MAY 23- Indian-origin Sathwik Karnik has won National Geographic Bee 2013 contest after gruelling rounds testing his geographic knowledge about lions in Botswana, mountain ranges in Asia and port cities in England.
To clinch the title, Karnik, 12, correctly named Chimborazo as the mountain in Ecuador that represents the farthest point from the Earth’s center.
Karnik, a native of Norfolk, south of Boston, is a 7th grader at King Philip Regional Middle School.
He will take home the spoils of the Bee prize that include a USD 25,000 college scholarship, an all-expenses paid trip to the Galapagos Islands, and a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, National Geographic reported.
Competitors also get the chance to compete on behalf of the United States in an International geographic competition.
Nearly 5 million students started in the Geography Bee. After state and local competitions, those millions were whittled down to the top 54, and then the 10.
Three of the finalists are siblings of former finalists including Karnik, whose brother has participated in the Bee. His parents emigrated to the US from near Mangalore, in 2002. Indian-American children have dominated both the Geography Bee and the Scripps National Spelling Bee in recent years.
