National Geographic World Championship

The National Geographic World Championship (previously called the International Geography Olympiad, which is now the title of another similar competition for older schoolchildren) is a biennial, two-day long international geography competition typically held in late July or early August. The Championship was first held in 1993, and is sponsored by the National Geographic Society

National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...

. Teams of three students plus one alternate are selected from among those who finished highest in their respective countries' national competitions (e.g. the National Geographic Bee

National Geographic Bee

The National Geographic Bee is an annual geography contest sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The bee, held every year since 1989, is open to students in the fourth through eighth grade in participating American schools.The entities represented at the national level are all fifty U.S....

in the U.S.A., the Olimpíada Geográfica Argentina in Argentina or the Australian Geography Competition

Australian Geography Competition

The Australian Geography Competition is an Australia-wide competition run by the Royal Geographic Society of Queensland and the Australian Geography Teachers Association and sponsored by the National Geographic Channel. It tests the geographic knowledge of high school students from years 8-12. It...

in Australia). On the first day of competition, these teams take a written test on which all members confer and work together, then take part in a team geography skills-testing activity, such as using a map to find specified locations in unfamiliar surroundings. The scores from these two events are tallied, and the top three teams advance to the final round on the second day. The final round consists of questions primarily in the style of the National Geographic Bee

National Geographic Bee

, as a moderator (since 1993, Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek

George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...

) reads questions to one team or one individual at a time. These questions may also involve the use of visual aids such as maps or photographs. Members of the top three teams receive bronze, silver, or gold medals for finishing third, second, or first, respectively.

Locations and Winners

1993

Location: London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

Kingdom of England,

First place: United States (Captain Noel Erinjeri, Michigan; Michael Ring, Rhode Island; Jeffrey Hoppes, Pennsylvania)
Second place: United Kingdom (Captain Colm Walsh; Richard Webb; David Hunt)
Third place: Russia (Captain Roman Amburtsev; Valerij Perelygin; Roman Fomin)

1995

Location: Orlando

Orlando

Orlando is a major city in the U.S. state of Florida.Orlando may also refer to-Places:* in Florida** Orlando, a major city** Greater Orlando, the 27th-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

Florida,

United States

First place: Australia (Michael Lyon, Victoria; Patrick Chan, New South Wales; Michael Molinari, Western Australia)
Second place: United Kingdom
Third place: Canada

1997

Location: Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

United States

Dates: August 5-6

First place: Canada (Durgesh Saraph, Ontario; Rohan Verghese, Ontario; Armand Gaudry, British Columbia; Pierre-Marc Lanteigne, Quebéc)
Second place: Argentina
Third place: Russia

1999

Location: Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

Ontario,

Canada

Dates: August 10-11

First place: United States (David Beihl, Saluda, South Carolina; Jason Borschow, San Juan, Puerto Rico; John Kizer, Portsmouth, Ohio; Evan Sparks, Germantown, Tennessee)
Second place: Canada
Third place: Russia

2001

Location: Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

British Columbia,

Canada

Dates: August 1-2

First place: United States (Kyle Haddad-Fonda, Bellevue, Washington; Nicholas Jachowski, Pukalani, Hawaii; Steven Young, Reston, Virginia; Joe Henry Legan, Haughton, Louisiana)
Second place: Canada
Third place: Hungary

2003

Location: Tampa

Tâmpa

Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...

Florida,

United States

Dates: July 15-16

First place: United States (Captain John Rice, Maddock, North Dakota; Dallas Simons, Nashville, Tennessee; Alexander Smith, Burlington, North Carolina)
Second place: Germany
Third place: Early Modern France (Captain Vincent Lafon, Paris; Antony Lee, Les Ulis; Thibaut Decazes, Versailles)

2005

Location: Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

Hungary

Dates: July 11-14

First place: United States (Captain Andrew Wojtanik
Andrew Wojtanik
Andrew Wojtanik was the winner of the National Geographic Bee hosted by Alex Trebek in 2004, and the National Geographic World Championship in 2005. To get to the National Geographic Bee finals, he survived two tiebreakers to advance to the final round against 13-year-old Matthew Wells of Montana,...

, Overland Park, Kansas; Jesse Weinberg, Coral Gables, Florida; Karan Takhar, North Attleboro, Massachusetts)
Second place: Russia (Captain Ivan Prokhorov, Murmansk; Vera Efremova, Sterlitamak; Renat Temirgaleev, Orenburg)
Third place: Canada (Captain Daniel Siracusa, Burnaby, BC; Nathan Friedman, Kamloops, BC; John Yao, Toronto, Ontario).

2007

Location: San Diego,

California,

United States

Dates: August 5-10

First place: Mexico (Captain Angel Aliseda Alonso, Guadalajara; Carlos Franco Ruiz, Zapotlan de Juarez; Emanuel Johansen Campos, Tejalpa)
Second place: United States (Captain Matthew Vengalil, Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan; Neeraj Sirdeshmukh, Nashua, New Hampshire; Kelsey Schilperoort, Prescott, Arizona)
Third place: Canada (Captain Jonathan Whyte, Toronto, Ontario; Marky Freeman, Thornhill, Ontario; Maxim Ralchenko, Ottawa)

2009

Location: Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

Mexico

Dates: July 9-16

First place: Canada (Chris Chiavatti, British Columbia; Peter Brandt, Manitoba; Graham Tompkins, Nova Scotia.)
Second place: United States (Kenji Golimlim, Southgate, Michigan; Milan Sandhu, Bedford, New Hampshire; Eric Yang, The Colony, Texas.)
Third place: Poland (Piotr Byrski, Łodygowice, Ślaskie; Wojciech Kaczmarczyk, Racibórz, Ślaskie; Gabriel Stachura, Lublin, Lubelskie.)

2011

Location: San Francisco,

United States

Dates: July 23-28

First place: Russia (Egor Shustov, Slyudyanka, Irkutsk State; Masha Samoletova, Saint-Petersburg; Alexandr Bondarchuk, Saint-Petersburg.)
Second place: Canada (Alejandro Torres-Lopez, North Vancouver, British Columbia; Aoife M. O`Leary, Surrey, British Columbia; Alexander E.Cohen, Ottawa, Ontario.)
Third place: Republic of China (Chen-Luo Cheng, Taipei; Po-Chen Chu, Taitung; Tong-Hong Hsu, Banqiao district,New Taipei City)

Locations and Winners

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