Blum finds Mapman, places in national contest
Celeste Blum, a student at Saint Joseph Catholic School in Farmington, used her imagination and geography skills to become a runner-up in the 15th annual “Can You Find the Mapman?” Contest.
Junior Scholastic, the social studies and current events magazine for students in grades 6-8, sponsored the nationwide contest which drew almost 10,000 entries this year.
Where was the elusive Mapman this year? He was in Morocco!
Scholastic’s resident cartographer Jim McMahon (a.k.a. Mapman) created the contest to draw on the map-reading skills students have learned throughout the year, from recognizing elevations and locating cities using latitude and longitude, to understanding time zones and measuring distances with a scale of miles or kilometers.
“The ‘Can You Find the Mapman?’ contest is not easy, and I would like to congratulate all the finalists in this year’s contest for their creative, colorful, and well-developed submissions,” said McMahon.
To participate, students were required to trace the Mapman’s route to the undisclosed destination by answering eight questions that would stump many adults. To qualify for a prize, kids had to answer all of the questions correctly and draw a map of the area. The grand prize winner and runners-up were selected based on their maps’ cartographic accuracy and creativity, including design and color treatment.
The grand prize was a $500 U.S. Savings Bond, a Mapman T-shirt, and a Nintendo Wii video console. Twenty-five runners-up from schools nationwide, including Blum of St. Joseph Catholic School, will receive a Mapman T-shirt.
