Alex Fager, a sixth-grader from Trinity Lutheran School in Wahiawa, exhibited his geography skills yesterday and won the Hawaii Geographic Bee.

Fager clinched the win by correctly answering the question: "Gleaming Carrara marble is mined in the Tuscany region of what country?"

The answer: Italy.

Fager will represent Hawai'i at the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C., on May 20-21. In addition to the all-expenses-paid trip to the national finals, Fager won $100 and a National Geographic globe.

The national winner gets a $25,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. Second- and third-place finishers will receive $15,000 and $10,000 college scholarships, respectively.

Young geography whizzes in fourth through eighth grades across the country competed in state-level bees yesterday. More than 50 Hawai'i students participated in yesterday's state bee — sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Plum Creek — at the Blaisdell Center.

The second-place winner in the Hawai'i bee was Kyle Park, an eighth-grader at Hawaii Baptist Academy. 'Iolani School eighth-grader Guthrie Angeles, who won the state bee as a Kaleiopu'u Elementary School sixth-grader, finished in third place.