30th National Geographic Bee
The 30th annual National Geographic Bee was held in Washington, D.C., and was hosted by Mo Rocca. It is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The State Bees were held on April 6, where the 54 finalists were determined. The 2018 National Geographic Bee champion was Venkat Ranjan of California.
State Bees
On April 6, 2018, the National Geographic State Bees were held across the 50 states, Washington, D.C., the Atlantic Territories, the Pacific Territories, and the Department of Defense. Fifty-four State or Territory level Champions were determined. In 2018, the prize for winning the state bee has been raised, as $200 is now given to the winner instead of $100, the old prize. The winners have also received a National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World, Second Edition. Second- and third-place winners received $150 and $100, respectively. The state preliminary rounds consisted of rounds about U.S. geography, international geography, current events, national birds, protecting the environment, Weird but True, and a "GeoChallenge". The GeoChallenge was a True/False round where a statement would be made about a U.S. state's population, GDP, or size, comparing it to another country, and the student would have to say if it was True or False. For example, one question was "Virginia has a higher GDP than Portugal, True or False?"-the answer is true. All 54 regional champions received an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete at the national competition from May 20–23. The National Geographic Bee is an academic competition for 4th-8th grade students at: "public schools, private schools, and homeschools in the United States and its territories, as well as the Department of Defense Dependents Schools.Preliminary Rounds & Final Competition
The 54 state champions competed in the preliminary rounds held from May 21–22, 2018. This part of the contest consisted of 10 oral rounds as well as a written portion.The top 10 contestants with the highest scores in the preliminary rounds competed in the final round, which was held on May 23, 2018. Venkat Ranjan from California was the champion, with Anoushka Buddhikot from New Jersey coming 2nd, and Vishal Sareddy from Georgia placing third.
| Name | State | Preliminary Round Scores | Final Placing |
| Sean Cheng |  New Hampshire |