Record eight children win US Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee

Image Source: EPA

This was a record by all means.

A record eight children in the United States were crowned joint champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. While there have been joint winners before, this is the first time in the history of the event that so many children have been crowned champions.

This had to be done because the organizers had fallen short of words that were challenging enough for the participants: the final eight contestants combined to spell the last 47 words correctly over five consecutive rounds.

Interestingly, seven of the eight children were of Indian descent, making this year the 12th consecutive year in which children of Indian descent have been crowned champions.

Rishik Gandhasri, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Erin Howard, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao and Rohan Raja were the eight children that were finally crowned champions. Each of these prodigies will win a prize of $50,000, along with savings bonds worth $2,500 and reference books.

A total of 562 children started off and after 20 rigorous and gruelling rounds, the final eight were crowned champions.

A few interesting words that the contestants spelled were ‘omphalopsychite’, a person who stares fixedly at their navel to induce a mystical trance, ‘auftaktigkeit’, a musical principle where all musical phrases begin on an upbeat, and ‘geeldikkop’, a type of plant poisoning that can affect sheep.

The contest was held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center hotel in National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. It started on 26th May and was held for three days.

The National Spelling Bee was first held in 1925 and is held annually.

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