26th National Geographic Bee

26th National Geographic Bee
Date	May 19–21, 2014
Location	Washington, D.C.
Winner	Akhil Rekulapelli
Age	13
Residence	Dulles, Virginia
No. of contestants	54
Preceded by	25th National Geographic Bee
Followed by	27th National Geographic Bee

The 26th National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 2014, sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

Eighth-grader Akhil Rekulapelli, from Loudoun County, Virginia won the competition, beating out 52 other competitors representing the 50 U.S. states, Pacific territories, and Department of Defense dependent schools.

In 2014, a record number of 9 perfect scores in the national preliminary competition was recorded. As a result, a sudden-death tiebreaker took place between 8 state representatives including contestants from Alabama, Utah, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and Washington.

Akhil Rekulapelli, the 2014 National Geographic Bee Champion, received a $50,000 scholarship, a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, and a trip for 2 to the Galapagos Islands. Ameya Mujumdar, the second-place finisher received $25,000. Tuvya Bergeson-Michelson, the third-place finisher received $10,000, and Pranit Nanda the fourth-place finisher received $1,000. Other top ten finishers received $500.

Finishing in 2nd place was Arjun Katechia from Glastonbury who attends Kingswood-Oxford Middle School.

Finishing in second place was Karan Menon of John Adams Middle School in Edison, who would later become the 2015 National Geographic Bee Champion.

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