The events listed below will be held at the 2022 International Geography Championships. Medals will not be awarded specifically for any of the below-listed events.
The Opening Ceremonies of the 2022 International Geography Championships will take place on the campus of the University of Vermont on the afternoon of the first day of IGC (Sunday, July 3). All participants in IGC, including attending family members, friends and coaches are encouraged to attend (participating students are required to do so). The Opening Ceremonies will feature pomp, pageantry, and lots of important announcements and information regarding the week ahead. Directly after the Opening Ceremonies, there will be a reception with lemonade and cookies or similar fare for all participants.
For students who arrive early on arrival day, we’ll organize a few icebreaker games that morning with a geography theme or focus. There will also be an opening reception for parents (and for students not competing in the first few medal events) in the afternoon after the Opening Ceremonies. If students are tired and wish to sleep, or otherwise socialize with friends or family during these times, that would certainly be fine as well.
For medal events, awards will be distributed each day in the evening. As the International Geography Championships features three age divisions, students will only attend (and must attend, since will also be making important announcements each evening there too) the medals ceremonies for their age division. A schedule of when the medals ceremonies for each event will take place will be provided to all attending students and their accompanying friends and family members in advance of IGC. Medals Ceremonies will also take place at multiple times on the final day. This plan is subject to change given space requirements, though.
Burlington, Vermont traditionally holds its fireworks celebration on July 3, on Independence Day eve. The fireworks take place over Lake Champlain, but as UVM is located on a hill above town, our vantage point provides a great way to enjoy the fireworks without having to battle crowds of tens of thousands of people on the lakefront. As IGC begins on July 3, it will be a fun capstone to our first day of competition!
The second day of the 2022 International Geography Championships is the 4th of July! We’ll celebrate in style with a traditional American cookout for dinner. We’ll have hamburgers, hot dogs, and watermelon, for sure, but also plenty of vegetarian options, and classic American treats. We’ll look to have some traditional backyard games available too for a family-friendly evening, capped off by beta testing our new Family Quiz Game Idea along with the popular Knockout quiz for any interested competing students.
At the 2022 International Geography Championships, we’ll test out a new buzzer-based family quiz show format. We’ll post further information on this in the lead up to the week, but expect a format where certain non-buzzer bonus questions are meant for just one family member (or buzzer-based questions where it’s one member per team). This will not be a tournament (i.e. there will not be an overall winner), but all families who wish to compete will have a chance to play a game.
At the end of each day, we’ll be asking several students in each age division to give us feedback on what they particularly enjoyed, what recommendations they might have for next time, and any suggestions they may have regarding the International Geography Championships in general. This will help give us feedback in a systematic way, so that we can note everything that is important to remember after each day, and not just in the feedback form at the end of the week. IGC staff will take part in this process too, and there will also be a way for parents, family members, and coaches to provide daily feedback too.
If you have an interest in journalism, here’s your chance to cover IGC as a correspondent reporting from Vermont! Whether on our website, Youtube channel, newsletter, or other social media sites; in media outlets in our host city and country, or back in your hometown; or for the international press, we’re looking to spread the word about all of the great accomplishments of the competing students at the 2022 International Geography Championships! Our staff will advise based on journalism guidelines, and then you’ll have a chance to be part of the story as you cover it. Students in the Press Corps will each have a specific responsibility based on their interests and skills (e.g. photography, social media, copy writer, public relations, etc.). We will also have dedicated press conferences with students and staff that will be streamed on Facebook Live, along with certain matches. That will allow friends and family to follow your accomplishments in real time!
Participating students might know all the capitals of every country in the world, but do they know which companies are active in which industries in which countries? Are they truly familiar with international food and drink? Have they traveled as extensively as their parents? Do they know which bands were in the British Invasion? It turns out that Mom and Dad (and other attending family members) might have a bit of a cultural geography “head start” on their children. We’ll find out how well families are able to cross-generationally collaborate together during this informal audio quiz!
The Closing Ceremonies of the 2022 International Geography Championships will take place on the evening of the last full day IGC (i.e. July 9). All participants in IGC, including family members, friends, and coaches are encouraged to attend. The Closing Ceremonies will ature the medals ceremonies for the International Geography Bee World Championships and International Geography Bowl, and the overall IGC champions will be crowned here as well. We will also reveal the final Medals Standings to see which team finishes the week on top. The venue will likely be determined by the end of January 2022, and will be posted here once it has been finalized.