GOVERNOR’S CUP

Events for All Types of Learners

Kentucky’s Premier Academic Competition

Governor's Cup encourages depth and breadth of academic knowledge, cultural literacy, teamwork, leadership, creativity, risk assessment, and critical thinking, and provides the fun that comes with being part of a team. Established in 1985, KAAC now serves over 18,000 students and nearly 1200 schools at over 400 competitions each year.

Opportunities to Excel in Every Grade - In the Elementary Division (grades 5 and below), students take part in District and Regional competitions. The Middle Grades Division (grades 6-8) and High School Division (grades 9-12) may participate in District, Regional and State competitions. Students advance from one competition to the next based on their performance in the prior competition.

Becoming a member of KAAC provides entry for Governor's Cup. If your school took part in Governor's Cup last year, invoices for 2026-27 have been sent to either your school or Board, depending on who traditionally pays. Membership fees are $350 in the Elementary division, and $450 in the Middle Grades and High School divisions.

All Kentucky public, private, and home schools are welcome to join! If you have questions about becoming a member school contact Brad Persinger at [email protected].

To register a new school please fill out the form below. The Registration Deadline is November 1!

If your school is already a member you can confirm your contact information at this link: Confirm Contact Info.

RULES UPDATES for 2026-27

High School Regional Quick Recall matches will all be untimed.
If a Quick Recall match requires Overtime (all divisions/events), that portion will be conducted as toss-up questions only. There will no longer be bonus/bounce-back questions. The winner will still be the first team to score 5 points.
For Middle Grades Region, we advance the top 6 places in Content Assessment & Composition to State Finals; those 6th-place students will now earn 0.5 points for their teams.

2026-27 Key Dates

School Registration Deadline: November 1, 2026

Student Entry period will open December 12 for all divisions. Students must be entered by the morning of the District Planning Meeting.

Elementary

Tuesday, January 26
District–Coaches’ Planning Meeting

Tuesday, February 2
District–Strategic Problem Solving & Composition

Saturday, February 6
District–Written Assessment, Quick Recall

Monday, February 15
Regional–Coaches’ Planning Meeting

Monday, February 22
Regional–Strategic Problem Solving & Composition

Saturday, February 27
Regional–Written Assessment, Quick Recall

Middle Grades

Tuesday, January 5
District–Coaches’ Planning Meeting:

Tuesday, January 12
District–Strategic Problem Solving and Composition

Saturday, January 16
District–Assessment, Quick Recall

Monday, February 1
Regional–Coaches’ Planning Meeting

Monday, February 8
Regional–Strategic Problem Solving & Composition

Saturday, February 13
Regional–Assessment, Quick Recall

March 19-22
State Finals – Galt House, Louisville

High School

Tuesday, January 12
District–Coaches’ Planning Meeting:

Tuesday, January 19
District–Strategic Problem Solving and Composition

Saturday, January 23
District–Assessment, Quick Recall

Monday, February 8
Regional–Coaches’ Planning Meeting

Monday, February 15
Regional–Strategic Problem Solving & Composition

Saturday, February 20
Regional–Assessment, Quick Recall

March 19-22
State Finals – Galt House, Louisville

Future State Finals Dates

March 17-20, 2028

Competitions Information

Quick Recall
Strategic Problem Solving
Mathematics Content Assessment
Science Content Assessment
Social Studies Content Assessment
Language Arts Content Assessment
Arts & Humanities Content Assessment
Written Composition

Each student can participate in up to 4 of the 8 events. A quick recall team needs at least 4 students, you can enter up to 3 students in each of the other events.
You do not have to fill all the slots to enter the competition, you can enter students in only quick recall, content assessments, composition, or any combination you choose.
All events must take place at the host site.
Students must bring a charged, functional device for Content Assessment. It is not the responsibility of the host school to provide devices to other schools. If students arrive to competition without a working device they may not get to participate.

Required Officials

All Quick Recall and SPS coaches must be certified!
If you enter a Quick Recall team you are required to provide certified official(s) - not the coach.
If you enter students in SPS you are required to provide a certified evaluator - not the coach.
If you enter students in Written Composition you must provide a composition reader.
If you enter students in any of the Content Assessments you must provide an assessment proctor.

More information can be found in the Coach Manual and Coach Checklist.

Other Officials

The host site is not required to provide all of the "Key Officials," if you have someone who can serve as the Chief Official, Head Scorer, or Composition Coordinator please discuss at the planning meeting.