Imperial College London
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Above: Imperial A after winning 2023 British Student Quiz Championships From left to right: Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays, Adam Jones |
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Imperial College London is a research university in London, United Kingdom with an active quiz society. Imperial is the regular host of the annual British Student Quiz Championships (BSQC) organised by UK Quizbowl, and participated in ACF Nationals for the first time in 2022. Alongside Magdalene College, Oxford, and the University of Manchester, Imperial holds the joint record for the most series wins of the University Challenge quiz show, with 4 wins as of 2022. After the society's rapid growth in the late 2010s, Imperial won their first quizbowl title in the 28-team Southeast-Midwest Housewrite tournament with Imperial A players Michael Kohn, Enoch Yuen, Felix Roberts and Richard Brooks.
In 2023, a new team comprising Enoch Yuen, Michael Mays, Adam Jones, and Justin Lee achieved considerable success in UK tournaments. They emerged victorious in all the UK college quizbowl tournaments they participated in during 2023, including ARCADIA "2022", ACF Regionals, C++, MRNA, and ARCADIA 2023, where Nilai Sarda played in place of Adam. The same team also won the British Student Quiz Championships in 2023, providing Imperial with its first ever BSQC title.
History
Early period (1998-2003)
Imperial first participated in quizbowl after being invited to the 1997 ICT, in which they placed thirteenth. The quiz society at Imperial was first established in 1998[1] to host QuizIC, the first major inter-university quizbowl tournament in the United Kingdom, and the precursor to BSQC. In 2001, Imperial won University Challenge for the second time, and were runners-up the following year. Imperial was a regular participant in UK tournaments until the collapse of the UK quizbowl circuit following the 2003 BSQC, after which the society went dormant.
Re-establishment (2010-present)
Imperial returned to quizbowl in the 2010 Europe SCT, where they placed seventh. Following the return of BSQC in 2011, Imperial achieved their then-highest placing in 2012, coming fourth. The quiz society was re-established in 2013, and participated in most editions of BSQC for the rest of the decade. Society membership was low for much of the 2010s, with usually 20 or fewer members and infrequent tournament attendance.
Imperial has become much more active in quizbowl since 2018, with membership of the quiz society tripling in the space of two years, likely aided by Imperial's strong showings on University Challenge. Imperial became a serious contender in quizbowl tournaments, developing a reputation for upset victories against more established teams. This included winning the 2021 Southeast-Midwest Housewrite and placing fifth in BSQC 2021, registering a surprise victory over Cambridge A in the latter. Having been absent in the 2021 competition, Imperial placed fourth in the 2022 ACF Regionals, thus qualifying for ACF Nationals for the first time. A team of Justin Lee, Michael Mays, Felix Roberts and Fatima Sheriff placed 38th out of 51 in 2022 ACF Nationals, with 9 wins and 9 losses.
The 2022-23 academic year saw record success for Imperial. Imperial's novices placed first in the in-person edition of the British Novice tournament in December 2022, and then the Imperial A team kept a clean sheet for three successive tournaments: ARCADIA, ACF Regionals and C++. Imperial A then went on to win the 2023 BSQC, becoming the first university other than Oxford and Cambridge to place first since Manchester in 2002. Enoch and Michael would later bow out with a close victory in MRNA II.
Notable Players
- Michael Kohn
- Michael Mays
- Enoch Yuen
- Justin Lee
- Adam Jones
- Nilai Sarda
- Felix Roberts
- Fatima Sheriff
- Conor McMeel
- Richard Brooks
- Oscar O'Flanagan
- Jaime Salamanca Camacho
- Carlos Doebeli
- Gilbert Jackson
- Imran Abdul Rahman
- Jonah McDonald
- Rahim Dina
- Max Zeng
- Matthew Spry
- Owen Iredale
- Mattia Elkouby
- Gregor Wilson
- Justin Keung
- Bethany Howard
- Paphon Susikakosol
- Christine Hagerty
- Aden Ho
- Adam Turner
Tournaments Won
Year | Tournament | Stats | Team Members |
---|---|---|---|
2021 | Southeast-Midwest Housewrite | Stats | Enoch Yuen, Felix Roberts, Michael Kohn, Richard Brooks |
2021 | British Novice | Stats | Adam Jones, Jonah McDonald, Josh D’Aeth, Tony Wang |
2022 | British Novice | Stats | Aden Ho, Christine Hagerty, Gregor Wilson, Mattia Elkouby |
2022 | 2022 ARCADIA | Stats | Adam Jones, Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays |
2023 | ACF Regionals | Stats | Adam Jones, Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays |
2023 | C++ | Stats | Adam Jones, Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays |
2023 | British Student Quiz Championships | Stats | Adam Jones, Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays |
2023 | MRNA Vaccine | Stats | Adam Jones, Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays] |
2023 | 2023 ARCADIA | Stats | Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays, Nilai Sarda |
Tournaments hosted
- ARCADIA 2021, 2023
- British Novice 2017-19, 2022-23
- Open mirror of ICT 2023
- MRNA II: The Second Dose 2023
- BSQC 1998, 2011-13, 2018-20, 2022-23
- ACF Regionals 2021, 2023
- THING 2022
- IKEA 2020
- Stevenson Memorial Tournament 2018
- NAQT Collegiate Novice 2017
- VCU Novice 2016
- Michigan Fall Tournament 2013
- Deep Bench 2012
External links
References
- ↑ https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/felixonlinearchive/issues/pdfs/felix_1134.pdf Felix issue 1139, 1999 » Archived 2023 Sep 21