Untitled Document
 The
US National Spelling Bee is a popular competition for children.
The contestants are asked to
spell English words. Contestants
are eliminated once they misspell a word. The 1st
National Spelling Bee was held in Washington D.C. in 1925.
An 11-year-old boy named Frank Neuhauser was the first winner of the famous competition.
Since then, the contest is held annually and more and more
children and teenagers from all around the world participate in the National
Spelling Bee. So, who is this year’s winner?
 This
year, 278 children and teenagers from all across the U.S. and many
other countries participated in the National Spelling Bee. Contestants
from Guam, Puerto Rico, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, New Zealand,
South Korea, and Japan came to compete in the contest. The
final round was held at a convention center in Maryland
on May 31.
 The
spellers range in age from
6 to 15 years old. But 84 percent are between the ages of 12 and 14
years old. This year’s group of competitors is 48.9 percent boys
and 51.1 percent girls. The youngest competitor was a 6-year-old girl
named Lori Anne Madison from Virginia.
So, who is the proud winner of this year’s
US National Spelling Bee? It is a 14-year-old girl from San Diego.
Her name is Snigdha Nandipati. She beat over 200 children to
claim first prize. She won the
fierce competition by correctly spelling “guetapens,”
a French word for an ‘ambush.’
“My victory was a miracle,” she said with
a big smile. So, what was her secret to win the world-famous
spelling contest? Don’t be surprised. She enjoys
reading encyclopedias for fun! The
amazing girl was awarded
a $30,000 cash prize, a $2,500 US savings bond, and a $5,000
scholarship!
Second place went to 14-year-old
Stuti Mishra from Florida. A 12-year-old boy named Arvind Mahankali
from New York finished third for the second
year in a row after failing to spell “schwannoma,”
a kind of nerve cell tumor. |
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