31st National Geographic Bee

The 31st annual National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C., and hosted by Mo Rocca. It is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The State Bees were held on March 29, where the 54 finalists were determined. The 2019 Champion, Nihar Janga, received a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad Expedition for two to the Galápagos Islands.[1] This was to be the last GeoBee, as National Geographic made the decision to end the competition, after canceling the 2020 and 2021 National Geographic Bees due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

31st National Geographic Bee
DateMay 19–22, 2019
LocationWashington, D.C.
WinnerNihar Janga
Age14
ResidenceAustin, Texas
No. of contestants54
Preceded by30th National Geographic Bee
Followed byFinal

State Bees

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On March 29, 2019, the National Geographic State Bees were held across the 50 states, Washington, D.C., the Atlantic Territories, the Pacific Territories, and the Department of Defense. Fifty-four State or Territory level Champions were determined. In 2019, the prize for winning the state bee has been raised, as $1,000 is now given to the winner instead of $200, the old prize. The winners have also received a National Geographic 2019 Almanac. Second and third place winners received $300 and $100, respectively. The state preliminary rounds (there were eight total) consisted of rounds about U.S. geography, physical geography, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Weird but True, current events, Odd one out, US City-World City Comparison, and plastic. All 54 regional champions received an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete at the national competition from May 19–22.[1]

