www.nationalgeographic.com/geographybee
The National Geographic Bee, an educational program of the National Geographic Society, is a nationwide geography competition for U.S. schools with any grades four through eight, designed to encourage the teaching and study of geography.
Target grades:
4th through 8th grade, with no children over 15 years old at the time of the national level contest.
How do schools register for the Bee?
Principals may write a letter on school letterhead and enclose the registration fee of U.S. $70 requesting that their school receive the contest materials. Keep in mind that there is a minimum participation requirement of six students from the eligible grade levels in the school-level contest.
Mail the letter and registration fee of $70 (check or money order made payable to the National Geographic Society) to:
National Geographic Bee
1145 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
This must be done by October 15th, 2008.
What does the school get in exchange for the registration fee?
The packet contains everything a school needs to participate in the competition including an instruction booklet with suggested procedures, question booklet, a medal to present to the one school winner, and the qualifying test that must be administered to the school winner. (This test determines the top scoring one hundred students in each state who are invited to compete at the state-level competition. Individual scores are not released. Notification of qualification is sent by the second week of March to the teacher who signed the certification statement on the qualifying test answer sheet.)
What is the contest format?
The school is responsible for their school-level Bee. Each participating school produces one school winner.
A teacher administers the written qualifying test (included in the packet) to the one school winner. Only the answer sheet is returned to the National Geographic Society either in the envelope provided or in your own envelope to:
National Geographic Bee
1145 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tests received after the specified deadline will not be graded.
In early March the teacher who signed the qualifying test is notified by mail if the school Bee winner qualified to represent his or her school at the state level. The top 100 students (selected based on qualifying test scores) qualify to represent their schools and compete at the state level. Scores are not released, only notification as to whether the student qualified or did not qualify for the state competition. The notification includes information on where the qualified student is to report, the date, time, etc. This information is not given over the telephone.
State qualifiers compete in an oral competition at the state level, which is usually held in late March or early April. To compete, invited qualified students must be present at the state Bee on the assigned day and at the assigned time.
State winners are invited to National Geographic headquarters in late May to compete in the national finals for scholarships in the amount of U.S. $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Bee