The International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) is an annual competition that brings together the best geography students aged 16 to 19 from around the world. These students, selected from thousands of participants in their respective National Geography Olympiads, represent the pinnacle of geographical knowledge and skills. The iGeo competition consists of three main components: a written test, a multimedia test, and extensive fieldwork that requires keen observation, cartographic representation, and geographical analysis. The program also includes poster presentations by teams, cultural exchanges, and ample opportunities for students to network, interact with their peers, and explore the host city.

The idea of an International Geography Competition (iGeo) or Olympiad for students aged 15 to 19 was first proposed by geographers from Poland and the Netherlands during the 1994 International Geographical Union (IGU) Congress in Prague. The inaugural iGeo took place in 1996 in The Hague, Netherlands, with five participating countries. Subsequent iGeo competitions were held in 1998 in Lisbon, Portugal, and in 2000 in Seoul, South Korea, with participation expanding to 13 teams. The 2002 IGU Congress in Durban, South Africa, hosted the fourth iGeo, with 12 teams participating. The fifth iGeo in 2004, held in Gdynia, Poland, saw participation from 16 countries. The sixth iGeo was held in Brisbane, Australia, in 2006, with 23 teams taking part. In 2008, the seventh iGeo was held in Carthage, Tunisia, with 24 teams participating. The 2010 iGeo took place in Taipei, with 27 teams. The ninth Olympiad in 2012 in Cologne, Germany, attracted 32 teams.

Until 2012, the Olympiads were held every two years, with regional Olympiads taking place in the intervening years. These regional events included the Central European Regional Geography Olympiad and the Asia Pacific Regional Geography Olympiad, held in 2007, 2009, and 2011. The IGU later decided to hold Regional Conferences annually between the 2012 Congress in Cologne and the 2016 Congress in Beijing. Since then, iGeo has become an annual event, except in 2020 when the competition was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The iGeo was hosted in Kyoto (2013), Kraków (2014), Tver (2015), Beijing (2016), Belgrade (2017), Quebec (2018), Hong Kong (2019), and held online in 2021 (Istanbul) and 2022 (Paris). The competition returned to an in-person format in Bandung (2023), with the most recent iGeo held in Maynooth (2024).

Source: http://www.geoolympiad.org/