State Name School City/Town Grade Place Notes
  Alabama Krish Nathan Deer Valley Elementary School Hoover 4th 43rd Brother of Kapil Nathan, who placed 3rd in nation in 2016
  Alaska Alana Belle Tirado Romig Middle School Anchorage 8th T-29th Only female state champion
  Arizona Christian Luis Aquino[2] White Cliffs Middle School Kingman 8th T-37th Important to note that the runner up was a 4th grader, Carter Thompson, from San Tan Learning Center in Gilbert
  Arkansas Ahilan Eraniyan Haas Hall Academy Bentonville 8th 16th Won CA in 2017, placed 7th in the nation
    Atlantic Territories Diego Vázquez Academia del Perpetuo Socorro San Juan 7th 51st
  California Jishnu Nayak Peter Hansen Elementary School Mountain House 6th 4th
  Colorado Garrett Fleischmann Stargate Middle School Thornton 8th T-22nd Won the Colorado State Bee in 2018
  Connecticut Lukas Koutsoukos Middlebrook Middle School Wilton 8th 18th Brother of Alexander Koutsoukos, who won the Connecticut State Bee in 2015
  Delaware Justin Didden (Ian Lewis representing) Central Middle School Dover 7th T-49th Ian Lewis was the second place winner of the Delaware State Geography Bee, but as Justin Didden was unable to attend, Ian Lewis instead represented Delaware at nationals
  Department of Defense Eddy Melendez Lester Middle School Kitanakagusuku, Japan 8th 52nd
  District of Columbia Arjun Patel St. Alban's School for Boys Washington 5th 36th
  Florida Kaylan Patel Windermere Preparatory School Windermere 7th T-9th Won the Florida State Bee in 2018. Would go on to win the 2019 North South Foundation Nationals in the Senior Geography Bee
  Georgia Anish Raja Brookwood Elementary School Cumming 4th T-19th Won the 2018 North South Foundation Nationals in the Junior Geography Bee
  Hawaii William Chen Kailua Intermediate School Kailua 7th T-22nd Won Hawaii State Bee in 2018
  Idaho Noah Lockey[3] Cole Valley Christian School Boise 5th T-40th
  Illinois Omkar Gadewar Madison Junior High School Naperville 7th 8th
  Indiana Karthik Varigonda Central Middle School Columbus 7th T-22nd
  Iowa Simon Kutz Decorah Middle School Decorah 7th 21st
  Kansas Wyatt Boyd Hocker Grove Middle School Shawnee 8th 17th Won the Kansas State Bee in 2018
  Kentucky Taylor Smith Breckinridge County Middle School Irvington 8th T-49th Placed third in Kentucky in 2018
  Louisiana Andrew Minagar Caddo Middle Magnet School Shreveport 8th T-27th Won the Louisiana State Bee in 2018
  Maine Jacob LeBrun Massebesic Middle School Alfred 7th 42nd
  Maryland Rishi Kumar Ellicott Mills Middle School Ellicott City 8th 3rd Placed 4th in the nation in 2016
  Massachusetts Atreya Mallanna William Diamond Middle School Lexington 6th 2nd Placed 7th in the nation in 2018
  Michigan Aarush Tutiki Wass Elementary School Troy 5th T-9th Won the 2017 North South Foundation Nationals in the Junior Geography Bee
  Minnesota Adhithyra Anandaraj Roosevelt Middle School Blaine 8th T-44th
  Mississippi Sam Connelly Greater Jackson Area Homeschool Educators Clinton 8th 46th
  Missouri Aristuto Paul Parkway West Middle School Chesterfield 7th 35th
  Montana Gabriel Hendrix Target Range Middle School Missoula 7th T-47th
  Nebraska Advait Singh Scott Middle School Lincoln 6th T-37th
  Nevada Jack Stark Challenger School-Lone Mountain Las Vegas 5th 53rd
  New Hampshire Luke Szczepiorkowski Frances C. Richmond Middle School Hanover 8th 33rd
  New Jersey Matthew McDonald Liberty Middle School West Orange 8th T- 11th
  New Mexico Lakshay Sood Albuquerque Academy Albuquerque 8th 6th Only person up to date who has ever won the State Bee for all 5 years of eligibility, from 2015 to 2019
  New York Dylan Rem Horace Mann School New York City 8th 7th Placed Second in New York in 2017
  North Carolina Vaibhav Hariram Mills Park Middle School Apex 6th 5th
  North Dakota Griffin Terras Discovery Middle School Fargo 7th T-44th
  Ohio Satvik Pochiraju Olentangy Meadows Elementary School Lewis Center 5th T- 11th Brother of Saket Pochiraju, who tied for 8th in 2018
  Oklahoma Michael Tipton Summit Middle School Oklahoma City 8th 15th
  Oregon Leo Lemann Wildwood Academy The Dalles 7th T-25th
      Pacific Territories Napu Mesa Blas Sifa Learning Academy Charter School Barrigada 8th T-29th Won the Pacific Territories Bee in 2018
  Pennsylvania Ben Fischer Gettysburg Area Middle School Gettysburg 8th 13th Won the Pennsylvania State Bee in 2016
  Rhode Island Eli Terrell Barrington Middle School Barrington 8th 34th
  South Carolina Daniel Nirenblatt Porter-Gaud School Charleston 8th T-25th
  South Dakota Sean Hodges Edison Middle School Sioux Falls 7th T-47th
  Tennessee Aditya Narayanan Riverdale Middle and Elementary School Germantown 8th 14th Won the 2018 Tennessee State Geographic Bee and the 2017 Arizona State Geographic Bee
  Texas Nihar Janga Canyon Ridge Middle School Austin 8th 1st Co-Champion of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee, tied for 8th in National Geographic Bee in 2018
  Utah Matthew Christensen Wasatch Home Educators Network South Jordan 6th 54th
  Vermont Vegarandhura "Vega" Tariyal Charlotte Central School Charlotte 6th T-37th
  Virginia Anish Susarla Belmont Ridge Middle School Leesburg 8th T-31st Placed 5th in the nation in 2017
  Washington Warren Huang Pacific Cascade Middle School Issaquah 7th T-31st
  West Virginia Joss Poteet Wildwood Middle School Shenandoah Junction 8th T-27th Won the West Virginia State Bee in 2018
  Wisconsin Adhav Ravikumar Forest Park Middle School Franklin 7th T-19th Placed second in Wisconsin in 2018
  Wyoming Dillon Davis Lincoln Middle School Green River 8th T-40th

The state competitions' prize money was increased again from last year. First place got $1000, second place got $300, and third place stayed at $100.[4] The national competitions' college scholarships have decreased, however. The national champion will only receive a $25,000 scholarship, second place will receive a $10,000 scholarship, and third place will receive a $5,000 scholarship.

Preliminary rounds

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The 54 state champions competed in the preliminary rounds held from May 19–20, 2019. This part of the contest consisted of 10 oral rounds, as well as a written portion about tackling plastic pollution in various waterways around the world. Both sections were worth 10 points.

The top 10 contestants with the highest scores in the preliminary rounds competed in the semifinals on May 21. After 7 other contestants were eliminated that day, Rishi Kumar of Maryland, Atreya Mallanna from Massachusetts, and Nihar Janga from Texas advanced to the finals, which were held the next day.

