This week on the Granite State Challenge Championship, the Purple Panthers of Nashua High School South... face off against the Bobcats of Plymouth Regional High School!

Only one team will win.

Granite State Challenge starts now.

Major funding for the production of Granite State Challenge is provided by Unitil.

Additional funding provided by Safety Insurance, NEA New Hampshire, and viewers like you.

Thank you!

Get ready.

It's time for New Hampshire high schools to match wits in a high-stakes scholastic showdown.

It's time for Granite State Challenge.

Here's your host, Jon Cannon!

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Granite State Challenge Championship.

Our season season number 44 began months ago when dozens of teams tested in to try to make their way to this moment.

And now we are down to the final two teams facing off for the championship trophy.

Let's introduce them to you.

First up, we have the team from Nashua South.

I'm Henry, and I'm a senior.

I'm Eric, and I'm a senior.

I'm Thanasi.

I'm a senior.

I'm Charlie, and I'm a sophomore.

Their alternates are Jerry and Lexie, and the team is coached by Lex Duval and Kelli Thornhill-Telerski.

And they are the Purple Panthers of Nashua High School South!

[applause] And their opponent in this championship match is the team from Plymouth Regional High School.

I'm Abe.

I'm a junior.

I'm Yuriy.

I'm a junior.

I'm Olivia.

I'm a freshman.

I'm Ezra.

I'm a junior.

Their alternates are Aurora, Leif, and Cam, and the team is coached by Jay Fogarty.

And they are the Bobcats of Plymouth Regional High School!

[applause] All right, those are our teams, but we have one more introduction.

And, of course, for this whole season and many more, our beloved judge, on the Ann Cam, Ann Boulanger.

[applause] All right, teams, introductions are done.

Go ahead and grab those signaling devices.

We're going to play some Granite State Challenge.

You know how the game is played.

We play in four rounds.

We'll start with some ten-point toss-up questions.

Nashua South and Plymouth Regional, good luck, and here we go.

In this 2025 film, the girl group HUNTR/X have a secret life facing off against the boy band Saja Boys in a battle between good and evil.

Yuriy of Plymouth Regional.

KPop Demon Hunters.

That is right.

Full fathom five thy father lies, from Shakespeare's play The Tempest, is an example of this literary device that uses repeating letter sounds.

Thanasi of Nashua South.

Alliteration.

Right.

Established on March 1st, 1872, this national park spans Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and is America's first national park.

Abe of Plymouth Regional.

Yosemite.

Sorry, no.

Nashua South.

Henry.

Yellowstone.

Yellowstone is the right one.

You can see artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in the music video for the song Rapture by this group fronted by Debbie Harry.

Eric of Nashua South.

Blondie.

That's right.

Magnesium is the 12th element on the periodic table and is the most commonly used structural metal after iron and aluminum.

How many protons are there in the nucleus of a magnesium atom?

Abe Plymouth Regional.

12.

That’s right.

This traditional Spanish dance is characterized by percussive footwork and rhythmic clapping.

Henry of Nashua South.

Flamenco.

Right.

All right, teams, a math question.

You have pencil and paper if you'd like to use it.

What is the square root of 144?

Ezra of Plymouth Regional.

12.

That's right.

Installation artist Judy Chicago's 1979 work The Dinner Party features three triangular tables with 39 place settings honoring famous women, including Sacagawea, Sojourner Truth, and this author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

Henry of Nashua South.

Wollstonecraft.

Right.

Teams, at the U.S.

Naval Academy, this rank of students shares its name with the sailors who worked in the main and mizzen masts of wooden ships.

Charlie of Nashua South.

Captain?

Sorry, no.

Plymouth Regional?

Abe?

Below-deckmen?

Sorry, no.

We're looking for midshipmen.

The midshipmen.

All right, teams, now it is time for our Unitil Power Question.

As you know, it’s a 20-point toss-up question.

But instead of coming to you on your monitors, we're going to get it live from Amanda Vicinanzo from Unitil.

Amanda... Thank you, Jon.

This song by Huey Lewis and the News was written for the soundtrack of the 1985 film Back to the Future.

Eric of Nashua South.

Power of Love.

That is correct.

Thank you, Amanda, and thank you to Unitil for all of your support of Granite State Challenge this year and in many, many past years.

All right, teams, back to the game.

Here we go.

