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30th National Geographic Bee

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30th National Geographic Bee
DateMay 20–23, 2018
LocationWashington, D.C.
WinnerVenkat Ranjan
Age13
ResidenceSan Ramon, California
No. of contestants54
Preceded by29th National Geographic Bee
Followed by31st National Geographic Bee

The 30th annual National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C., and was hosted by Mo Rocca. It is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The State Bees were held on April 6, where the 54 finalists were determined. The 2018 National Geographic Bee champion was Venkat Ranjan of California.[1]

State Bees

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On April 6, 2018, 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 2018, the prize for winning the state bee has been raised, as $200 is now given to the winner instead of $100, the old prize. The winners have also received a National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World, Second Edition. Second and third place winners received $150 and $100, respectively. The state preliminary rounds (there were 8 total) consisted of rounds about U.S. geography, international geography, current events, national birds, protecting the environment, Weird but True, and a “GeoChallenge”. The GeoChallenge was a True/False round where a statement would be made about a U.S. state’s population, GDP, or size, comparing it to another country, and the student would have to say if it was True or False. For example, one question was “Virginia has a higher GDP than Portugal, True or False?”-the answer is true. All 54 regional champions received an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete at the national competition from May 20–23. The National Geographic Bee is an academic competition for 4th-8th grade students at: "public schools, private schools, and homeschools in the United States and its territories, as well as the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS).[2][3]

State Champions as National Contestants (T=Tie)

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State Name School City/Town Grade Place
 Alabama Christian Martin Echols Middle School Northport 8th T-30th
 Alaska Riley Gross Ocean View Elementary School Anchorage 6th T-45th
 Arizona Gayatri Kaimal BASIS Tucson North School Tucson 7th T-4th
 Arkansas Wesley Bonner Lake Hamilton Junior High School Hot Springs 8th T-34th
Puerto Rico United States Virgin Islands Atlantic Territories Diego Curet St. John’s School San Juan 8th T-53rd
 California Venkat Ranjan Windemere Ranch Middle School San Ramon 8th 1st
 Colorado Garrett Fleischmann Stargate Middle School Thornton 7th T-22nd
 Connecticut James Leone Middlesex Middle School Darien 8th T-17th
 Delaware Jeremiah Rayban Cab Calloway School of the Arts Wilmington 7th T-24th
Department of Defense Alex Daniels Seoul Am Middle School Seoul, South Korea 7th T-12th
 District of Columbia Max Garon Sidwell Friends Middle School Washington 8th T-12th
 Florida Kaylan Patel Windermere Preparatory School Windermere 6th T-17th
 Georgia Vishal Sareddy Riverwatch Middle School Suwanee 8th 3rd
 Hawaii William Chen Aikahi Elementary Kailua 6th T-38th
 Idaho Vincent Giordano Lowell Scott Middle School Boise 8th T-42nd
 Illinois Ty Jones Crestwood School Paris 8th T-38th
 Indiana Jonathon Elliott Griffith Middle School Griffith 7th T-30th
 Iowa Kavya Kalathur Pleasant Valley Junior High School LeClaire 8th T-17th
 Kansas Wyatt Boyd Hocker Grove Middle School Shawnee 7th T-24th
 Kentucky Case W. Grillot Highlands Middle School Fort Thomas 8th T-24th
 Louisiana Andrew Minagar Caddo Middle School Shreveport 7th T-34th
 Maine Colin Aponte Hancock Co. Area Homeschoolers Blue Hill 8th T-42nd
 Maryland Alan Zhang Mount View Middle School Marriottsville 8th T-45th
 Massachusetts Atreya Mallanna Joseph Estabrook Elementary School Lexington 5th 7th
 Michigan Paarth Sharma Moorsbridge Elementary School Portage 5th T-12th
 Minnesota Nicholas Peterson St. John Baptist School New Brighton 8th T-24th
 Mississippi Jacob Holland Long Beach Middle School Long Beach 8th T-38th
 Missouri Jackson Cooper Christ The King School University City 7th T-45th
 Montana Caleb Mark Yellowstone County Home Educators Billings 8th T-53rd
 Nebraska Quentin Bauer Central Middle School Omaha 7th T-45th
 Nevada Emmanuel Gayton-Vargas Carson Valley Middle School Gardnerville 7th T-45th
 New Hampshire Sean Cheng Cooperative Middle School Stratham 8th 10th
 New Jersey Anoushka Buddhikot Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School Bridgewater 8th 2nd
 New Mexico Lakshay Sood Albuquerque Academy Albuquerque 7th T-12th
 New York Nicholas Sarris West Hollow Middle School Melville 8th T-45th
 North Carolina Jonathan Song Salem Middle School Apex 8th 6th
 North Dakota Krishna Kamalakannan Discovery Middle School Fargo 8th 11th
 Ohio Saket Pochiraju Orange Middle School Lewis Center 8th T-8th
 Oklahoma Dyllon Wheeler Epic Charter Schools Oklahoma City 8th T-45th
 Oregon Ashwin Sivakumar Oregon Episcopal School Portland 8th T-4th
American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Pacific Territories Napu Mesa Blas Luis P. Untalan Middle School Barrigada 7th T-34th
 Pennsylvania Arnab Sircar Charles F Patton Middle School Kennett Square 8th T-17th
 Rhode Island Maximus Terra Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School Coventry 8th T-38th
 South Carolina Sam Henshaw Moultrie Middle School Mt. Pleasant 7th T-22nd
 South Dakota Owen Fink Bridgewater-Emery School Bridgewater 7th T-34th
 Tennessee Aditya Narayanan Riverdale Elementary School Germantown 6th T-30th
 Texas Nihar Janga Canyon Ridge Middle School Austin 7th T-8th
 Utah Felix Keil Salt Lake Arts Academy Salt Lake City 8th T-17th
 Vermont Mary Fowler Eastern Vermont Homeschooler Hartland 7th T-45th
 Virginia Caleb Hines Ashburn Homeschoolers Ashburn 8th T-24th
 Washington Ihsan Lishar Spiritridge Elementary School Bellevue 5th T-42nd
 West Virginia Joss Poteet Wildwood Middle School Shenandoah Junction 7th T-24th
 Wisconsin Hansen Jin Kromrey Middle School Middleton 8th 16th
 Wyoming Preston Buehler Star Valley Middle School Afton 8th T-30th

