Following the the 2010-2011 Season, New Hampshire Public Television experienced severe budget cuts as a result of actions by the NH State Legislature. Several locally produced programs were cut, and much of NHPTV's programing was curtailed. The station made up for these losses by sourcing programing from other Public Television stations, and entering new agreements with WGBH in Boston for programming share.
However, efforts were made to bring back Granite State Challenge. The old 32 team format was too expensive, however, and the decision was made to reduce to a 16 team field, much the way the show had started. A choice was made to select teams for the season by qualifying test, similar to how WGBH selected teams for their "High School Quiz Show" program. With these changes, a new sponsor, Unitil, was obtained, and the show returned for it's 31st Season in the 2012-2013 school year after a one-year absence.