30th National Geographic Bee

2018 American academic competition

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30th National Geographic Bee

Date| May 20–23, 2018
Location| Washington, D.C.
Winner| Venkat Ranjan
Age| 13
Residence| San Ramon, California
No. of contestants| 54
Preceded by| 29th National Geographic Bee
Followed by| 31st 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

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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
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
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-12nd
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

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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]

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National Geographic Bee Competitions

* 1989 (1st)
* 1990 (2nd)
* 1991 (3rd)
* 1992 (4th)
* 1993 (5th)
* 1994 (6th)
* 1995 (7th)
* 1996 (8th)
* 1997 (9th)
* 1998 (10th)
* 1999 (11th)
* 2000 (12th)
* 2001 (13th)
* 2002 (14th)
* 2003 (15th)
* 2004 (16th)
* 2005 (17th)
* 2006 (18th)
* 2007 (19th)
* 2008 (20th)
* 2009 (21st)
* 2010 (22nd)
* 2011 (23rd)
* 2012 (24th)
* 2013 (25th)
* 2014 (26th)
* 2015 (27th)
* 2016 (28th)
* 2017 (29th)
* 2018 (30th)
* 2019 (31st)

* List of National Geographic Bee champions

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