STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Next, we pose a vital burning question.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2015 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The first question, are you ready? Archaeologists unearthed the ruins of kenilsos on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Name this island that lies southeast of the Peloponnesus.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
That's a burning question?
INSKEEP: It was for contestants of the National Geographic Bee. The competition is modeled after the National Spelling Bee.
MONTAGNE: And it's based on the optimistic idea that somebody in America must know something about geography.
INSKEEP: So let's listen again to that question put to a group of contenders in fourth through eighth grade on Monday.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2015 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: OK, I'm going to repeat the question. Archaeologists unearthed the ruins of kenilsos on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Name this island that lies southeast of the Peloponnesus.
INSKEEP: The kids were required to write answers on white boards.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2015 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Time. All right, hold up your answers, please. And the answer is Crete.
INSKEEP: Crete. You knew that, right?
MONTAGNE: All six contenders knew it. So the competition went on.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2015 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: All right, the second question. What is the name of the gulf in the Atlantic Ocean that borders the southern coast of Spain and Portugal?
MONTAGNE: Mm, let's see, not the Gulf of Mexico, not the Persian Gulf.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2015 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: OK, the correct answer is the Gulf of Kekes. And so, we've got one contestant who is out of the running.
INSKEEP: Grace Rembert of Bozeman, Mont. was the one who did not quite get it right.
GRACE REMBERT: It feels pretty terrible because I had the right answer down, and then I erased it, which is just - yeah, it's not good.
INSKEEP: Still sounds pretty impressive to those of us who would not even have known the correct answer to erase.
MONTAGNE: Rembert just missed a spot in today's final round in which ten young people compete, including this kid.
ABHINAV KARTHIKEYAN: My name is Abhinav Karthikeyan, and I'm from the great state of Maryland. I'm 12 years old.
MONTAGNE: And his love of geography goes way back.
KARTHIKEYAN: So in preschool, we cut out maps of continents, and I wanted to know what lived in the continent. Did I live in a continent? What places are in a continent? That kind of inspired me to learn more and more, and it came to this moment now.
MONTAGNE: And now, is his third time at the National Bee.
KARTHIKEYAN: Last year, I lost in the tiebreakers, so I got 15th place. But this year, third times the charm. So I'm in the top 10 now, and I'm really happy.
INSKEEP: And today, he competes for the championship in this small patch of land, formally part of Maryland and now a district with no votes in Congress.
MONTAGNE: Also known as Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.