Indian-American Rishi Nair wins 28th annual National Geographic Bee Competition

Indian American student Rishi Nair on 26 May 2016 won the prestigious National Geographic Bee competition 2016. As National Geographic Bee champion, Nair received a 50000 US dollars college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. He also won a trip to Alaska and Glacier Bay National Park. Highlights of 28th annual National Geographic Bee • This Year, Indian-origin contestants maintained their dominance by sweeping all the top three slots. • Nair, a sixth grader from Florida, took top honours at the 28th annual National Geographic Bee held at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington DC. • Eighth-grader Saketh Jonnalagadda from Massachusetts was the runner up and recipient of the 25000 US dollars college scholarship. • Third place and a 10000 US dollars college scholarship was grabbed by Kapil Nathan, a sixth-grader from Alabama. • The seven other finalists, who won 500 US dollars each, were Grace Rembert of Montana, Rishi Kumar of Maryland, Pranay Varada of Texas, Lucas Eggers of Minnesota, Samanyu Dixit of North Carolina, Thomas Wright of Wisconsin and Ashwin Sivakumar of Oregon. This is the fifth consecutive year that an Indian-American has won the prestigious national tournament. In 2015, Karan Menon had won the competition.