Results are in - 4th Placing out of 32 Countries

The 9th bi-annual International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) has been held over the past week in Cologne, Germany with 32 countries competing in the event. Hosted by the University of Cologne, the students from around the world compete in three sections for the competition:

• Written exam
• Multi-media multi choice test
• Fieldwork exercise  - mapping and decision making task

The New Zealand Team consisted of students who had been top performing students in the New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers annual Maatangi Whenua Year 11 Geography Quiz who had gone through a selection camp to be chosen. The New Zealand Team gained the best results that they have ever had with all students gaining a medal for the first time. The team was overall ranked 4th place behind Singapore, Romania and Poland.  “A tremendous effort for a hard working team who scored consistently well across the events” said Anna Wilson, Team Leader from Wellington East Girls’ College.

12th Place and Silver Medal: Scott Cameron- Hamilton Boys’ High School
22nd Place and Silver Medal: Brent Coleman - Hamilton Boys’ High School
53rd Place and Bronze Medal: Sidney Wong - Hutt Valley High School
59th Place and Bronze Medal: Connor Clemett - Riccarton High School

“We were kept guessing right to the end” said Connor Clemett  as the final results were not revealed till the last night of the iGeo. Top performing student Scott Cameron was “stoked” with this 12th placing, only two places off a gold medal. He found the competition to be  “a good opportunity to meet like minded people from right around the world” and hopes to keep in touch and meet up with fellow competitors once he has finished studying his Engineering degree.

A non competition part of the iGeo was the poster competition where students created a poster on water issues in their own country. A student vote saw a three way tie for 1st place with New Zealand sharing top honours with Tunisia and Indonesia. They were awarded the Dr Prill prize. Dr Prill was a Teacher of Geography at Cologne Grammar School who was devoted to Geography as a subject. When he passed away in 1991 he donated most of his fortune to the local football team and he left a small amount to support an award for young students in the Cologne area. To mark the significance of the iGeo a special award was given by the Geographical Society of Cologne to the winners of the poster presentation. 

Nick Page, Team Leader from Otumoetai College, Tauranga “felt the boys were duly rewarded for all their hard efforts in what has been an incredibly grueling competition”. The team wishes to not only acknowledge the support of Science Olympiad New Zealand, The Royal Society, The New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers and New Zealand Geographic Society but also the teachers, schools, families and local sponsors who have all helped the students in their preparations to get to Germany.

NZ Team - Sidney, Scott, Brent and Connor

Scott  - 12th place receiving his special prize