Jimmy Carter Quiz 2025 blog
Ten schools from Palmerston North and surrounding districts gathered at PNBHS College House on 30 July for the annual Jimmy Carter Quiz.
The schools from Palmerston North and surrounding districts gathered at Palmerston North Boys’ High School (PNHBS) College House to compete for the Jimmy Carter Quiz trophy on the evening of 30th July. This was the first time the quiz had taken place since the passing of President Carter. Therefore, it was fitting to celebrate his life and legacy by including a quiz round about his life. The 2025 quiz was also the first since Gordon Batchelar joined Jimmy Carter on the other side. Gordon, a dedicated quiz supporter, was also remembered. Those of you there in 2023 might recall the big smile on Gordon’s face when he was asked to sit prominently next to the trophies and hand them out to the teams. Paul Otway did a fantastic job (as expected!) as Quizmaster and quickly built rapport with the 10 participating schools through clever use of chocolate and other spot prizes. For those new to the Club, this event attracts schools from outside our city. As quiz convenor, it is great to see schools travelling from Levin (Horowhenua and Waiopehu Colleges) and Marton (Nga Tawa Diocesan School) again. Making the effort to drive to Palmy on a cold(ish) winter night demonstrates that the quiz remains a vibrant event for the schools.
As usual, with the team introductions and moved on to an audiovisual round of ‘heads or tails’ (true or false). After 7 or 8 rounds of “True or False,” only one student from Fielding High School remained, earning him a spot prize. Once the quiz proper began, Horowhenua College and Longburn Adventist College (LAC) showed their potential right from the start. They capitalised on the vague reference “I was born in January 1942” to correctly answer the “Ponderous Puzzle” and establish early dominance. In the early rounds, Awatapu, through clever use of their double-point round, was putting pressure on the two schools at the top. By half-time, after two solid rounds (rounds 4 and 5) with 10 points each, Palmerston North Girls’ High School (PNGHS), then the reigning champions, moved ahead of Awatapu College. The whistle blew, and the teams took a break to refuel their brains with carbs and protein.
After the break, the teams returned to their tables to ‘close the deal’. It took until round 6 for other schools to realise that all the clues pointed to Stephen Hawking in the “Ponderous Puzzle”. Horowhenua College had a strong “History” round, and PNGHS responded with a very solid 8-point round in the “1% Club” to stay in the top mix. However, there was still room for movement, as 7 out of the 10 schools chose round 10 as their “double points” round. After 7 rounds, it became clear this would go down to the wire. The last three rounds demonstrated LAC’s choice of “Music” for the double points proved to be a good strategy, and alongside their consistent scores above 7, allowed them to leapfrog PNGHS and tie with Horowhenua College at the end of round 10. Horowhenua College and LAC were tied with 94 points, followed closely by PNGHS with 93! It was tight, tight, tight. The next group was close behind at around 80 points, including PNBHS, Freyberg, and St Peter’s College. Then came the third group: Awatapu, Feilding High, Nga Tawa, and Waipehou in the low 70s and 60s. A tie-breaker was needed: 4 questions, one minute, one winner. Horowhenua College, who had been runners-up the past two years, emerged victorious from the tie-breaker. They repeated tie-breaker wins in consecutive editions of the quiz, last year was for second and third place). This year, I bet the tie-breaker win tasted even sweeter. Hopefully, the team will be profiled in The Horowhenua Chronicle, as it happened in 2017 when they secured second place.
Prize-giving was led by President Rob and featured books from New Zealand authors and publishers, carefully selected by Louisa from Bruce McKenzie’s Booksellers. Each participating school received the book “Becoming Aotearoa, A New History of New Zealand” for their libraries. The third, second, and first places each received a second book, and the overall winner also received a prize donated by the bookstore. While these are excellent prizes for the schools, ultimately, it's about bragging rights! The winner takes home the Jimmy Carter Quiz trophy, after all. Do the kids care about who wins? Of course. We had a couple of late challenges, which, given the closeness of the scores, could have affected the placings. Luckily, the challenges were dismissed fairly and squarely.
Thanks to all the Lions who put their paws up to give a hand. I hope you had fun as well (though I'm not sure if as much as the Nga Tawa team, perhaps!). Middle Districts should take pride in this achievement. I emphasise, as I did last year, that we are extremely lucky to have the support of PNBHS for the event. If you think the Quiz went smoothly, it is in no small part because of PNBHS, who helped set up the room, organised the catering, etc. I was there this morning, after the quiz, and they said “see you next year!”. Champion!
Now, the “Jimmy Carter Quiz” box goes into hibernation, waiting to be reopened in 2026 for another great night full of fun and fellowship for all involved.
Horowhenua College team: Liubava Lugova, Ashlee West, Elissa Westerby, Harrison McQuillan, Newell Narra
Longburn Adventist College team: Calvin Smith, William McEwen, Joanna Butcher, Sophie White, Emma Brothwell
