WASHINGTON — Nihar Janga, an eighth-grader from Austin, Texas, with an already impressive array of awards, took home top honors Wednesday in the 31st annual National Geographic GeoBee, an elite test of geographic knowledge.
- Canyon Ridge Middle School student
- Winner takes home $25K
- He is also co-winner of 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee
Janga triumphed during a competition at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. The student from Austin's Canyon Ridge Middle School was also a co-champion of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee and a top-ten finalist in the 2018 GeoBee.
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The society also held the first-ever national-level competition of the GeoChallenge, a team competition that asked for innovative solutions to modern problems. This year's challenge: plastic pollution in our waterways.
A team from Flushing Christian School in Flushing, New York, won by building a model filtration device to clear plastic debris from the Hudson River.
The winning team will receive $25,000 plus support to implement their project. Janga will receive a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and an expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavour ll.