United States Geography Bee
Middle & Elementary School Divisions
2025-2026 Competition Year
2025 National Champions:
8th Grade – Naman Mishra, Rose Hill Middle School, WA
7th Grade – Avahan Gautam, Dewitt Perry Middle School, TX
6th Grade – Parv Desai, Deerfield Windsor Middle School, GA
5th Grade – Trishob Thigulla, Osage Elementary School, NJ
4th Grade – Cristian Cruz, Rancho Romero Elementary School, CA
3rd Grade and Younger – Nathan Wang, Pingry School, NJ
The US Geography Bee Middle & Elementary School Divisions Overview
The United States Geography Bee is a quiz competition for individual students, testing knowledge of all aspects of American geography at a grade-appropriate level. For students competing in the Middle & Elementary School Divisions, the US Geography Bee consists of two stages. The first is a 35 question multiple-choice National Qualifying Exam. The second stage is the National Championships, which will take place in-person on Thursday, May 21, 2026. The National Championships of the US Geography Bee is entirely a buzzer-based quiz competition. Please note that the US Geography Bee is a distinct competition from the National Geography Bee. Questions in the US Geography Bee focus exclusively on the geography of the USA and its territories and territorial waters. Questions in the National Geography Bee focus on both American geography and general world geography.
Jump To:
Competition Format
For students competing in the Middle & Elementary School Divisions, the US Geography Bee is a two-stage competition, consisting of the National Qualifying Exams and the National Championships. Students can also qualify for the International Geography Championships by competing in the US Geography Bee.
1
National Qualifying Exams
For the Middle & Elementary School Divisions, students first compete in the Qualifying Stage through the National Qualifying Exam. For these divisions, the National Qualifying Exam is a 35 question multiple choice exam. All questions have 4 possible answer choices. The National Qualifying Exams for the Middle and Elementary School Divisions are scored on the basis of 2 points for a correct answer, and 0 for a question left unanswered or for an incorrect answer. There is thus no penalty for guessing, and students taking these exams should answer every question as best as they can.
Students may take the US Geography Bee National Qualifying Exam online, at all in-person National Science, History and Geography Bee Regional Tournaments, or at all in-person National History Bee and Bowl Regional Tournaments during the lunch break. There are four versions of the Middle and Elementary School National Qualifying Exams, which are known as Red, White, Blue, and Gold. For National Qualifying Exams that are offered at National Science, History, and Geography Bee Regional Tournaments, the Exam Set corresponds to the question set that the tournament is using. If the Exams are taken at National History Bee and Bowl Regional Tournaments, then if the tournament is run on C Set, then the Red Set exam version is offered. If the tournament is run on B Set, the White Set exam version is offered. If the tournament is run on A Set, the Blue Set exam version is offered.
For the US Geography Bee, the questions on all four versions of the National Qualifying Exams follow the National Qualifying Exam Question Distribution.
If taking the US Geography Bee National Qualifying Exam online, students have a 20 minute time limit.
If taking the US Geography Bee National Qualifying Exam at an in-person National Science, History, and Geography Bee Regional Tournament, students may also take the National Qualifying Exams for the National Biology Bee, National Citizenship Bee, National Humanities Bee, National Mathematics Bee, and US History Bee. At these tournaments, National Qualifying Exams are not timed on an exam-by-exam basis, but rather, students can take them in the designated Exam Room whenever it is open. Students cannot leave the Exam Room and come back to an exam that they had previously started. Students should be mindful of their schedule for the day and plan the times when they wish to take exams accordingly.
If taking the US Geography Bee National Qualifying Exam at an in-person National History Bee and Bowl Regional Tournament, students may also take the National Qualifying Exams for the other five National Qualifying Exams as listed in the above paragraph. If a student takes just one exam, they have 20 minutes. If a student takes two exams, they have 40 minutes, but if they take three, four, or five exams, they still only have 40 minutes (as time is limited during the lunch break of a tournament).
Students qualify for Nationals through the National Qualifying Exams in one of three ways:
Students need only to qualify on any one version of the National Qualifying Exam in any given academic year to be able to compete at the National Championships. If a student qualifies on one version of the Exam, and then takes a different version of the exam but does not qualify on that version, they remain qualified.
