Seventeen teams from across Massachusetts will compete for State Championship title
BOSTON (February 1, 2021) – High School Quiz Show revealed today the competition bracket for Season 12 of the popular academic series from Boston public media producer GBH. Following the program’s first-ever virtual Super Sunday qualifying quiz on January 24, seventeen high school teams from across Massachusetts advanced to the televised competition. In a season of firsts, High School Quiz Show is also welcoming four new teams, including the first team of homeschooled students in the show’s history. The two-time defending champion Boston Latin School, as well as four other former champions, also will be competing.
Emmy award-winning and popular radio personality Billy Costa returns to host Season 12, which will be produced using a hybrid model, with teams competing remotely and the host asking the questions from GBH studios in Brighton. The new season of High School Quiz Show will premiere Sunday, April 3 at 6 p.m. ET on GBH 2 and on High School Quiz Show’s YouTube channel.
“For more than a decade, High School Quiz Show has served as a platform to recognize the accomplishments and knowledge of high school students across the Commonwealth. In this difficult year, students have had to make adjustments and sacrifices in their academic, extracurricular and social lives. We felt that it was more important than ever to honor their hard work and celebrate the unique spirit of each team,” said Senior Producer Phillipe Vieira. “We are looking forward to another exciting and competitive tournament with a strong slate of veteran schools and newcomers.”
High School Quiz Show is a fast-paced, bracketed academic competition for teams of Massachusetts high school students, broadcast annually on GBH 2. Aside from Jeopardy!, High School Quiz Show is the most popular academic quiz show on American television. Over eleven previous seasons, more than 700 students from over 70 schools across the state have competed on the program.
The 15 teams with the highest scores from Super Sunday qualified immediately for a spot in the competition bracket. The final spot in the bracket will be determined through a Wild Card showdown between the two teams with the next-highest scores that have not been previously featured on the show, or haven’t competed in five or more years. The Wild Card match will be featured as the season premiere on Saturday, April 3.
Among the top 17 qualifiers are teams from each of the winning schools from Seasons 6-11, including the two-time defending champion Boston Latin School, Season 9 champion Andover High School, Lexington High School, which took home the trophy in Seasons 7 and 8, and Season 6 champion Advanced Math and Science Academy from Marlborough, MA. Four teams will make their High School Quiz Show debuts, including the two Wild Card teams, British International School of Boston and Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science in Worcester.
The full list of teams competing for the state championship title is as follows:
- Advanced Math and Science Academy (Marlborough, MA)
- Andover High School
- Belmont High School
- Boston Latin School
- British International School of Boston
- The Homeschoolers
- Hopkinton High School
- Lexington High School
- Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science (Worcester, MA)
- Needham High School
- Newton North High School
- North Quincy High School
- Sharon High School
- Wakefield Memorial High School
- Wellesley High School
- Westford Academy
- Weston High School
High School Quiz Show is endorsed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education and the Massachusetts PTA. Questions on the show are aligned with the Massachusetts high school curriculum standards in subjects that include literature, history, civics, science and math, as well as current events, and general knowledge. Major funding for High School Quiz Show is provided by Safety Insurance. Additional funding is provided by the Museum of Science, Massachusetts Teachers Association, XFINITY from Comcast, Eastern Bank, Emerson College and Subaru of New England.
For more information, visit highschoolquizshow.org and follow the show on YouTube, Facebook,Twitter andInstagram.
About GBH
GBH is the leading multiplatform creator for public media in America. As the largest producer of content for PBS and partner to NPR and PRX, GBH delivers compelling experiences, stories and information to audiences wherever they are. GBH produces digital and broadcast programming that engages, illuminates and inspires, through drama and science, history, arts, culture and journalism. It is the creator of such signature programs as MASTERPIECE, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, FRONTLINE, NOVA, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, Arthur and Molly of Denali and a catalog of streaming series, podcasts and on-demand video. GBH’s television channels include GBH 2, GBH 44, GBH Kids and national services WORLD and Create. With studios and a newsroom headquartered in Boston, GBH reaches across New England with GBH 89.7, Boston’s Local NPR; CRB Classical 99.5; and CAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station. Dedicated to making media accessible to and inclusive of our diverse culture, GBH is a pioneer in delivering media to those who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired. GBH creates curriculum-based digital content for educators nationwide with PBS LearningMedia and has been recognized with hundreds of the nation’s premier broadcast, digital and journalism awards. Find more information at gbh.org.
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