The 2019 Champion, Nihar Janga, received a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad Expedition for two to the Galápagos Islands.
The state preliminary rounds (there were eight total) consisted of rounds about U.S. geography, physical geography, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Weird but True, current events, Odd one out, US City-World City Comparison, and plastic.
All 54 regional champions received an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete at the national competition from May 19–22.
This part of the contest consisted of 10 oral rounds, as well as a written portion about tackling plastic pollution in various waterways around the world.
In addition, Matthew McDonald of New Jersey and Satvik Pochiraju of Ohio also finished with 15.7 out of 20 points, but were eliminated by a tiebreaker test the students had taken specifically for the purpose of breaking ties.
However, there was a tie that existed between Jishnu Nayak of California, Lakshay Sood of New Mexico, and Dylan Rem of New York, with only two of them being able to advance to the next round.
After applying the results of a tiebreaker test that the students took previously, Dylan Rem of New York was eliminated and finished in 7th place.
After this, Rishi Kumar of Maryland, Atreya Mallanna of Massachusetts, and Nihar Janga of Texas remained and competed in the final rounds the next day.
The three contestants began with a series of five common questions, with each correct answer being awarded one point.
After this round, Rishi Kumar of Maryland had the lowest score and was eliminated, finishing in 3rd place.