The U.S.

period from 1870 to the late 1890s, marked by greed and corruption, is called the Gilded Age, a term from an 1873 novel co-written by Charles Dudley Warner and this author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Abe of Plymouth Regional.

Mark Twain.

Right.

Choreographer Jerome Robbins, known for Gypsy, Fiddler on the Roof, and The King and I, also brought to life this musical about the tragic rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks.

Eric of Nashua South.

West Side Story.

Right.

Humans normally have this number of chromosomes in each body cell.

Henry of Nashua South 23 46.

Correct.

This landlocked country in the Horn of Africa was formerly known as Abyssinia.

Thanasi of Nashua South.

Ethiopia.

Right.

New Hampshire held its first presidential primary in 1916, but it wasn't until this year, the same year that Warren G. Harding won the presidency, that it held the first presidential primary in the nation.

Eric of Nashua South.

1920.

Right.

All right, teams, go ahead and look at your monitors for the next question.

This venomous pit viper, recognized by its penny-colored head, is found in wooded areas of the eastern United States.

Henry of Nashua South.

Copperhead.

Right.

Six former secretaries of state went on to become president of the United States Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, and this man who served from 1845 to 1849, and was the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861.

Eric of Nashua South.

James Buchanan.

That is right.

This legendary golfer, nicknamed the Golden Bear, won an astonishing 15 major championships in his career.

Charlie of Nashua South.

Tiger Woods.

Sorry, no.

Abe.

Plymouth Regional.

Arnold Palmer.

No.

Jack Nicklaus.

This empire, a dual monarchy centered in Vienna, ruled much of Central Europe from 1867 to 1918.

Abe of Plymouth Regional.

Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Correct.

All right, teams, now it's time for our Semiquincentennial Question, a 25-point toss-up question on your monitors.

Take a look.

Hello.

I'm teacher and author John Herman, and I've got a question for you.

Fort William and Mary in New Castle was rebuilt in 1808 in response to British hostilities leading to the War of 1812.

It was renamed this more patriotic name.

Yuriy of Plymouth Regional.

Fort Constitution.

Right.

Eccentric American billionaire Howard Hughes was an aviation pioneer who set multiple air speed records in the 1930s and later founded Hughes Aircraft.

Spell eccentric.

Yuriy of Plymouth Regional.

E-C-C-E-N-T-R-I-C.

Great job, you got them all.

[alarm blaring] And that sound ends round one.

And a fairly tight match, but Nashua South out to a bit of a lead by a score of 130 to 85.

[applause] All right, teams, normally we take a break in the action to get to know our players a little bit, but we're in the SuperChallenge, the championship, and we've talked to you a bunch so we know you pretty well.

So we're going to roll right into round two which is our three strikes and you're out round.

As you know, we go player by player, ten questions per team, until all ten questions are asked or until three strikes and you're out.

Don't forget you can pass; three passes per team.

And there's a little clue in each question to the next question.

So we do this alphabetically.

Nashua South.

And that means Henry, we start with you.

Here's your question.

In 1791, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson asked Major Andrew Ellicott to conduct a survey to help mark the boundaries of this new city.

Ellicott hired Benjamin Banneker, the son of a free black woman and a father who'd been informally enslaved, to assist him.

Philadelphia.

It's Washington, D.C.

Eric.

DC Comics published its first issue about this alien superhero in 1939.

The cover of the issue shows him leaping a tall building in a single bound.

Oh, Superman!

Correct.

Thanasi.

This song, released in 2000 by the rock band Three Doors Down, is named for this radioactive substance that can take Superman down.

Kryptonite.

Correct.

Charlie.

Scottish chemist William Ramsay and English chemist Morris Travers discovered krypton, xenon, and this element that helps light up the Las Vegas night.

Neon.

Right.

Henry.

Neon, xenon, radon, and krypton are all this type of gas that are inert and nonmetallic.

Noble gases.

Right.

Eric.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

He won it in 1906 for negotiating the end of this war.

The Russo-Japanese War.

Right.

Thanasi.

The Russo-Japanese War ended with this treaty signed in New Hampshire.

The Atlantic Treaty?

Sorry, it’s the Treaty of Portsmouth.

Charlie.

The Treaty of Portsmouth wasn't signed in Portsmouth.

It was signed at the Wentworth Hotel, located in this island town.

Pass.