The cost is $20 per Exam Version per student.
For all questions on the National Qualifying Exams of the US Geography Bee, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com.
Stage
2
National Championships
The second stage of the US Geography Bee for the Middle & Elementary School Divisions is the National Championships, which for the 2025-26 academic year will take place in-person at the Hyatt Regency Orlando in Orlando, FL on Thursday, May 21, 2026. The preliminary rounds will take place in the morning and the playoff rounds will take place in the afternoon. A full schedule of all events at the National Championships is available here. All students will play four preliminary round matches using standard International Academic Competitions buzzer-based online rules with 30 questions each. There will then be either one or two playoff rounds. One playoff round will be played if there are 30 students or fewer in an age division; two playoff rounds will be played if there are 31 or more students in an age division. The exact number of students who make the playoffs will be a function of the total number of registrants.
Different age divisions will be held at the National Championships for students in 8th Grade, 7th Grade, 6th Grade, 5th Grade, 4th Grade, and 3rd Grade & Younger.
The cost to compete at the 2026 US Geography Bee National Championships is $135. Registration for the National Championships of the US Geography Bee will open in November and run through early May on this page.
For all questions on the 2026 Middle & Elementary School National Championships, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com.
Stage
International Geography Championships
Students who compete in the Middle & Elementary School Divisions of the US Geography Bee can qualify for the 2026 International Geography Championships which will be held from July 5-12 at the JW Marriott Resort and Spa in Khao Lak, Thailand! Students qualify for the International Geography Championships by making the playoffs in their age division at the 2025 or 2026 National Championships of the US Geography Bee. They can also qualify by doing any of the following:
- having a score of 75 or higher on any version of the Varsity / Junior Varsity Geography National Qualifying Exam in the 2024-25 or 2025-26 academic year if they were in 9th grade or higher in the year they took it.
- having a score of 65 or higher on any version of the Varsity / Junior Varsity Geography National Qualifying Exam in the 2024-25 or 2025-26 academic year if they were in 7th or 8th grade in the year they took it.
- having a score of 55 or higher on any version of the Varsity / Junior Varsity Geography National Qualifying Exam in the 2024-25 or 2025-26 academic year if they were in 6th grade or lower in the year they took it.
- placing in the top third at a National Geography Bee regional event (or first or second place in the case of small fields)
- placing in the top two thirds in their age division at the 2025 or 2026 National Championships of the National Geography Bee
- placing in the top two thirds in their age division at the 2025 or 2026 National Championships of the US Geography Championships
- playing on a team that finishes in the top 50% in any age division at the 2025 or 2026 National Championships of the National Geography Bowl
The 2026 International Geography Championships is a week-long event with numerous competitions, field trips (including an optional 3-day pre-trip to Bangkok, and an optional 3-day post-trip to Angkor Wat), family activities and more. In each event, medals are awarded to the top 3 competing students in each age division. US students compete for their state; students from other countries (or students in the USA who were born abroad or who have foreign citizenship) represent those countries. Two of the most prestigious events at IGC are the International Geography Bee World Championships and the International Geography Bowl World Championships; an overall IGC Championship title is also awarded in each age division; please view the website at www.geochampionships.com for further details on all events and to register. We are expecting 300-400 students to attend the 2026 IGC.
For all questions on the 2026 International Geography Championships, please email igc@iacompetitions.com.
US Geography Bee Practice Resources
Rules & FAQs
US Geography Bee Results
Past US Geography Bee National Champions
On mobile, swipe right to view all columns
| Year | Division | National Champion | School | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8th Grade | Naman Mishra | Rose Hill Middle School | Redmond | WA  |
| 2025 | 7th Grade | Avahan Gautam | Dewitt Perry Middle School | Carrollton | TX  |
| 2025 | 6th Grade | Parv Desai | Deerfield Windsor Middle School | Albany | GA  |
| 2025 | 5th Grade | Trishob Thigulla | Osage Elementary School | Vorhees | NJ  |
| 2025 | 4th Grade | Cristian Cruz | Rancho Romero Elementary School | Alamo | CA  |
| 2025 | 3rd Grade and Younger | Nathan Wang | Pingry School | Short Hills | NJ |