Wild-card entry Karthik wins at U.S. spelling bee

The end of the 91st edition of the Scripps National Spelling Bee held in the U.S. came abruptly, and it wasn’t the conclusion that many expected. Naysa Modi, a poised and charismatic four-time participant whose long spelling career seemed to be building toward triumph, sat next to a newcomer whom she had already beaten this year at the county level.

But 12-year-old Naysa blinked immediately, mixing up the single and double “s” in the German-derived word “Bewusstseinslage” (a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components) and 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani seized an opportunity that he wouldn’t have had before this year.

“I didn’t really think I’d be able to do it,” the soft-spoken winner said. “I had confidence that I could do it, but I honestly didn’t realistically think it could happen.”

Karthik won the contest by spelling “koinonia”, which is a body of religious believers. His victory on Thursday night put the spotlight back on the new wild-card programme that Scripps launched to give a chance to spellers like him, who have to compete against some of the nation’s best spellers at the local level.

The field was expanded to 515 spellers to accommodate the wild cards (there had never been more than 300 competitors previously) and four of the 16 prime-time finalists got in through the new program, known as “RSVBee”.

When only three spellers remained, all were from the Dallas area, which has long been a hotbed of spelling talent. Karthik is from McKinney, Texas. Naysa is from Frisco, and third-place winner Abhijay Kodali lives in Flower Mound. “She’s a really, really good speller. She deserved the trophy as much as I did,” Karthik said of Naysa. “I got lucky.”

Naysa had knocked off Abhijay in the Dallas regional bee after topping Karthik in their county bee. The region is one of a few that sponsors two spellers for a trip to nationals. The wild cards had to pay their own way, a $750 entry fee, plus the costs of travel to Washington and lodging.

“I don’t care,” said Karthik’s father, Krishna Nemmani. “I know his calibre.”

Like many top spellers, Karthik was a precocious preschooler: he arranged block letters to spell “horse” at age 3 and won his first spelling bee at 4, Mr. Nemmani, originally from Hyderabad, said.

Karthik is the 14th consecutive Indian-American champion, and 19 of the past 23 winners have had Indian origins. He takes home more than $42,000 in cash and prizes.

Hand-picked list

Karthik also used study materials compiled by two well-regarded former Scripps spellers and fellow Texans, Shobha Dasari and her younger brother, Shourav, who finished fourth last year and won nearly every other bee he competed in. Six of the 16 top finishers, including Naysa, studied the Dasaris’ hand-picked lists of more than 1,00,000 words.

“It definitely makes us feel great,” 17-year-old Shobha said.

Naysa, who does taekwondo and performs stand-up comedy, will have to regroup after a bitter defeat and try again next year. She will be in the eighth grade, which is the final school year that spellers are eligible. She first competed in the bee as a 9-year-old.

After her defeat, Naysa was swarmed by dozens of current and former spellers who wished her well, smiling throughout. “She was just as graceful as she could be,” the spelling bee programme manager Corrie Loeffler said.

Karthik, for his part, took no pleasure in vanquishing a familiar foe. “I wouldn’t say it was revenge,” he said. “We weren’t against each other. We were against the dictionary.”

The final leg of the bee started with 16 spellers and lasted more than two hours. Students aced obscure words like lophophytosis, pseudepigrapha and ooporphyrin, while others struck out on loratadine, perduellion and paillasson.

More than a dozen former champions were in the audience, including 1985 winner Balu Natarajan, whose son, Atman Balakrishnan, 12, made it to the third round of competition on Wednesday. It marked the first time the child of a previous champion competed in the national finals.

Karthik attributed his success to his father and his spelling coach. He said he would spend the $40,000 on college, where he hopes to study something related to technology.

(With inputs from Reuters)