World Affairs Council of New Jersey

Registration for ACADEMIC WORLDQUEST 2023 is NOW OPEN.

There is no cost to participate in our local competition!

Saturday, March 18

co-Hosted with Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy

Sign-in ~ 3:00 pm

Competition ~ 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm

Free dinner to follow

Academic WorldQuest is a national program that strives to prepare the next generation of leaders, scholars, and decision-makers to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Each year, over 50 World Affairs Councils across the country hold local Academic WorldQuest competitions for high school students in their communities. Since 2003, winning teams have traveled to Washington, DC to vie for the national championship. This year’s national competition is scheduled for April 28-29, 2023. The WACNJ covers the expenses of our winning local team’s participation in the national competition.

SIGN UP HERE to receive AWQ notifications and updates.

materials for AWQ 2023 Are now available

This year’s national competition will be held April 28-29 at the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC. Each year the national office publishes material to help students and teachers prepare for the annual competition. This year’s topics are below. The 2022-23 Study Guide is available by clicking the button.

Topics for 2023AWQ

• Securing the Future of the World's Wildlife

• The Arctic Council: Frozen Cooperation

• Atrocity Prevention and Accountability

• Combating Global Food Insecurity

• Economic Sanctions - A Double-Edged Sword

• Great Decisions

• Country in Focus: Ethiopia

• The Future of Supply Chains

• Battle of the Century: Autocracy vs. Democracy

• Current Events

participating is easy

There is no cost to competing.

Teams compete by answering rounds of questions that test their knowledge of current affairs, world leaders, geography, recent history, flags, international organizations, countries, regions, the world economy, culture, religion, and more. A full competition is 10 rounds of 10 questions (for a total of 100 questions). The winning team is the one with the highest number of right answers.

A team consists of four high school students (plus alternates) who are passionate about current international affairs. Students may be in 9th through 12th grades. A high school may register up to two teams, as well as one alternate. Typically, teams prepare in an after-school setting over the course of several months, under the direction of a teacher or coach.

Next steps

1. Sign up to receive regular updates from WACNJ about our local NJ competition

2. Start assembling a team of 4 students, and 1 alternate

3. As competition gets closer, create a plan for your team to study the sources listed in the online Official Study Guide – all questions come from these sources!

4. Participate in our AWQ lead-up events in March 2023 and then attend the half-day local competition on Saturday, March 18 or 25 (TBD).

5. If you win in NJ, then prepare for and attend the national competition in Washington in late April 2023. All travel expenses are paid by the WACNJ.