An Indian origin boy, Sameer Mishra, 13 years old, won Scripps National spelling Bee contest beating 288 children in the age group of 8 to 15.
He hailed from West Lafayette and has been contesting for the fourth time in the event. When asked to spell ‘guerdon’, he asked for the meaning of the word and then went on to spell the word correctly to the applause and appreciation of the crowd. It was a proud moment for the teen.Sameer is a computer and video games enthusiast.
Sameer was coached by his sister, Sruthi, a high school senior, herself a three-time contentant.
Sameer Mishra won the prize money of $ 35,000 in cash and more than $ 5,000 in other prizes that includes $ 2,500 worth US savings bond from Merriam-Webster with a complete reference library.
The second place also went to an Indian American, a 12 year old Sidharth Chand, a seventh grade student.
In all, four Indian Americans were among the last 12 who qualified for the final.The youngest to qualify to participate in the championship was an eight year old Indian American Sriram Hathwar.
The finals was aired live in prime time on ABC television and it appeared for a while that the broadcast could run late into the night.
It is astonishing to note that 24 of the first 25 words were spelled correctly with the dictionary familiar competitors breezing through words such as, ‘brankursine’ ‘cryptarithm’ and ‘empyrean’, with barely any hitch.
Among the spectators was 94-year-old, Frank Neuhauser, the winner of the first National bee in the year 1925.Asked to spell his winning word from 83 years ago, up came the reply as ‘gladiolus’