The 28th annual National Geographic Bee was held between May 22–25, 2016 in Washington, DC. For the first time, the bee was moderated by the American humorist, journalist and actor Mo Rocca and featured a grand prize of a $50,000 college scholarship.[1] [2] The champion was Rishi Nair of Williams Magnet Middle School in Tampa, Florida, who won the $50,000 scholarship, lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, and a Lindblad expedition to southeast Alaska.[3] The 2nd-place winner was Saketh Jonnalagadda of Stony Brook Middle School in Westford, Massachusetts, who won a $25,000 scholarship. The 3rd-place winner was Kapil Nathan of Brock's Gap Intermediate School in Hoover, Alabama, who won a $10,000 scholarship. Rishi was also the First sixth-grade National Champion since 2008.
| State | Name | School | City/Town | Grade | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kapil Nathan | Brock's Gap Intermediate School | Hoover | 6th | 3rd | |
| Ben Ng | Floyd Dryden Middle School | Juneau | 8th | ||
| Ari Mehta | Explorer Middle School | Phoenix | 8th | ||
| D. J. Quezada | Haas Hall Academy | Bentonville | 8th | ||
 Atlantic Territories | Matthew Haughton | Antilles School | St. Thomas, VI | 7th | |
| Nishaanth Krishnan | Utt Middle School | Tustin | 8th | ||
| Cooper Hanley | Louisville Middle School | Louisville | 7th | ||
| Ritwik Bose | Scotts Ridge Middle School | Ridgefield | 8th | ||
| Eric Smith | Postlethwait Middle School | Camden | 8th | ||
| Department of Defense | Connor Buchheit | Wiesbaden Middle School | Wiesbaden, Germany | 7th | |
| Max Garon | Sidwell Friends Middle School | Washington, DC | 6th | ||
| Rishi Nair | Williams Magnet Middle School | Tampa | 6th | Champion | |
| Jerome Perera | Taylor Road Middle School | Johns Creek | 7th | ||
| Mika Ishii | Kaimuki Middle School | Honolulu | 8th | ||
| Nicholas Monahan | Payette Lakes Middle School | McCall | 7th | ||
| Mantra Dave | Chiddix Junior High School | Normal | 8th | ||
| Simon Molenaar | Highland Christian School | Highland | 7th | ||
| Patrick Taylor | Northwest Junior High School | Coralville | 8th | ||
| Aviral Misra | Prairie Star Middle School | Leawood | 8th | ||
| Shyam Ravishankar | Noe Middle School | Louisville | 8th | ||
| Luke Andel | Isidore Newman School | New Orleans | 8th | ||
| Haden Buzzell | Massabesic Middle School | East Waterboro | 6th | ||
| Rishi Kumar | Worthington Elementary School | Ellicott City | 5th | T-4 | |
| Saketh Jonnalagadda | Stony Brook Middle School | Westford | 8th | 2nd | |
| Pranav Arunandhi | Rochester Hills | 8th | |||
| Lucas Eggers | STAR Homeschool Academy | Minnetonka | 7th | 7th | |
| Edmund Doerksen | Oxford Middle School | Oxford | 7th | ||
| Nikhil Krishnan | Rockwood South Middle School | Fenton | 8th | ||
| Grace Rembert | Sacajawea Middle School | Bozeman | 8th | T-4 | |
| Deeksha Sridhar | Millard North Middle School | Omaha | 6th | ||
| Spencer Gabe | Las Vegas Day School | Las Vegas | 8th | ||
| Abhinav Govindaraju | Shaker Road School | Concord | 6th | ||
| Veda Bhattaram | Robert R. Lazar Middle School | Montville | 6th | ||
| Lakshay Sood | Manzano Day School | Albuquerque | 5th | ||
| Ethan Tsvayg | Mark Twain Intermediate School 239 | 7th | |||
| Samanyu Dixit | Jay M. Robinson Middle School | Charlotte | 6th | T-8 | |
| Jonathan Farnsworth | Valley Middle School | Grand Forks | 8th | ||
| Saket Pochiraju | Olentangy Orange Middle School | Lewis Center | 6th | ||
| Keane VanTrease | Jenks Middle School | Jenks | 8th | ||
| Ashwin Sivakumar | Oregon Episcopal School | Portland | 6th | T-8 | |
  Pacific Territories | Victoria Nicole Santos | Marianas Baptist Academy | Saipan, MP | 7th | |
| Benjamin Fischer | Vida Charter School | Gettysburg | 5th | ||
| Eli Fulton | Rhode Island of Home Educators | Rumford | 8th | ||
| Joshua Woodfin | Greenville County Home Educators | Simpsonville | 8th | ||
| Owen Fink | Bridgewater-Emery School | Bridgewater | 5th | ||
| John Webster | Evangelical Christian School | Cordova | 8th | ||
| Pranay Varada | DeWitt Perry Middle School | Carrollton | 7th | 6th | |
| Ankit Garg | Bear River Charter School | Logan | 6th | ||
| Isaac Krementsov | Shelburne Community School | Shelburne | 7th | ||
| Vishvesha Sridhar | Blackburg Middle School | Blacksburg | 8th | ||
| Satvik Kabbur | Bear Creek Elementary School | Woodinville | 4th | ||
| Surya Perla | Andrew Jackson Middle School | Charleston | 8th | ||
| Thomas Wright | University School of Milwaukee | Milwaukee | 7th | T-8 | |
| Degory Day | Evanston Middle School | Evanston | 7th |
Ten preliminary rounds held on May 23, 2016. Each State Champion had to answer ten oral questions, and prior to their arrival in Washington, D.C., had to submit a video related to a topic. The video was worth up to six points, hence the highest possible number of points was 16. One 16 and 4 15s were scored. A 9-way tie for 14 pts was broken with 4 exiting the competition. The ten finalists were announced around 11:30. The top ten finalists were as follows:
The finals consisted of questions regarding the U.S. through Rounds 1–5, with 4 eliminated once Round 5 was over. A tie existed between Rishi Kumar and Lucas Eggers, with the latter exiting the competition. After that, questions regarding the world appeared. A three-way tie existed between Grace Rembert, Rishi Kumar again, and Kapil Nathan with the latter entering the final three. After Nathan was eliminated, the final two moved on to the Championships – Jonnalagadda and Nair. The latter won the competition.[3]