KPMG Brain Bowl Academic Tournament

The Brain Bowl Academic Tournament is a Jeopardy-style general knowledge competition, with questions focused on high school academic subjects. Teams from local schools are tested on various subjects, including mathematics, English, science, Caribbean history and current events.

Uniting local schools and encouraging pupils to stretch their academic abilities, the annual Brain Bowl also aims to get pupils to work as a team and develop their critical thinking skills.

The 10th annual KPMG Brain Bowl Academic Tournament took place on Wednesday, October 4th, 2023 at the Kimpton Seafire Resort. We were thrilled to welcome 13 high schools this year, including the CF School who participated for the first time – seeing over 65 students and 26 teachers for a whole day. The entire event was streamed live via YouTube which is available for viewing at anytime on our KPMG in the Cayman Islands YouTube Channel .

Brain Bowl is an annual high school tournament that has been taking place for the past decade. This years’ theme is celebratory of the 10 year anniversary; commemorating the success of students and schools over the years. The aim of this competition is to unite local schools and encourage pupils to enhance their academic abilities, work as a team and develop critical thinking skills. Under timed test conditions, the teams are tested on various subjects such as Mathematics, English, Science, Caribbean History, spelling and current events. 

The tournament is complimentary to the schools, and where schools are allowed to enter one team of four players with an optional fifth alternate player. Players can be part of all grade levels within high school. There were first place (Nintendo Switch Lite), second place (Garmin Smartwatch) and third place (JBL Flip 6) prizes, as well as a Team Sportsmanship prize (Projector) for all members of the awarded team. 

As this years’ event was all about celebration, we introduced two new awards. The KPMG Blue Diamond Award, as well as feature a Most Valuable Participant (MVP) Award for one male and one female participant for their outstanding contributions to the tournament. 

Many of KPMG’s Partners and people were present during the day of the competition as moderators, judges, and scorekeepers. KPMG was delighted that the Premier and Minister of Sustainability & Climate Resiliency, Finance & Economic Development - Honorable Wayne Panton; the Speaker of Parliament - Honorable Katherine Ebanks-Wilks; and the Honorable Deputy Governor Franz Manderson was able to join us this year to join the group photo with all student participants and present some of the winning team awards. The Ministry of Education; other Department of Education Officials were also be in attendance.

Parents and other guests also joined to watch and support the students’ performance in the afternoon to watch the final rounds.

We are extremely proud of how well all students performed in the tournament, congratulations especially to Cayman Prep who took first place, with St. Ignatius and Triple C School placing in second and third respectively. John Gray High School won the 2023 Team Sportsmanship Award for demonstrating teamwork, showing a positive attitude, and respect throughout the competition.

The following schools participated:

• Cayman Prep School and High School - > 1st place 
• St. Ignatius Catholic School- > 2nd place 
• Triple C School - > 3rd place
• John Gray High School - > Team Sportsmanship award
• Calvary Baptist Christian School
• Cayman Academy
• Cayman International School 
• Cayman Islands Further Education Centre
• CF School
• Clifton Hunter High School
• Grace Christian Academy
• Layman E. Scott High School (from Cayman Brac)
• Year 12 Dual Enrollment 

Individual awards were awarded to:

• Suwayne Young-Watson (Layman E. Scott High School) - > Female Most Valuable
• Player Award Christian Campbell (Clifton Hunter High School) - > Male Most Valuable
• Player AwardRufus Lovett (CF School) - > Mini Quiz Challenge Prize