29th National Geographic Bee

The 29th annual National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C. It was sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The State Bees were held on March 31, 2017, where the 54 finalists were determined. The 2017 Champion, Pranay Varada, received a $50,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition for two to the Galápagos Islands aboard the new National Geographic Endeavour ll.

2017 State Champions On March 31, 2017, 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. State Name School City/Town Grade PlaceJason DiRussoLouis Pizitz Middle SchoolVestavia Hills8thAndres AriasNicholas J Begich Middle SchoolAnchorage8thAditya NarayananSonoran Sky Elementary SchoolScottsdale5thDenis CarranzaElmwood Middle SchoolRogers7th Atlantic TerritoriesMatthew HaughtonAntilles SchoolSt. Thomas, VI8thAhilan EraniyanDiablo Vista Middle SchoolDanville6thT-7thHenry HalgrenLiberty Common High SchoolFort Collins6thWilliam FosterIndependent Day SchoolMiddlefield8thRohan KanchanaNewark Charter SchoolNewark8thT-7th Department of DefenseConnor BuchheitWiesbaden Middle SchoolWiesbaden, Germany8thMax GaronSidwell Friends Middle SchoolWashington7thT-7thJacob SilverCypress Lake Middle SchoolFt. Myers6thVishal SareddyRiverwatch Middle SchoolSuwanee7thLogan KakugawaHawaii Baptist AcademyHonolulu8thNicholas MonahanPayette Lakes Middle SchoolMcCall8th4thSahan YalavarthiTwin Groves Middle SchoolBuffalo Grove7thDylan SchutteSunman-Dearborn Middle SchoolBrookville8thGrant PedersenCardinal Middle SchoolEldon7thSathvik KasarabadaCalifornia Trail Middle SchoolOlathe7thEvan WinklerMorton Middle SchoolLexington8thIssac JabaleyLusher Charter SchoolNew Orleans6thJoseph LuchsingerBerwick AcademySouth Berwick7thNabhoneel Sil UpadhyayKingsview Middle SchoolGermantown8thTheodore Z. BattyJenkins Elementary SchoolScituate6thPeter Deegan-KrauseFerndale Middle SchoolFerndale6thLucas EggersSTAR Homeschool AcademyMinnetonka8th6thEdmund DoerksenOxford Middle SchoolOxford8thRohan RaoGentry Middle SchoolColumbia7thIan WilliamsSussex SchoolMissoula8thBrendan PenningtonPrairie Lane Elementary SchoolOmaha8thMaia MarshallSt Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic SchoolLas Vegas8thAbhinav Govindaraju Ross A. Lurgio Middle SchoolBedford7th10thVeda BhattaramRobert R. Lazar Middle SchoolMontville7th3rdLakshay SoodAlbuquerque AcademyAlbuquerque6thTayler AndersonNyack Middle SchoolNyack7thMax DyerPhoenix AcademyHigh Point6thKrishna KamalakannanDiscovery Middle SchoolFargo7thSaket PochirajuOrange Middle SchoolLewis Center7thAntonino LibarnesOak Hill Episcopal SchoolArdmore5thAshwin SivakumarOregon Episcopal SchoolPortland7th Pacific TerritoriesJoanah JimenezMarianas Baptist AcademySaipan, MP7thEshan SinghCharles H Boehm Middle SchoolYardley7thIsaiah SuchmanNathan Bishop Middle SchoolProvidence8thConnor FraleyWilliams Middle SchoolFlorence8thOwen FinkBridgewater-Emery SchoolBridgewater6thSimeon BetapudiEvangelical Christian SchoolCordova7thPranay VaradaDeWitt Perry Middle SchoolCarrollton8thChampionAnkit GargBear River Charter SchoolLogan7thAnshuta BeeramFrederick H Tuttle Middle SchoolSouth Burlington6thAnish SusarlaBelmont Ridge Middle SchoolLeesburg6th5thArjun NathanPine Lake Middle SchoolSammamish8thHunter MidcapSt. Michael Parish SchoolWheeling8thThomas WrightUniversity School of MilwaukeeMilwaukee8th2ndPreston BuehlerStar Valley Middle SchoolAfton7th

Preliminary rounds The Preliminary Competition was held on Monday, May 15, 2017. It consisted of two parts: a written part and an oral part worth 16 points total. In the written part, contestants were asked to write a sentence about why preserving oceans is important, identify places on a map that had been part of National Geographic's "pristine seas" project, and write an paragraph about which place needed to have steps taken for its preservation first: The Rio de la Plata estuary, the Sundarbans, or the Great Barrier Reef. It was graded out of six points total. The oral part consisted of ten rounds about world geography and National Geographic Explorers. All 54 State Champions participated, and after a tiebreaker ten finalists were determined: Ahilan Eraniyan – from California Rohan Kanchana – from Delaware Max Garon – from District of Columbia Nicholas Monahan – from Idaho Lucas Eggers – from Minnesota Abhinav Govindaraju – from New Hampshire Veda Bhattaram – from New Jersey Pranay Varada – from Texas Anish Susarla – from Virginia Thomas Wright – from Wisconsin

Final rounds The Final Competition was held on Wednesday, May 17, 2017. The top 10 Finalists out of the 54 State Champions participated. Humorist, journalist, and actor Mo Rocca moderated the Competition for the second year in a row. The Champion was Pranay Varada of Texas. Thomas Wright of Wisconsin came second, and Veda Bhattaram of New Jersey came third. The GeoChallenge for the top three was about a new home country for the Maldivian people if their country becomes flooded after sea level rises. The choices were Indonesia, Turkey, and the Solomon Islands, in order of best to worst answer. In fourth place was Nicholas Monahan from Idaho. The fifth place finisher was Anish Susarla of Virginia, and Lucas Eggers of Minnesota came in sixth. Tying for seventh place were Rohan Kanchana of Delaware, Ahilan Eraniyan of California, and Max Garon of D.C. They were tied with Lucas Eggers, but in the tiebreaker question, asking for the distance between Washington, D.C., and London, they were eliminated after Eggers guessed closer to the correct answer than them and he moved on. In tenth place was Abhinav Govindaraju of New Hampshire. The first eliminations took place after round 5, a lightning round, where four left the competition. The next three eliminations were after round 9, another lightning round.

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