Smartacus 2022: Meet the legendary quizmasters of HT National Interschool Quiz | Education

For decades, Independence Day celebrations in Chennai have been synonymous with Landmark Quiz, hosted by iconic quizmaster Dr. Navin Jayakumar.

During the 90s and the following decade, quiz enthusiasts would throng around the Music Academy Hall of Chennai to witness Dr. Jayakumar weaving magic along with the quizzers. After the Preliminary round, the audience would stay on to see Team Aardvarks, helmed by Mr. Avinash Mudaliar, taking on other teams in the Finals.

Hindustan Times is all set to re-ignite the magical nostalgia of Independence Day quiz all over the country this year with Smartacus 2022, The Hindustan Times National Interschool Quiz. To be hosted by Dr. Jayakumar and Mr. Mudaliar, two of the most illustrious quizmasters of the country, this online quiz will kick off with its Selection round from 2 PM-3 PM on 15 th August, as the country celebrates Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav on the occasion of 75 years of Indian independence. Registration for Smartacus 2022 is free, and students can register at till the midnight of August 14, 2022.

“I was actually a replacement for someone else and the bug caught on. It was a happy accident,” says Mr. Mudaliar, recalling his foray into quizzing. He believes that quizzing is a way of life and emphasizes that students will have fun participating in Smartacus 2022.

Echoing his statement, Dr. Jayakumar adds, “I like creating questions where participants experience the joy of quizzing by deducing answers from the clues provided. I am not in favour of difficult quizzes where participants are unable to answer.”

Dr. Jayakumar, an ophthalmologist by profession and a quizmaster by passion, is the founding member of The Quiz Foundation of India. He is also the quizmaster for well-known national-level quizzes, such as the Landmark Quiz, the Murugappa Madras Quotient School Quiz and the Rotary Galaxy Science and Technology Quiz among others. Mr. Mudaliar was the quizmaster for the Power of Ideas Print Quiz, Airtel Quiz-o-Mania, Airtel’s techQ, and the NTPC Electron Quiz to name a few. He has also hosted quizzes for major corporates and prestigious institutions. Both of them also conducted the world’s largest online school quiz, ClassAct 2022, The Hindustan Times Republic Day Quiz in January this year.

Smartacus is an intense four-level quiz series for 5th to 12th graders, spread across four zones of India — North, South, East, and West—with representation from all Indian states and Union Territories. The quiz include topics from history, geography, sports, language and literature, science, arts and entertainment, culture and lifestyle and general knowledge. The questions will mostly be indirect in the true Dr. Navin Jayakumar style, necessitating a considerable amount of critical thinking.

The quiz will begin with participants competing in an individual Selection round which will be conducted asynchronously on the Quizizz Platform. It will comprise 60 questions, including multiple-choice and type-in formats.

After the Selection round, 16 top-performing schools from each zone will be invited to participate in the Preliminary round based on the scores of their individual participants. The invited schools will create a team of 5 to compete in the Preliminary round, which will follow a knockout format.

Out of the 64 schools battling it out in the Preliminary round, four (one from each zone) will make it to the Semi-finals. The Finale will see the top two schools vying for the champion’s trophy and exciting prizes. It will be followed by the Quizzer of the Year contest in which 20 students from the 4 Semi-finalist teams will compete for the most coveted award for quizzers.

The Quizzer of the Year contest will take place asynchronously on the Quizizz Platform.

In addition to an enviable trophy for the winning school, prizes worth ₹4 lakh are up for grabs for the contestants. All participants will also be awarded digital participation certificates.

Smartacus 2022 is in line with HT Media’s mission of taking learning out of the four walls of classrooms and helping the student community focus on honing their life and cognitive skills.