26th National Geographic Bee
The 26th National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 2014, sponsored by the National Geographic Society.
Eighth-grader Akhil Rekulapelli, from Loudoun County, Virginia won the competition, beating out 52 other competitors representing the 50 U.S. states, Pacific territories, and Department of Defense dependent schools.[1]
In 2014, a record number of 9 perfect scores in the national preliminary competition was recorded. As a result, a sudden-death tiebreaker took place between 8 state representatives including contestants from Alabama, Utah, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and Washington.
Akhil Rekulapelli, the 2014 National Geographic Bee Champion, received a $50,000 scholarship, a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, and a trip for 2 to the Galapagos Islands. Ameya Mujumdar, the second-place finisher received $25,000. Tuvya Bergeson-Michelson, the third-place finisher received $10,000, and Pranit Nanda the fourth-place finisher received $1,000. Other top ten finishers received $500.
2014 state representatives
State | Name | School | City/Town | Grade | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alabama | Christian Gonzalez | Huntsville Area Home Educators | Harvest | 8th | |
Alaska | J. Gray Harver | Kodiak Middle School | Kodiak | 8th | |
Arizona | Ari Mehta | Desert Cove E.S. | Phoenix | 6th | |
Arkansas | Christian Boekhout | Hot Springs Intermediate School | Hot Springs | 8th | |
Atlantic Territories | Jael King | Alfredo Andrews School | St. Croix | 6th | |
California | Tuvya Bergson-Michelson | The Nueva School | San Carlos | 7th | 3rd Place |
Colorado | Pranit Nanda | Aurora Quest K-8 | Aurora | 8th | 4th Place |
Connecticut | John Phipps | Middlesex Middle School | Darien | 6th
Finishing in 2nd place was Arjun Katechia from Glastonbury who attends Kingswood-Oxford Middle School. | |
Delaware | Sohan Shah | The Independence School | Newark | 8th | |
Department of Defense | Patrick Lewallen | Ryukyu Middle School | Japan | 8th | |
District of Columbia | Quentin Powers | St. Anselm's Abbey School | District of Columbia | 8th | |
Florida | Ameya Mujumdar | Turner Elementary School | Tampa | 5th | 2nd Place |
Georgia | Ansel Ahabue | Trickum Middle School | Lilburn | 8th | 8th Place (tie) |
Hawaii | Mika Ishii | Kaimuki Middle School | Honolulu | 6th | |
Idaho | Amrit Singh | Grangeville Elementary/Middle School | Grangeville | 8th | |
Illinois | Mantra Dave | Chiddix Jr. High School | Normal | 6th | |
Indiana | Sean Ives | Trinity Lutheran School | Crown Point | 8th | |
Iowa | Shirlin Kingston | Ames Homeschool Assistance Program | Ames | 5th | |
Kansas | Chinmay Patil | California Trail Middle School | Olathe | 6th | |
Kentucky | Nikhil Krishna | Corbin Middle School | Corbin | 8th | |
Louisiana | Benjamin Link | St. Andrew’s Episcopal School | New Orleans | 8th | |
Maine | Vincent Falardeau | Saco Middle School | Saco | 8th | |
Maryland | Abhinav Karthikeyan | Clearspring Elementary School | Damascus | 5th | |
Massachusetts | Nicholas Rommel | Diamond Middle School | Lexington | 7th | 8th Place (tie) |
Michigan | Philip Huang | Washtenaw County Home Educators | Ann Arbor | 8th | |
Minnesota | Lucas Eggers | Hennepin County Homeschool | Eden Prairie | 6th | |
Mississippi | Victoria Gong | St. Aloysius | Vicksburg | 7th | |
Missouri | Evan Hensel | Wentzville Middle School | Wentzville | 8th | |
Montana | Jesse Zhang | Target Range School | Missoula | 8th | |
Nebraska | Brendan Pennington | Prairie Lane Elementary School | Omaha | 5th | |
Nevada | Benjamin Hand | Hyde Park Middle School | Las Vegas | 8th | |
New Hampshire | Kevin Owens | Ross A. Lurgio Middle School | Bedford | 7th | |
New Jersey | Charles Mills | Trinity Christian School | Montville | 7th
Finishing in second place was Karan Menon of John Adams Middle School in Edison, who would later become the 2015 National Geographic Bee Champion. | |
New Mexico | Gabriel Cuneo | Shepherd Lutheran | Albuquerque | 8th | |
New York | Gabriel Straus | Collegiate School for Boys | Manhattan | 8th | |
North Carolina | Sravya Kuchibhotla | Davis Drive Middle School | Cary | 7th | |
North Dakota | Erik Johnson | Bismarck Mandan Home Educators | Bismarck | 8th | |
Ohio | Kyle Yu | Lee Burneson Middle School | Westlake | 8th | 6th Place |
Oklahoma | Aniket Dehardrai | Whittier Middle School | Norman | 8th | |
Oregon | Tor Parsons | Roosevelt Middle School | Eugene | 7th | |
Pacific Territories | Alex Eagan | Pacific Horizons School | Pago Pago | 6th | |
Pennsylvania | Ramya Muthukrishnan | E.N. Pierce Middle School | West Chester | 8th | |
Rhode Island | Maxwell Levine | Wheeler School | Providence | 8th | 8th Place (tie) |
South Carolina | Krish Patel | Pinewood Preparatory School | Summerville | 8th | 5th Place |
South Dakota | Bridger Gordon | Sturgis Williams Middle School | Sturgis | 8th | |
Tennessee | Christopher Damon | Meigs Middle Magnet School | Nashville | 8th | |
Texas | Benjamin Benjadol | Central Junior High School | Euless | 7th | |
Utah | Gauri Garg | Bear River Charter School | Logan | 7th | |
Vermont | Nicholas Norton | Essex Middle School | Essex Junction | 7th | |
Virginia | Akhil Rekulapelli | Stone Hill Middle School | Ashburn | 8th | 2014 National Champion |
Washington | Andrew Ma | The Evergreen School | Shoreline | 8th | |
West Virginia | Andrew Christy | St. Francis Central Catholic School | Morgantown | 8th | |
Wisconsin | Asha Jain | MHLT Elementary School | Minocqua | 8th | 7th Place; was on the winning team at the 2013 World Geographic Bee Championship with Gopi Ramanathan, from Minnesota, and Neelam Sandhu, from New Hampshire |
Wyoming | Degory Day | Aspen Elementary School | Evanston | 5th |
References
Preceded by 25th National Geographic Bee |
26th National Geographic Bee 2014 |
Succeeded by 27th National Geographic Bee |