WHO/WHAT:
The preliminary round of the 24th annual National Geographic Bee was held today, Tuesday, May 22. The top 10 finishers — from the field of 54 state-level winners who took part in the prelims — will compete in the final round to be held at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 24. First prize is a $25,000 college scholarship, lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and a trip to the Galápagos Islands. Second- and third-place winners receive $15,000 and $10,000 college scholarships respectively. This round of the competition will be simulcast in prime time on the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD on May 24 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
The 10 finalists are:
- Raghav Ranga, Arizona
- Varun Mahadevan, California
- Anthony Stoner, Louisiana
- Adam Rusak, Maryland
- Karthik Karnik, Massachusetts
- Gopi Ramanathan, Minnesota
- Neelam Sandhu, New Hampshire
- Rahul Nagvekar, Texas
- Anthony Cheng, Utah
- Vansh Jain, Wisconsin
WHEN/WHERE:
Thursday, May 24
Doors open to the media: 8:15 a.m. ET
Doors close: 9:30 a.m. ET
Competition: 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET
National Geographic Society
Grosvenor Auditorium
1600 M Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
CONTACT:
Stephanie Montgomery
(202) 641-5101 (cell); smontgom@ngs.org
Carrie Engel
(202) 457-8449; cengel@ngs.org
PRESS KIT:
Downloadable photographs of the 10 finalists and press kit are available at:http://bit.ly/GeoBee2012 (user name: press | password: press)
Names and photographs of the top three winners and the winning question will be posted here following the competition
NOTE TO BROADCAST MEDIA:
During championship round, broadcast crews will be required to record bugged footage from the television feed provided by National Geographic through a video mult-box. Crews not prepared to do so will be asked to turn their cameras off, and the footage will be provided by National Geographic.
Contacts:
Stephanie Montgomery
202-641-5101(cell)
smontgom@ngs.org
Carrie Engel
202-457-8449
cengel@ngs.org