St. Columba’s School, New Delhi, in association with Oxford University Press India organised the 31st Columban Open Quiz on August 26-27 at the school campus. The oldest inter-school quiz competition of this format in North India was open to students of classes IX to XII. Over 300 school teams from the across the country participated in this edition of the quiz. 
The Columban Quiz is structured in a three-tier format, comprising elimination (written), semi-final and final rounds. 12 teams made it to the finals of this prestigious competition – top three teams included [A, B and C – school name and location]. Certificate of merit were awarded to each semi-finalist and finalist. Gift cheques were awarded to the top 12 teams that qualified for the finals. The quiz competition winners Aniket Joshi, Aatmik Gupta, Ayan Marwaha and Paavan Bhasin also received a set of dictionaries by Oxford University Press, which has been supported this competition since 2012. 

Speaking about the exalted legacy of the quiz competition and the prestigious association with Oxford University Press, Br. E. V. Miranda, principal, St. Columba’s School stated, “The Columban Open Quiz is a much awaited annual event hosted by St Columba’s School. A mega event on the Delhi school circuit, the quiz will enter its 31st year this time where 300 teams from 50 schools will be fighting it out to showcase their quizzing prowess. We are fortunate to have the Oxford University Press sponsor the entire event. We hope this collaboration moves from strength to strength in the coming years.” 

Speaking about the event, Sivaramakrishnan V, managing director – Oxford University Press India said, “Oxford University Press India is proud to partner with the St. Columba’s School, New Delhi to organise this prestigious event. Competitions such as these enthuse students to read books in addition to the school textbooks, that helps build their general knowledge and understanding of current affairs.” He added “On behalf of OUP, I congratulate every participating school and the winning team that has made their school very proud with this achievement.” 

The members of the winning team (Modern School, Barakhamba) of COQ 2016 were: 
Aniket Joshi 
Aatmik Gupta
 
 

Ayan Marwaha

Paavas Bhasin 

The 1st Runners up was DPS RK Puram. 

The Quizmaster for the event (final round of 12 participants) was Kunal Savarkar, a professional quizmaster and also an ex-Columban from the batch of 1991. Kunal has conducted over a 1,000 quizzes in the last two decades. He was the content editor for the first edition of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ and he regularly conducts quiz competitions at leading educational institutions.