New York, May 22 (IANS) An
11-year-old Indian American boy won the 2008 National Geographic Bee
contest, taking home a $25,000 college scholarship and a lifetime
membership.
The contest was organized by the National Geographic Society.
Akshay Rajagopal, a grade six student from Lincoln, Nebraska, emerged
winner at the contest held in Washington, DC, Wednesday for students
from fifth through eighth grades, aged 10 to 14. Nearly five million
students take part in the National Geographic Bee contest each year.
The final question to which Rajagopal provided the correct answer in a
jiffy was: The urban area of Cochabamba has been in the news in recent
years due to protests over the privatisation of the municipal water
supply and regional autonomy issues. Cochabamba is the third largest
conurbation in what country? Answer: Bolivia.
Rajagopal, who attends Lux Middle School in Lincoln, answered all
questions correctly in Tuesday's preliminary rounds and the final and
championship rounds where the top 10 contestants pitted their
geographical knowledge against one another.
The competition was moderated for the 20th year by the 'Jeopardy!' host
Alex Trebek.
The runner up in the contest, who received a $15,000 college
scholarship, was Alabama's Hunter Bledsoe, 13, an eighth-grader at
Hewitt Trussville Middle School in Trussville.
There were two other Indian American students among the 10 finalists:
Nikhil Desai of California and Milan Sandhu of New Hampshire.
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