Wild Card Contender From Texas Wins The 2018 National Spelling Bee

By - 455 words

Language

Reading Level

Listen to Article

Photo Credit: Scripps National Spelling Bee via Facebook

On Thursday, May 31, 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani stunned the world when he beat crowd favorite and veteran competitor Naysa Modi, to win the coveted Scripps National Spelling Bee championship. His winning word? Koinonia, an obscure word of Greek origin, which means “an intimate spiritual or Christian communion.” The Texas eighth grader’s opportunity came unexpectedly in the first championship round after Naysa mixed up the single and double “s” in bewusstseinslage, a German-derived word which means “a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components.”

Karthik’s victory was particularly poignant given that in any other year, the teenager from Scoggins Middle School in McKinney, TX would not have been eligible for the finals. He did not, after all, win his county or even regional spelling bee. In fact, it was Naysa who had defeated him and other competitors in March at the Golden Chick Dallas Regional Spelling Bee.

Spelling Bee runner-up Naysa Modi (Photo Credit: Scripps National Bee via Facebook

However, Karthik managed to get a wild card entry thanks to a new program called the RSVBee, which allowed spellers who had won their school bee, or previously competed on the national stage, to qualify for the competition. The program, which added 238 competitors for a total record-breaking 515 contestants to the national tournament, gave competent spellers like Karthik a second chance at showing their prowess. "It's [the RSVBee has] been great from the speller perspective. We see the program as a way to level the playing field," said Bee spokesperson Valerie Miller.

In addition to the bragging rights, Karthik also received a trophy and prizes worth $40,000, including $25,000 in cash, trips to New York and Los Angeles for appearances on national television, a reference library from Merriam-Webster, and a pizza party for his school. The teenager, who arranged block letters to spell “horse” when he was three and won his first spelling bee at age five, is the 14th consecutive spelling bee winner of Indian descent. Though Naysa, who has been vying for the championship for the past four years, did not get to fulfill her dream, she did go home with $30,000 in prize money. Moreover, the seventh-grader still has a chance to take home the trophy next year!

The sixteen finalists (Photo Credit: Scripps National Bee via Facebook)

Now celebrating its 91st year, the National Spelling Bee, which attracted over 11 million kids, or 31 percent of all eligible students, in 2018 has come a long way from its humble beginnings. Preparations for the grueling elimination-based tournament begin in earnest long before the competitions, with serious contenders spending as much as four hours a day poring over dictionaries and word etymology lists. Some, like this year’s champion Karthik, even hire “spelling coaches” — past winners and participants of the bee — to help them master the vocabulary.

Resources: USAtoday.com, guardian.co.uk, news.yahoo.com

Workbook

Get the Workbook for this article!

Workbook contains: Article, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking Questions, Vocabulary in Context (+ answers), Multiple Choice Quiz (+ answers), Parts of Speech Quiz (+ answers), Vocabulary Game (+ answers)
Cite Article
Learn Keywords in this Article
197 Comments
  • tyzayverisnotok
    tyzayverisnotokabout 6 years
    cool
    • annabellabout 6 years
      so happy for you
      • abcdefg12345
        abcdefg12345about 6 years
        so exciting
        • typarmesean
          typarmeseanabout 6 years
          in 5th grade, i got on the spellbowl team for my grade. the competition was on my birthday, so i was excited. we were like fourth place, and the me and one of my friends went up on stage to spell words. we were the last ones, so the pressure was on. we both got all of our words right, so we bumped up to second place. I will never forget that moment. our team cheered for us, and i was happy. this shows tons of inspiration for people in the near future who will be on the scripps national spelling bee, and might end up winning the whole thing. :)
          • r435 345about 6 years
            Amazing
            • yoyabout 6 years
              nice
              • siennald
                siennaldabout 6 years
                I won a ton of spelling bees at my school. XD
                • Ellieabout 6 years
                  Those words are so hard!
                  • starfin
                    starfinabout 6 years
                    i am cool
                    • bonnie the bunyover 6 years
                      wow