US Spelling Bee: 'This win is the culmination of Dev's dream and hard work'

AHMEDABAD: It was not just another win-against-all-odds moment when Dev Shah, 14, from Largo, Florida, got the word 'psammophile' right on June 1 in Maryland - it was a story of perseverance as he held on to his dream to win the US' oldest and biggest Scripps National Spelling Bee for five years. Dev continued the winning streak of Indian-Americans to win the competition with $50,000 prize money and became the first winner with roots in Gujarat. Psammophile refers to plants or animals that prefer sandy areas.
"A month before, Dev told me that it's his last chance - the upper age limit for the competition is 14 years - but he was sure of winning it. Thus, we all were in attendance. When the last word came, I had no doubt that he would get it. It was a moment of pure euphoria," said Neelam Shah, a physician and Dev's mother.

His father Deval Shah, an innovator and businessman with stint in major names such as GE Healthcare and Silicon Valley firms, said that his talent to remember names, flags, shapes prompted him to divert the three-year-old child's attention to languages where he thrived. "His first major competition was the junior vocabulary bee by North South Foundation when he was in Class 4. Ever since, he has participated in more than 30 competitions. In 2019, he was 51st in the competition. He has improved immensely since then through his hard work," said the proud father.
Both Deval and Neelam trace their roots to Ahmedabad. While Deval, an alumnus of AG High School and HB Kapadia High School, still has family in Vadaj, Neelam has family in Bhuyangdev. After his engineering degree in instrumentation and control (I&C) from LD Engineering, Deval went to the US to pursue his master's degree from Texas Tech University in 1990s and went on to work and eventually settle in the US. The couple's elder son Neel is a computer science student at Yale University. The whole family was in attendance when Dev was conferred the coveted trophy.
"Before Dev, there was Naysa Modi from the Gujarati community in the US who was the runners-up of the 2018 competition. In our knowledge, he would be the first from the community to win. We're sure that he would inspire many more to take up the activity," said Deval.
Dev continued the Indian-American winning streak at the competition - becoming the 22nd champion in the past 24 years. "My main priority is sleep. I need to sleep. There have been a lot of sleepless nights these last six months," he said. "I need to sleep well tonight, too. There's a lot more sleep debt," Dev told media after the win.