Last year, the first competition was held for the National History Bee, sponsored by the History Channel and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The competition is a three-stage event consisting of a writing performance, buzzer competition and national championship.

According to Eric Huff, director of operations for National History Bee, Kentucky had the lowest number of participants nationally in the competition last year. Huff has contacted the Kentucky Department of Education to provide information about the competition and encourage more student involvement from Kentucky.

Registration for the National History Bee will be open until Nov. 23.

The first stage of competition will be held from Dec. 3 to Jan. 11, 2013. The second stage of competition will be from Jan. 28 to April 9, 2013, followed by a third-stage national championship in May 2013.

Last year’s winner was Tajin Rogers, an 8th-grade student from Virginia. Rogers was awarded a $50,000 college scholarship for winning the National History Bee as well as receiving national publicity with the competition being aired on national television.

For more information on the National History Bee or to register, go to http://historybee.com/.