The Blue Heron Bowl is the North Carolina regional competition for the National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB) competition. The 2026 and 2027 regional competition will take place at UNCW.
NOSB is a marine science academic competition and program for high school students interested in ocean science-related and other STEM careers. Teams compete in regional bowls to move on to the National Competition.
Forming a Team
A minimum of 8 high schools must be represented for the event to be sanctioned.
A team consists of 4 or 5 students and a coach.
All team members must be currently enrolled in high school.
Registration is accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
The competition is limited to 16 teams competing for a seat at the national competition.
High schools are welcome to have an A and a B team in attendance.
B teams compete against A teams up to 16 teams in competition.
If there are more than 16 teams total, there may be a separate B team competition that will not qualify for the national competition.
Double elimination tournament in the afternoon/evening
Register for the Blue Heron Bowl by January 9, 2026! Be sure to complete team registration and team member forms for each person.
Registration Information coming soon!
Friday, February 13
A welcome event will take place at the Center for Marine Science at 6 p.m. Pizza, games, mingling and more! More information coming soon.
Saturday, February 14
The competition will take place at Sayed Hall, which houses the Watson College of Education.
01
02
Volunteers
The Blue Heron Bowl is a volunteer-run event! We rely on over 40 volunteers to support the event proceedings. There is a total of 6 volunteer roles
Moderator
The moderator is the person responsible for controlling each match and reading the questions. It is important that the moderator be familiar with how the game is played and all of the rules.
Science Judge
The science judge determines if the answer given is acceptable or not. The science judge also resolves question challenges.
Rules Judge
The rules judge ensures all competition rules are followed. To serve in this capacity, it is imperative for the rules judge to fully understand ALL competition rules.
Scorekeeper
The scorekeeper keeps record the competition score.
Timekeeper
The timekeeper operates the official competition time clock.
Runner
Runners transport the team challenge questions (TCQs) to the Judges’ Appeals room to be scored. Once graded, the runner returns the questions to the science judge in the competition room.
