SSNCT
The Small School National Championship Tournament is a national championship for the nation's top small schools held by NAQT. There are two divisions: the Traditional Public Schools Division is for ordinary (non-magnet) public schools with no more than 500 students in their top three grades (up through 12), and the Open Division is for all schools that have no more than 350 students in their top three grades and are not eligible for the Traditional Public School Division. This policy is designed to allow for parity of competition between schools with fewer resources and funding, though the efficacy of this has sometimes been called into question.
Since 2017, there has been a Very Small Schools ranking within the Traditional Public Schools Division, for schools with no more than 300 students in their top three grades (up through 12). Such schools play with the rest of the Traditional Public Schools Division, but have separate playoffs (if necessary) to determine trophies within that group. There is no analogue of this in the Open Division.
At the 2013 HSNCT and earlier HSNCTs, Small School playoffs were held for Small Schools who had been eliminated from the overall playoffs, with the Small School Champion title awarded on that basis. The first few incarnations of the SSNCT had different structures: the 2014 through 2016 tournaments had only one division, for schools with no more than 500 students in grades 10–12 and inclusive of charter (but not private or magnet) schools, and the 2017 tournament had a Charter & Private Schools Division instead of the Open Division (with the main difference being the lack of any place for small magnet schools).
Qualification for the SSNCT is separate from, but similar to, qualification for the HSNCT.
| Year | Location | First | Second | Third | Field size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Minneapolis, MN | Hallsville | AMSA | Harmony Science-North Austin | 50 |
| 2015 | Atlanta, GA | Harmony Science-North Austin | Hallsville | Glasgow | 60 |
| 2016 | Rosemont, IL | AMSA | Macomb | Lehigh Valley | 80 |
Traditional Public Schools Division (since 2017)
| Year | Location | First | Second | Third | VSS Champion | VSS Runner-Up | VSS Third Place | Field size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Rosemont, IL | Glasgow | Danville | Camp Hill | Camp Hill | Raceland-Worthington | Hallsville | 96 |
| 2018 | Rosemont, IL | Glasgow A | Ottawa Hills A | Williamsville | Ottawa Hills A | Hallsville | Cooperstown | 96 |
| 2019 | Rosemont, IL | Glasgow A | Middlesboro | Ottawa Hills A | Middlesboro | Ottawa Hills A | Bridge Creek | 80 |
| 2021 | Online | Westmont | Macomb | Southside A | Westmont | Fair Grove | Cooperstown/Pettisville/Ottawa Hills/Indian Lake | 40 |
| 2022 | Rosemont, IL | Glasgow | Herscher | Garfield | Garfield | Fair Grove | Westmont | 55 |
| 2023 | Rosemont, IL | Fair Grove | Southwestern A | Woodland | Fair Grove | Southwestern A | Garfield | 77 |
| 2024 | Rosemont, IL | Hastings | West Point | Hallsville | West Iron County | Cottondale | Morris A | 88 |
| 2025 | Rosemont, IL | West Point | Hastings | Russell A | Morris A | Cooperstown | New Berlin | 88 |
Open Division (since 2017)
Championship Tally
Small School National Championships won by state
| Rank | Titles | State | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Texas | 2015, 2017‡, 2021‡, 2022‡, 2024‡, 2025‡ |
| 2 | 5 | Kentucky | 2017, 2018, 2019, 2019†, 2022 |
| T3 | 2 | Michigan | 2024†, 2019† |
| T3 | 2 | Ohio | 2019‡, 2022† |
| T3 | 2 | Missouri | 2014, 2023† |
| T4 | 1 | Illinois | 2021† |
| T4 | 1 | Pennsylvania | 2017† |
| T4 | 1 | Oklahoma | 2025† |
| T4 | 1 | New York | 2024 |
| T4 | 1 | North Carolina | 2018‡ |
| T4 | 1 | Virginia | 2023‡ |
| T4 | 1 | Massachusetts | 2016 |
† = Very Small School Championship ‡ = Open School Championship
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