CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina team that included a Charlotte teenager took home the $15,000 prize in the 2023 Spectrum News Challenge on Wednesday night.

Sixteen teams consisting of three members took part in the months-long challenge. Ian Brown, a junior at Providence High School was on North Carolina's Computer Scientists team.

“My first thought was, ‘I don’t even know how I’m going to spend the money,'” Brown said.

Spending the money is a big decision for Brown, 17, who was eager to take on the challenge with his teammates.

“All of the trivia I had been studying finally paid off for years. My entire life I have been a major trivia buff," he said. "I often just read Wikipedia articles for fun.” 

Brown is a competitive speed cuber, ranked in the top 100 for North Carolina. He is also a master chess player and captain of his quiz bowl club. His talents combined with his love for trivia made him the perfect team player.

“I just enjoy the pursuit of knowledge, and it was fun to finally see that pay off,” he said.

Despite his team’s talents, it still came as a surprise to him every time his team advanced to the next round.

“I was definitely maybe a bit surprised at first, but as we kept going on, my confidence started to grow a little bit. I started thinking, you know what? We could actually do this,” he said.

Brown has several ideas for spending the prize money.

“I'm sure I'll use a lot of it for college," he said. "I might want to start investing. That seems like a good use of it, and I might want to give some of it away, you know?”

Winning the Spectrum News Challenge was only a small step for Brown, who has lofty goals for his future.

“Right now I think I might want to go to medical school, although the ultimate goal would be 'Jeopardy' champion. That's where I see myself in 10 years,” he said.