Pass to Henry.

Pass.

Pass to Eric.

New Castle.

New Castle is right.

Thanasi, to you.

Castle in the Clouds is a 16-room mansion built by millionaire shoemaker Thomas Gustave Plant between 1913 and 1914 in this town in Carroll County, New Hampshire.

You can go there up in Moultonborough, New Hampshire, but that is your third strike, the end of your round.

[applause] Nice work, Nashua South.

We turn our attention over to Plymouth.

And the same drill; Abe, we’ll start with you.

And this is your question.

The song Hallelujah has been used in many TV shows and movies, including Scrubs, NCIS, and this movie about a green ogre.

Shrek.

Right.

Yuriy.

Shrek was written by author and illustrator William Steig, who began writing and illustrating children's books in 1968, when he was 61.

In 1970, he won this prestigious award given annually to illustrators of children's books.

It is the Caldecott Award.

Olivia, this is your question.

Author and illustrator Robert McCloskey won two Caldecott Medals, one in 1958 for Time of Wonder and one in 1949 for this book that followed a family of ducks through Boston.

It is Make Way for Ducklings.

Ezra.

In the 1952 Civil Defense film Duck and Cover, schoolchildren were advised to duck and take cover if this happened.

Pass.

Pass to Abe.

Nuclear attack.

Nuclear attack’s right.

Yuriy.

New Hampshire has one nuclear power plant located in this town.

Hampton.

Close.

It is Seabrook.

And that is your third strike and the end of your round.

[applause] All right, teams, we’ll put round two in the books and ask our alternates to come on up and join us for round three.

In round three, we do our 60-second round.

Each team gets ten questions in a category.

They work together, talk together as a team.

And Plymouth Regional, as the team currently trailing, we'll start with you.

So, Abe, you can talk to your team and choose from one of our categories this week.

They are Three Vowel, Bearable, and Around the World.

We'll take Bearable, please.

Bearable, okay.

So the category Bearable, the answers to all of the following will be famous bears.

Okay?

So, Abe, you can talk to your team, but I will take your answer as the team answer.

60 seconds.

Start the clock.

He believes that only you can prevent forest fires.

Smokey Bear.

Correct.

He lives in Jellystone Park with his friend Boo-Boo.

Yogi Bear.

Correct.

He is a Peruvian bear abandoned in a London station.

Paddington.

Yes.

He is friends with Christopher Robin.

Pooh Bear.

Think about that, judges.

He is a stand-up comedian Muppet.

Fozzie Bear.

Yes.

He teaches Mowgli to fight in The Jungle Book.

Oh, what's this like?

[whispering] What's his name?

Pass.

It is Baloo.

[grimacing] Baloo... These stuffed bears have belly badges that reflect their personalities.

Care Bears.

Correct.

This stuffed bear is missing a button on his green overalls.

Corduroy.

Correct.

These bears started out as a chewy candy before they had their own animated series.

Gumm[i][y] Bears.

Say it again.

Gumm[i][y] Bears.

Yes.

Goldilocks invaded their privacy and broke into their home.

The Three Bears.

The Three Bears is right.

We'll check on that.

If they will accept Nine.

Nine out of ten on your 60-second round.

[applause] Great job, Plymouth.

You gained some ground, but now we turn to Nashua South.

They get their turn.

Henry, you've seen the categories.

We've got Three Vowel and Around the World.

We'll take Around the World.

Around the World, okay.

The answers to the following will all be New Hampshire cities and towns that share a name with locations around the world.

Okay?

So, Henry, you can talk to your team, but we'll take your answer as the team answer.

60 seconds.

Start the clock.

Second-largest city in Egypt and a town in Alexandria.

Correct.

Grafton County town and capital of Portugal.

Lisbon.

Correct.

City in northern Italy and a town in Cös County.

Milan.

Correct.

Town at the base of Mount Monadnock and an ancient foe of Sparta located in Turkey.

Athens?

It is Troy.

The only city Cös County and home to a city Berlin.

Say it again.

Berlin.

Yes.

Town in Hillsborough County and home to a British Royal Family castle.

Windsor.

Windsor.

Correct.

Middle Eastern country and the only city Lebanon.

Correct.

Birthplace of Jesus on the West Bank.

Bethlehem.

Correct.

Home to Yankee Magazine and the largest city in Dublin.

