2012 Geography Olympiad

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.