As a further qualifying competition for the International Latin Olympiad, International Academic Competitions is pleased to present the debut of the International Latin Bee in Spring 2023! This online event will give individual students from around the world a chance to compete for the first-time ever on pyramidal tossups written exclusively in Latin. Topics will include Roman history and culture, the influence of Latin on the modern world, but also well-known topics beyond the scope of Rome and Latin itself, where a working knowledge of Latin will be necessary to answer the questions. Questions will be read by experienced Latinists with standard classical Latin pronunciation. Preliminary round questions will be read at a particularly slow pace; in the playoff rounds, the tempo will be somewhat quicker. There will be middle school (through 8th grade), Junior Varsity (current 9th and 10th graders), and Varsity (11th and 12th graders), divisions.
The International Latin Bee does not require prior qualification, though anyone who finishes in the top 60% of finishers automatically qualifies for the International Latin Olympiad if they have not already done so. Sample questions and a question distribution will be posted by February 2022 when registration will open.
The International Latin Bee will likely consist of 3 rounds of 30 questions for preliminary round play and 1 or 2 playoff rounds, depending on field size. The cost is TBD