Name State Preliminary Round Score Final Placing
Atreya Mallanna   Massachusetts 19/20 2nd
Rishi Kumar   Maryland 18.7/20 3rd
Vaibhav Hariram   North Carolina 18.7/20 5th
Dylan Rem   New York 18.3/20 7th
Jishnu Nayak   California 17.3/20 4th
Kaylan Patel   Florida 17.3/20 T-9th
Lakshay Sood   New Mexico 17.3/20 6th
Omkar Gadewar   Illinois 16.8/20 8th
Aarush Tutiki   Michigan 15.7/20 T-9th
Nihar Janga   Texas 15.7/20 1st

In addition, Matthew McDonald of New Jersey and Satvik Pochiraju of Ohio also finished with 15.7 out of 20 points, but were eliminated by a tiebreaker test the students had taken specifically for the purpose of breaking ties.

Semi-final and Final Rounds

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The semi-final competition was held on May 21, 2019. After seven rounds with a mix of individual and common questions, with each question being worth one point, and one lighting round, with three rapid-fire questions being asked, each being worth one point, the four students with the lowest scores were eliminated. Aarush Tutiki of Michigan and Kaylan Patel of Florida were both eliminated and tied for 9th place, along with Omkar Gadewar of Illinois, who finished in 8th place. However, there was a tie that existed between Jishnu Nayak of California, Lakshay Sood of New Mexico, and Dylan Rem of New York, with only two of them being able to advance to the next round. After applying the results of a tiebreaker test that the students took previously, Dylan Rem of New York was eliminated and finished in 7th place. After that, a GeoChallenge Impact round took place. The remaining six contestants were given two photos of the same place, one of the pictures was taken in the past, and one was taken in the last couple of years. Contestants were asked to describe the changes that took place and why they mattered. After this, the three students with the lowest scores were eliminated. Lakshay Sood of New Mexico was eliminated and finished in 6th place, along with Vaibhav Hariram of North Carolina, who finished in 5th place, and Jishnu Nayak of California, who finished in 4th place. After this, Rishi Kumar of Maryland, Atreya Mallanna of Massachusetts, and Nihar Janga of Texas remained and competed in the final rounds the next day.[5]

The Final Rounds were held the next day on May 22, 2019. The three contestants began with a series of five common questions, with each correct answer being awarded one point. After this, it was revealed that the top three contestants were interviewed by the judges for an Impact Challenge round. The videos of these interviews were then displayed. The contestants were first asked why it is important to protect wild places on earth. Afterwards, the contestants were given five choices of places that they believed National Geographic should protect. The choices were Amur(Heilong) River Basin in China, the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, the Congo Basin Tropical Forest in the Republic of the Congo, the Kazakh Steppe in Kazakhstan, and the Murray-Darling River Basin in Australia. All three contestants chose the Congo Basin Tropical Forest. Then, Finalists were asked to explain one step they could take to help protect their chosen location. After this, a Mapmaker round was held. Contestants were asked to draw on a map of the Arctic Region. They were first asked to circle one city on the map that would experience significant economic and population changes, and were then asked to explain why they chose that city. They were then asked to choose two cities that lied beyond the map that would benefit from a new shipping route through the Arctic, and were asked to explain their reasoning. Lastly, they were asked to highlight an area on the map that they believed would need protection as a result of human activity, and were asked to explain their reasoning. After this round, Rishi Kumar of Maryland had the lowest score and was eliminated, finishing in 3rd place. The championship round between Atreya Mallanna of Massachusetts and Nihar Janga of Texas followed. After a series of eight questions, Nihar Janga of Texas correctly answered the question "One-third of Norway’s northernmost county is in what plateau?", putting "Finnmark Plateau" as his answer, becoming the 2019 National Geographic Bee Champion.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Society, National Geographic. "GeoBee". d1m3xp4nakm8c6.cloudfront.net.
  2. ^ O'Gara, Nick. "Arizona Students Test Their World Knowledge in 'GeoBee'". news.azpm.org. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  3. ^ Hildebrandt, Jay (2019-03-30). "Boise student wins state National Geographic Bee". KIFI. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  4. ^ The schedule that they handed out at the event.
  5. ^ National Geographic Education (2019-05-21), National Geographic Geo Championships Semifinal | Tues, May 21 | LIVE, retrieved 2019-06-08
  6. ^ National Geographic Education (2019-05-22), National Geographic Geo Championships Final | Wed, May 22 | LIVE, retrieved 2019-06-08