Finalists of the “Write Your Own Question for the Geographical Dictation 2026” Contest Have Been Announced

From museum collections and cultural traditions to satellite technologies and challenging questions for true experts, participants in the “Write Your Own Question for the Geographical Dictation” contest have once again shown how fascinating geography can be. The expert commission has finished evaluating the submissions and selected the finalists.

This year the contest was the largest in recent years. A total of 1,460 entries were received — almost 50 percent more than the year before. Every year, around 90% of the questions in the Geographical Dictation come from contest participants. That is why every new submission is a real chance to become a co-author of one of the dictation versions and to test your ideas with thousands of participants around the world.

This year’s contest brought together 12 countries, including Russia. The main contest once again proved the most popular, accounting for almost half of all entries. Among the special categories, the greatest interest was generated by “Geography of Unity: Heritage and the Cultural Code of the Country” — participants submitted more than two hundred questions devoted to Russia’s history, traditions, and cultural diversity. The “Museum Map of Russia” category also attracted considerable interest, while the most difficult questions were proposed for the new category “Horizons of Geography: Expert Level.” The best of these will be included in the special “Geodictation PRO” version.

This year, authors invited participants to follow the routes of famous expeditions, explore unusual natural phenomena, learn more about the peoples of Russia, museum collections, and modern Earth-observation technologies, and even look at familiar geographical objects from an unexpected angle.

The list of finalists of the “Write Your Own Question for the Geographical Dictation 2026” contest is available by request.

The organizing committee thanks all contest participants. Thanks to your questions, the Geographical Dictation remains different every year, and its assignments continue to surprise, inspire new discoveries, and show how captivating geography can be.