Correct.

Destination in a work by Chaucer and home to a Shaker village.

Canterbury.

Correct.

We'll add those up.

Nine out of ten on your round!

[applause] Thank you so much, alternates.

You can go ahead and take your seats.

Great 60-second rounds by both teams, but the score stays fixed there as we roll into round four.

In round four, we're going to pick back up with our toss-up questions.

We're going to double the value to 20 points.

We'll deduct 20 points for incorrect responses.

So, still a tight game, Nashua South and Plymouth Regional.

Good luck, and here we go.

In the [2015] film I Saw the Light, Tom Hiddleston portrayed this legendary country singer and songwriter known for hits like Your Cheatin’ Heart, Hey, Good Lookin’, and I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.

Eric of Nashua South.

Hank Williams.

Right.

This hormone regulates blood sugar levels by allowing cells to absorb glucose.

Henry of Nashua South.

Insulin.

Yes.

Unlike most of its neighbors in the region, this Southeast Asian nation known as the Land of a Thousand Smiles successfully resisted European colonization.

Thanasi of Nashua South.

Yemen.

Sorry, no.

Plymouth Regional.

Abe.

Bhutan.

Sorry, no.

It is Thailand.

The 2013 animated movie Frozen features Idina Menzel as the voice of Elsa, the queen of this land.

Yuriy of Plymouth Regional.

Arendelle.

Right.

All right, teams, the next question is a toss-up question from New Hampshire's Kid Governor on your monitors.

Take a look.

Hi.

I'm Liv Crete-Sayer, New Hampshire's 2026 Kid Governor, and here's my question for you.

The youngest person ever elected to be the governor of a state was Stevens T. Mason.

In 1835, when he was only 24 years old, he became the governor of this state, which is now led by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Thanasi of Nashua South.

Michigan.

Right.

According to this principle, the pressure of a fluid decreases as its velocity increases.

Abe of Plymouth Regional Bernoulli's Principle.

Right.

This Transcendentalist philosopher and writer wrote the 1841 essay Self-Reliance, which advocates for individualism and independence from societal conformity.

Eric of Nashua South.

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Right.

Launched in 2017 by China's ByteDance, this short-form video app has become a global sensation.

Yuriy of Plymouth Regional.

TikTok.

Right.

In 1776, Scottish philosopher Adam Smith laid down the basic principles of capitalism and free markets in this work.

Eric of Nashua South.

[The] Wealth of Nations.

Yes.

This 51-mile-long artificial waterway completed in 1914 connects the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean and is considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th century.

Eric of Nashua South.

Panama Canal.

Right.

This could be the name of the film that won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2020, or what you would call an organism that lives off of another animal.

Henry of Nashua South.

Parasite.

Right.

This 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery features a red-haired orphan on Prince Edward Island.

Abe of Plymouth Regional.

Anne of Green Gables.

Right.

This is the point in Earth's orbit when it is closest to the sun.

Abe of Plymouth Regional.

Perihelion.

Right.

First used in 1496 by Venetian scholar and poet Pietro Bembo in his work De Aetna, this punctuation mark is used to indicate possession or a contraction.

Ezra of Plymouth.

Apostrophe.

Right.

This founder of the Mongol Empire conquered vast territories across China and Central Asia, establishing one of the largest contiguous empires in history.

Abe of Plymouth Regional.

Genghis Khan.

Right.

The Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world, is found off the coast of this country.

Henry of Nashua South.

Australia.

Right.

Actor Patrick Stewart has portrayed many leaders on stage, screen, and TV, including Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation, King Richard in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and this leader of the X-Men.

Charlie of Nashua South.

Doctor Xavier.

Yes.

This singer's 2020 album Future Nostalgia was inspired by the pop and disco music she loved as a child.

Henry of Nashua South.

Dua Lipa.

Right.

In his essay Civil Disobedience, this author, who spent time on Walden Pond, said he refused to pay taxes in protest of slavery and the Mexican-American War.

Yuriy of Plymouth Regional.

Henry David Thoreau.

Right.

This European city, known as the City of Canals, is built on more than 100 small islands.

Abe of Plymouth.

Venice.

Right.

In 2011, this boy band released the song What Makes You Beautiful, the lead single from their debut album Up All Night.

Henry of Nashua South.

One Direction.

Right.

