarian).

In cases where teachers can’t get full participation from their school, they can still hold a Bee as long as there are 10 students in the final round. For example, if 5 classes participate, the top 2 winners in each class will proceed to the School-level Bee.

Nope! The Who Was? History Bee is a free event.

Of course—you can reach out anytime to us at WhoWasHistoryBee@penguinrandomhouse.com