Write Questions for the 2027 NOSB Competitions

Are you an educator or scientist with a strong interest in ocean or freshwater sciences? Are you interested in getting paid to explore fun ocean science topics? The National Ocean Sciences Bowl® (NOSB) is looking for question writers during the summer of 2026 to write ocean and freshwater science questions for our 2027 competitions.

About the NOSB

The NOSB (www.nosb.org) is an academic competition and program that addresses a national gap in environmental and earth sciences in public education by introducing high school students to and engaging them in ocean science, preparing them for ocean science-related and other STEM careers, and helping them become knowledgeable community members and environmental stewards. The program is in its 30th year of exciting students about the ocean and inspiring them to pursue careers in a STEM field. Question writers play a very important role in the NOSB because they provide the multiple-choice, short answer, and critical-thinking Team Challenge Questions (TCQs) used in the competitions. We need your help to continue our strong impact. 

How You Can Help

We are looking for SEVEN individuals with a wide range of expertise in ocean and freshwater sciences, including biology, chemistry, physics, geology, geography, technology, social science, and marine policy, to write buzzer questions and Team Challenge Questions (TCQs) for the 2027 NOSB competitions.

Each Question Writer can earn up to an $800 honorarium. Each question writer will receive a $400 good faith payment for submitting all required questions by the deadline (100 buzzers & 4 TCQs). Each question writer can receive up to an additional $400, to be paid in January 2027, for the percentage of their submitted questions (both buzzers and TCQs) that are accepted by the NOSB Technical Advisory Panels (question reviewers).

The high school participants are tested at the college undergraduate level. Question writers will be asked to write questions that would be considered easy, moderate, and difficult for this level of student. Sample NOSB questions and question writing resources can be found on our Volunteer Roles webpage under Question Writers.

Qualifications/Eligibility

• Bachelor’s degree or demonstrated knowledge of one of the sciences preferred
• Experience teaching (preferably with high school or undergraduate students) 
• Ability to write and submit all 100 required buzzer questions and 4 TCQs in the provided templates between July 20 and August 30, 2026
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with a team
• Must NOT be a current NOSB coach in 2026 (or plan to be in 2027) or have a direct connection with current NOSB participants
• Willingness to follow guidelines for submitting questions and sign a confidentiality agreement

How to Get Involved

Write Many Questions: Paid

To indicate interest in this paid question writer opportunity, please complete the Question Writer Interest Form, which asks for your personal information, qualifications and experience, and 3 sample buzzer questions and one sample TCQ by EOD Sunday, July 12, 2026.

Write a Few Questions: Volunteer

If you’d like to write questions for the NOSB but cannot commit to the required amount, you can submit questions on a volunteer basis via our crowdsourcing Question Submission Form.

Review Many Questions: Paid

We are also recruiting NINE individuals to help review questions as part of our virtual Technical Advisory Panels (TAPs) between September and November 2026. During the TAPs, ocean scientists, university-level educators, and other professionals provide overall guidance and advice on the content and scientific accuracy of the NOSB competition questions. We are able to offer a $500 honorarium to TAPs this year for reviewing about 160 questions. If interested, please email nosb@ucar.edu by August 1, 2026, to inquire.