In a clean sweep, Indian American teens won the top three prizes in the 2018 National Geographic Bee held May 23.

Venkat Ranjan, 13, of California correctly answered the question, “Which South American country has a population size most similar to Lebanon?” with his response of Paraguay, while Anoushka Buddhikot, 13, of New Jersey, answered Guyana, securing second place in the annual competition. Vishal Sareddy, 14, of Georgia came in third place.

Ranjan bested 10 finalists in the nail-biting competition at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. According to a press release, he has been competing in the bee since 2015, also enjoys playing piano.

Buddhikot also enjoys reading and playing the violin and hopes to one day write a novel about a National Geographic-style explorer.

The 2018 champion was awarded a $50,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, including a subscription to National Geographic magazine and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galapagos Islands.

Second- and third-place finishers received $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships, respectively.

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