For the past 31 years, Junior Scholastic®, a social studies magazine for students in grades 6-8, has brought map skills to life for middle school students nationwide with its popular geography contest. The Can You Find Mapman®? contest challenges students to correctly read a map and answer five questions to determine the location of Mapman—Junior Scholastic’s senior cartographer, Jim McMahon—and then to draw a map of that place.
This year, Mapman’s mystery location was Quebec.
The grand prize winner is Nava Ismail-Beigi, an 8th grader at Amity Middle School in Orange, Connecticut. Nava’s winning map of the Canadian province (above) is featured in the May 2025 issue of Junior Scholastic and online, here.
Nava received a $250 prize and a Mapman T-shirt. Her teacher, Jennifer Marganski, also received a $250 prize.
More than 777 students submitted entries to this year’s contest. McMahon and his wife Helen, a New York City public school librarian, selected the winning map. They also selected 25 runners-up.
The runners-up are: Nadia Beaty, York, PA • Irene Choe, New Milford, NJ • Alexandria Cortes-Gustafson, Rochester, IN • Deyaan Dalwadi, Signal Mountain, TN • Kyson Edge, Coral Springs, FL • Allie Gibson, Waterboro, ME • Robert Ginger, Long Grove, IL • Sydney Hartman, LaGrange, IL • Olivia Hobika, Buffalo, NY • Samhita Madhankumar, Parma Heights, OH • Frandy Montalban Landero, Waunakee, WI • Max Nelson, Cincinnati, OH • Liam Oraa, Branford, CT • Mia Papageorgiou, Hudson, NH • Nora Parvez, Bethany, CT • Mohammed “Madqi” D. Quidilla, Whittier, CA • Rafan Raid, Anchorage, AK • Leighton Rambo, Union, KY • Sebastian Sanchez, Coral Springs, FL • Katherine Santa, Westfield, NJ • Eleanor Stein, Seneca, IL • Madisson Suba, Waterboro, ME • Bryxlie Swan, South Coffeyville, OK • Mina Noelle Watkins, Austin, TX • Kaylee Xi, Newark, DE
The runners-up will each get a Mapman T-shirt and have their names printed in the May 2025 issue of Junior Scholastic.
Congratulations to Nava, her teacher, the runners-up, and all of this year’s participants! Keep an eye out for the next Can You Find Mapman®? contest in Junior Scholastic this fall.