Preliminary Rounds & Final Competition

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The 54 state champions competed in the preliminary rounds held from May 21–22, 2018. This part of the contest consisted of 10 oral rounds as well as a written portion.

The top 10 contestants with the highest scores in the preliminary rounds competed in the final round, which was held on May 23, 2018. Venkat Ranjan from California was the champion, with Anoushka Buddhikot from New Jersey coming 2nd, and Vishal Sareddy from Georgia placing third.[4][5]

National Championship Final Contestants
Name State Preliminary Round Scores Final Placing
Sean Cheng  New Hampshire 19/20 (10/10 + 9/10) 10th
Gayatri Kaimal  Arizona 18/20 (10/10 + 8/10) 4th
Venkat Ranjan  California 18/20 (9/10 + 9/10) 1st
Atreya Mallanna  Massachusetts 18/20 (10/10 + 8/10) 7th
Anoushka Buddhikot  New Jersey 18/20 (10/10 + 8/10) 2nd
Jonathan Song  North Carolina 18/20 (8/10 + 10/10) 6th
Saket Pochiraju  Ohio 18/20 (9/10 + 9/10) 8th
Vishal Sareddy  Georgia 17/20 (8/10 + 9/10) 3rd
Ashwin Sivakumar  Oregon 17/20 (8/10 + 9/10) 4th
Nihar Janga  Texas 17/20 (10/10 + 7/10) 8th
  • Krishna Kamalakannan, of North Dakota, also finished with 17 out of 20 points but was eliminated by a tiebreaker test the students had taken specifically for the purpose of breaking ties.

References

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  1. ^ 30th National Geographic Bee (23 MAY 2018). "30th Annual National Geographic Bee Winners Nail Tough Questions." URL still valid 20 APR 2023: [1]
  2. ^ National Geographic Education Blog (19 MAY 2018). National Geographic Bee. NG URL still valid 21 APR 2023: [2]
  3. ^ National Geographic Society Newsroom (28 MAR 2019). NG Bee 30th Anniversary Resized: About NG Society. URL still valid 20 APR 2023: [3]
  4. ^ National Geographic (24 MAY 2018). 2018 National Geographic Bee Final Competition. National Geographic Education: Video. URL still valid 20 APR 2023: [4]
  5. ^ PR Newswire (30 MAY 2018). Congratulations to 30th National Geographic Bee Champions. North South Foundation. URL still valid 20 APR 2023: [5]