Where is the White House located?

The sun sets last on which Canadian province?

These were three of the 20 questions that Byron Blyth and his peers were asked in the Great Canadian Geography Challenge at Thomas Simpson school. Last Friday each of the 10 contestants gathered in the school's foyer, in front of the entire student body, to field questions from Social Studies teacher Jeff Cressman. Blyth knew more correct answers than anyone else, 13 to be exact. Caitlin Jaffray was right behind him with 12.

The contestants, all under age 16, qualified by writing a geography quiz. The other eight participants were: Mitchell Byatt, Derek Ocko, Kali Kwong, Ashley Okrainec, Jackie Thompson, April Fradsham, Liam Hardisty and Andrew Wright.

As the winner, Blyth wrote a 55-question geography test in hopes of moving on to the territorial competition in Yellowknife. He said he wanted to win his school's geography challenge because "it gets me out of town."

The NWT winner will advance to the national championships in Ottawa. Canada's top student then goes on to challenge the world's best in an event hosted by Alex Trebek in the United States.

Blyth isn't overly optimistic he'll be meeting Trebek anytime soon.

"I don't know, probably not," he said. "But I guess I'll try."

Asked when he developed an interest in geography, he paused before replying, "Boring classes... staring at a map probably."

For those who are wondering, the answers to the aforementioned questions are: the Dead Sea; Washington D.C.; and British Columbia.