FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WORLD'S BRIGHTEST GEOGRAPHIC WHIZ KIDS WILL COMPETE FOR INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY TITLE

WASHINGTON (March 20, 2003)—Up to 20 countries will be sending their best and brightest young geography brains to Tampa, Fla., this summer to take part in the sixth National Geographic World Championship on July 15 and 16. The international contest will be hosted by Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

Each team will comprise three students who have excelled in their country's national geography competitions. The teams will meet to answer questions on physical, cultural and economic geography in two levels of competition. Current world champions, the United States, will defend their title against returning teams from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Singapore and the United Kingdom, as well as up to eight new countries whose names will be announced once their national competitions have been completed.

"Promoting geography education is one of the core missions of the National Geographic Society," said Terry Garcia, executive vice president for mission programs. "Studies have shown an alarming lack of geographic knowledge among the world's young people. The National Geographic World Championship provides a forum for top geography students from all corners of the globe to pit their wits against each other to determine which country's team is the international geography champion. Each student gains knowledge of the other competing countries' cultures and becomes a better global citizen for the experience."

The competition begins July 15, when all the teams will take a written test in the morning and battle one another in a challenging outdoor map-reading course in the afternoon. The three teams with the highest scores will meet on July 16 for the finals. They will answer questions in a game-show format moderated by Alex Trebek, host of the U.S. television quiz show "Jeopardy!"

More and more countries are promoting interest in geography education by holding national geography competitions. The oldest, the Open Moscow State University Geography Olympiad, began in 1951, 40 years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today it continues as the All-Russia Geography Olympiad. Romania's geography competition started in the 1970s. The U.K. Worldwise Quiz was launched in 1983, Hungary's geography contest began in 1987 and the U.S. National Geographic Bee began in 1989. The Great Canadian Geography Challenge and the Australia Geography Competition launched in 1995. National geography contests started in 1997 in Argentina, Costa Rica and France. Germany's contest began in 1998, and Singapore's in 1999.

The National Geographic World Championship takes place every two years. The first contest, held in London in 1993, was won by the United States, which beat teams from the United Kingdom and Russia. The Australians, competing against four other teams, won the 1995 competition at Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.

The third championship, held in 1997 at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., was won by the Canadian team, which bested teams from eight other countries. The fourth international competition, held in Toronto in 1999, was won by the United States, which also won the 2001 contest, held in Vancouver, Canada, against 11 other teams.

More information about the World Championship is available at the National Geographic Society's Web site, www.nationalgeographic.com/geographybee/olympiad.html.

The National Geographic Society expanded its mission to improve geography education in 1989 in response to concern about a lack of geographic knowledge among young people in the United States. And the problem is ongoing: A nine-country National Geographic-Roper Literacy Survey conducted last year revealed that Americans aged 18 to 24 scored lower than their counterparts in the other countries surveyed, except Mexico.

The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. It reaches more than 250 million people worldwide each month through its five magazines, the National Geographic Channel, television documentaries, books, videos and DVDs, maps and interactive media. National Geographic has funded more than 7,000 scientific research projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy.

For more than 45 years, Busch Gardens and SeaWorld Adventure Parks have been committed to animal care, wildlife conservation, education and research. The parks' world-renowned animal rescue and rehabilitation program, award-winning zoological habitats and endangered species breeding success are unparalleled. Reaching millions of people each year with conservation messages, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens staff members participate in wildlife conservation projects in their parks, local communities and around the world.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is an Anheuser-Busch Adventure Park. Other Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks are Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va.; SeaWorld Adventure Parks in Orlando, Fla., San Diego and San Antonio; Adventure Island in Tampa Bay; Water Country USA in Williamsburg; Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa., near Philadelphia; and Discovery Cove, an interactive animal park in Orlando. To learn more about the Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks, visit the parks' animal information Web site at www.buschgardens.org, or the interactive consumer Web site at www.buschgardens.com.

CONTACT: Ellen Siskind
+1 202 857 7001
esiskind@ngs.org

CONTACT: Reneé Kelly
+1 202 775 6190
rkelly@ngs.org