National Geographic Bee moderator Alex Trebek congratulates the 2008 National Geographic Bee champion, Akshay Rajagopal of Nebraska. Photo by Rebecca Hale, courtesy National Geographic

Yesterday evening here in Washington, 11-year-old Akshay Rajagopal of Nebraska won the 2008 National Geographic Bee without missing a single question — only the second time that’s ever happened in the Bee’s 20-year history.

You can watch a video of the the final questions by following this link. The winning question was:

The urban area of Cochabamba has been in the news in recent years due to protests over the privatization of the municipal water supply and regional autonomy issues. Cochabamba is the third largest conurbation in what country?

A conurbation, as it turns out, is an urban area comprising a number of cities that have merged to form one continuous urban area. Did you know that? The answer, as you can see above, was Bolivia.

Rajagopal won a $25,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. Second-place winner and recipient of a $15,000 college scholarship was Hunter Bledsoe, 13, of Alabama, third place and a $10,000 college scholarship went to William Lee, 13, of Massachusetts. All three top placing contestants will no go on to compete in an international round of the National Geographic Bee, where they will go up against teams from other countries.