Imperial College London

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Imperial A BSQC 2023.jpeg
Above:
Imperial A after winning 2023 British Student Quiz Championships

From left to right: Enoch Yuen, Justin Lee, Michael Mays, Adam Jones

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. Imperial holds the record for the most series wins of the University Challenge quiz show, with 5 wins as of 2024. 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. They finished the academic year with a close victory over Cambridge in MRNA II.

Notable Players

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
2023 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

External links

References

  1. ↑ https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/felixonlinearchive/issues/pdfs/felix_1134.pdf Felix issue 1139, 1999 » Archived 2023 Sep 21
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