# 26th National Geographic Bee

The 26th National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2014, sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Soledad O'Brien hosted this event for the first time, replacing Alex Trebek.
Eighth-grader Akhil Rekulapelli, from Loudoun County, Virginia, won the competition, beating out 52 other competitors representing the 50 U.S. states, Pacific territories, and Department of Defense dependent schools.
In 2014, a record number of 9 perfect scores in the national preliminary competition was recorded. As a result, a sudden-death tiebreaker took place between 8 state representatives including contestants from Alabama, Utah, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and Washington.
Akhil Rekulapelli, the 2014 National Geographic Bee Champion, received a $50,000 scholarship, a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, and a trip for 2 to the Galapagos Islands. Ameya Mujumdar, the second-place finisher received $25,000. Tuvya Bergson-Michelson, the third-place finisher received $10,000, and Pranit Nanda, the fourth-place finisher, received $1,000. Other top ten finishers received $500.

## 2014 state representatives

| State | Name | School | City/Town | Grade | Place |
| Alabama | Christian Gonzalez | Huntsville Area Home Educators | Harvest | 8th |
| Alaska | J. Gray Harver | Kodiak Middle School | Kodiak | 8th |
| Arizona | Ari Mehta | Desert Cove E.S. | Phoenix | 6th |
| Arkansas | Christian Boekhout | Hot Springs Intermediate School | Hot Springs | 8th |
| Atlantic Territories | Jael King | Alfredo Andrews School | St. Croix | 6th |
| California | Tuvya Bergson-Michelson | The Nueva School | San Carlos | 7th | 3rd Place |
| Colorado | Pranit Nanda | Aurora Quest K-8 | Aurora | 8th | 4th Place |
| Connecticut | Jimena Phipps | Middlesex Middle School | Darien | 6th | |
| Delaware | Sohan Shah | The Independence School | Newark | 8th |
| Department of Defense | Patrick Lewallen | Ryukyu Middle School | Japan | 8th |
| District of Columbia | Quentin Powers | St. Anselm's Abbey School | District of Columbia | 8th |
| Florida | Ameya Mujumdar | Turner Elementary School | Tampa | 5th | 2nd Place |
| Georgia | Ansel Ahabue | Trickum Middle School | Lilburn | 8th | 8th Place (tie) |
| Hawaii | Mika Ishii | Kaimuki Middle School | Honolulu | 6th |
| Idaho | Amrit Singh | Grangeville Elementary/Middle School | Grangeville | 8th |
| Illinois | Mantra Dave | Chiddix Jr. High School | Normal | 6th |
| Indiana | Sean Ives | Trinity Lutheran School | Crown Point | 8th |
| Iowa | Shirlin Kingston | Ames Homeschool Assistance Program | Ames | 5th |
| Kansas | Chinmay Patil | California Trail Middle School | Olathe | 6th |
| Kentucky | Nikhil Krishna | Corbin Middle School | Corbin | 8th |
| Louisiana | Benjamin Link | St. Andrew's Episcopal School | New Orleans | 8th |
| Maine | Vincent Falardeau | Saco Middle School | Saco | 8th |
| Maryland | Abhinav Karthikeyan | Clearspring Elementary School | Damascus | 5th |
| Massachusetts | Nicholas Rommel | Diamond Middle School | Lexington | 7th | 8th Place (tie) |
| Michigan | Philip Huang | Washtenaw County Home Educators | Ann Arbor | 8th |
| Minnesota | Lucas Eggers | Hennepin County Homeschool | Eden Prairie | 6th |
| Mississippi | Victoria Gong | St. Aloysius | Vicksburg | 7th |
| Missouri | Evan Hensel | Wentzville Middle School | Wentzville | 8th |
| Montana | Jesse Zhang | Target Range School | Missoula | 8th |
| Nebraska | Brendan Pennington | Prairie Lane Elementary School | Omaha | 5th |
| Nevada | Benjamin Hand | Hyde Park Middle School | Las Vegas | 8th |
| New Hampshire | Kevin Owens | Ross A. Lurgio Middle School | Bedford | 7th |
| New Jersey | Charles Mills | Trinity Christian School | Montville | 7th |
| New Mexico | Gabriel Cuneo | Shepherd Lutheran | Albuquerque | 8th |
| New York | Gabriel Straus | Collegiate School for Boys | Manhattan | 8th |
| North Carolina | Sravya Kuchibhotla | Davis Drive Middle School | Cary | 7th |
| North Dakota | Erik Johnson | Bismarck Mandan Home Educators | Bismarck | 8th |
| Ohio | Kyle Yu | Lee Burneson Middle School | Westlake | 8th | 6th Place |
| Oklahoma | Aniket Dehardrai | Whittier Middle School | Norman | 8th |
| Oregon | Tor Parsons | Roosevelt Middle School | Eugene | 7th |
| Pacific Territories | Alex Eagan | Pacific Horizons School | Pago Pago | 6th |
| Pennsylvania | Ramya Muthukrishnan | E.N. Pierce Middle School | West Chester | 8th |
| Rhode Island | Maxwell Levine | Wheeler School | Providence | 8th | 8th Place (tie) |
| South Carolina | Krish Patel | Pinewood Preparatory School | Summerville | 8th | 5th Place |
| South Dakota | Bridger Gordon | Sturgis Williams Middle School | Sturgis | 8th |
| Tennessee | Christopher Damon | Meigs Middle Magnet School | Nashville | 8th |
| Texas | Benjamin Benjadol | Central Junior High School | Euless | 7th |
| Utah | Gauri Garg | Bear River Charter School | Logan | 7th |
| Vermont | Nicholas Norton | Essex Middle School | Essex Junction | 8th |
| Virginia | Akhil Rekulapelli | Stone Hill Middle School | Ashburn | 8th | 2014 National Champion |
| Washington | Andrew Ma | The Evergreen School | Shoreline | 8th |
| West Virginia | Andrew Christy | St. Francis Central Catholic School | Morgantown | 8th |
| Wisconsin | Asha Jain | MHLT Elementary School | Minocqua | 8th | 7th Place |
| Wyoming | Degory Day | Aspen Elementary School | Evanston | 5th |