WASHINGTON — Florida native Rishi Nair, a sixth-grader at Williams Middle Magnet School in Tampa, beat out nine other young geography whizzes to win the National Geographic Bee Championship Wednesday.

The final question: “A new marine sanctuary will protect sharks and other wildlife around Isla Wolf in which archipelago in the Pacific Ocean?”

“Galápagos Islands,” 12-year-old Nair correctly answered.

Standing on the National Geographic Society stage at the end of the competition, he had one word to describe how he felt: “Proud.”

“I studied with whatever free time I got, and I studied country by country,” Nair said in an interview afterward. “I wanted to win.”

This is Nair’s third year in the competition. Along with the championship title, he will take home a $50,000 college scholarship, lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and an all-expenses-paid trip on the Lindblad Expedition to Southeast Asia. His parents also promised him an iPhone, a trip to Europe and a golden retriever puppy, Nair said.

The second and third runners-up, Saketh Jonnalagadda of Massachusetts and Kapil Nathan of Alabama, won $25,000 and $10,000 in scholarships, respectively.

The bee follows a game-show format. Speed rounds, successive eliminations and contested answers kept geographers and audience members on their toes.