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]

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 by32nd National Geographic Bee

State Bees

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 8 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.[2]

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[3] White Cliffs Middle School Kingman 8th T-37th
 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[4] 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 Dillion 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.[5] 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

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.

NameStatePreliminary Round ScoreFinal Placing
Atreya Mallanna Massachusetts 19/20 2nd
Rishi Kumar Maryland18.7/203rd
Vaibhav Hariram North Carolina18.7/205th
Dylan Rem New York18.3/207th
Jishnu Nayak California17.3/204th
Kaylan Patel Florida17.3/20T-9th
Lakshay Sood New Mexico17.3/206th
Omkar Gadewar Illinois16.8/208th
Aarush Tutiki Michigan15.7/20T-9th
Nihar Janga Texas15.7/201st

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

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.[6]


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.[7]

References

  1. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/student-experiences/geobee/faq/
  2. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/student-experiences/geobee/faq/
  3. O'Gara, Nick. "Arizona Students Test Their World Knowledge in 'GeoBee'". news.azpm.org. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  4. Hildebrandt, Jay (2019-03-30). "Boise student wins state National Geographic Bee". KIFI. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  5. The schedule that they handed out at the event.
  6. National Geographic Education (2019-05-21), National Geographic Geo Championships Semifinal | Tues, May 21 | LIVE, retrieved 2019-06-08
  7. National Geographic Education (2019-05-22), National Geographic Geo Championships Final | Wed, May 22 | LIVE, retrieved 2019-06-08
Preceded by
30th National Geographic Bee
31st National Geographic Bee
May 19-22, 2019
Succeeded by
32nd National Geographic Bee
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