This capital of the Inca Empire is located in the Peruvian Andes at an elevation of 11,152 ft.

Eric of Nashua South.

Cusco.

Right.

This ballroom dance known for its slow, graceful movements in 3/4 time was danced by Belle and the Beast in the 1991 movie Beauty and the Beast.

Thanasi of Nashua South.

Waltz.

Right.

This city, whose name is Spanish for The Meadows, calls itself the entertainment capital of the world.

Charlie of Nashua South.

Las Vegas.

Yes.

The 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was directed by this New Zealand filmmaker who also directed and produced the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back.

Abe of Plymouth.

Peter Jackson.

Right.

Credited with helping bring hip-hop to mainstream audiences, this group released the 1979 hit single Rapper's Delight, one of the first rap songs to achieve widespread commercial success.

Eric of Nashua South.

The Sugarhill Gang.

Right.

Who became U.S.

president following the assassination of William McKinley?

Abe of Plymouth.

Teddy Roosevelt.

Yes.

While not her crowning achievement, in 2006, this female rapper who had a hit in 1989 with the song Ladies First, became the first hip hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

All right, that is Queen Latifah.

All right, teams.

The 2021 song Cold Heart features two artists, Dua Lipa and this singer-songwriter, who included samples from his song Rocket Man in the new song.

Eric of Nashua South.

Elton John.

Yes.

Begun in 122 AD, this 72-mile wall in northern England stretching from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway is named after a Roman emperor.

Eric of Nashua South.

Hadrian's Wall.

Yes.

Actor Christina Ricci played this character in the 1991 film The Addams Family and the 1993 film Addams Family Values.

Henry of Nashua South.

Wednesday.

Yes.

Wednesday Addams, yes.

Known for patriotic works like The Stars and Stripes Forever, John Philip Sousa is known as the king of this military- inspired musical style.

Abe of Plymouth.

Marches.

Yes.

This American artist is known for Impressionist paintings of New York and coastal scenes, including works depicting the Isles of Shoals.

Eric of Nashua South.

Childe Hassam.

Yes.

Vaslav Nijinsky was the choreo- grapher for The Rite of Spring, composed by this man.

Eric of Nashua South.

Igor Stravinsky.

Yes.

This work by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky includes a volley of cannon fire at the end.

Eric of Nashua South.

1812 Overture.

Correct.

This singer is known as The Material Girl, Madge, and the Queen of Pop.

Henry of Nashua South.

Madonna.

That is right.

[alarm blaring] Completed in 1959 this game was completed, and with a very strong game front to back, Nashua South are the season 44 Granite State Challenge champions!

Congratulations to both teams.

And now I would like to turn it over to Amanda Vicinanzo from Unitil for the presentation of our trophies.

Thank you Jon.

I am absolutely thrilled to be here today on behalf of Unitil presenting the trophies for this year's Granite State Challenge.

We're going to start with the runners-up trophy.

Congratulations, Plymouth Regional.

Thank you for this, Unitil.

It's very hard to lose, but I'm super proud of my team.

And I'm just very impressed with the Nashua South performance today.

I don't think I've ever seen 700 points in a match, and that was just really good Granite State Challenge.

So, we hope to be back next year and see you then.

Outstanding work.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for... Congratulations to this year's Granite State Challenge champions, Nashua South!

We just want to say thank you to Unitil.

Thank you to NHPBS.

You know, we're really proud of the team, how they played.

Something that they've done for three, four years now is play together as a family and support each other.

And, you know, we also want to say thank you to Plymouth.

Something that myself and Kelli have talked about before is that we look up to Plymouth and how it runs its programs.

And we just want to say congratulations to you guys as well for a great game.

Incredible.

Congratulations to both teams.

Now back to you, Jon.

Thank you, Amanda.

And thank you to Unitil, and, of course, all of our sponsors for your support of Granite State Challenge.

Congratulations to both teams, to all teams, all players this season, and our amazing crew and, especially, a big heartfelt thank you to viewers like you, because without you, we wouldn't be able to do this.

And that's going to do it for us this season on Granite State Challenge.

And man, I learned a whole lot of cool stuff, and I hope you did as well.

We'll see you next year.

Buh-bye Major funding for the production of Granite State Challenge is provided by Unitil.

Additional funding provided by Safety Insurance, NEA New Hampshire, and viewers like you.

Thank you!

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