AAG President Sarah Bednarz (far right) presented prizes to winners, including the winning Southeast Division team above. (Photograph for AAG by Becky Pendergast)

The Southeast Division team won first place in the 2016 World Geography Bowl (WGB), an annual quiz competition for teams of college-level geography students representing the AAG’s regional divisions. First runner-up was the Pacific Coast Division team and second runner-up was the Middle Atlantic Division team. This was the 23rd year for AAG hosting during its annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif.

Read more about this year’s event.

Contestants are selected by regional divisions via a competitive process, which in many divisions includes participation in a regional geography bowl held at the regional division’s annual meeting. Each participant in the World Geography Bowl receives a travel stipend, co-sponsored by the AAG and that student’s regional division, greatly offsetting expenses for attendance at the national meeting.

Learn more about the WGB.

The competition is fully staffed by volunteers, who write and edit questions and help run the proceedings as judges, scorekeepers, and moderators. To become involved, read more about the process or contact WGB executive director Jamison Conley, (West Virginia U.) at Jamison [dot] Conley [at] mail [dot] wvu [dot] edu.

Anyone interested in becoming a sponsor or donating prizes of books, gift certificates, software, etc., may contact AAG’s WGB liason Ed Ferguson at eferguson [at] aag [dot] org.

Note: This post was edited to reflect that it was the 23rd annual event. A previous version erroneously stated it was the 27th annual event.