It has happened once again- two Indian-Americans children have won the world’s prestigious spelling bee held at National harbour, Maryland- USA in a tie the second time in a row, maintaining the community’s complete dominance on the competition. Vanya Shivashankar, 13, and Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, were declared co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee as they together lifted the golden trophy amid confetti and applause in a repeat of last year’s surprise tie — a feat achieved by Indian-Americans for the second consecutive year.
Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, and Gokul Venkatachalam, St. Louis, Missouri lift the trophy after becoming co-champions after the final round of the 88th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee at National Harbour, Maryland on Thursday.
The two winners will each receive over $37,000 in cash and prizes. With this year’s success, young Indian-Americans have won as many as 14 of the past 18 contests and the eighth year in a row. This is also the first time a sibling of a former champion won. The third spot was also bagged by an Indian-American Cole Shafer-Ray from Oklahoma.
“This is a dream come true. I have wanted this for such a long time,” Shivashankar, the sister of 2009 champion Kavya Shivashankar, said while dedicating the award to her grandmother who passed away in October. Appearing for the fifth and the final time for the contest, the eighth-grader from Kansas confidently spelled words as cytopoiesis, bouquetiere and thamakau before she was asked to tackle the golden word.
Basketball enthusiast Venkatachalam spelled words like poblacion, caudillismo and nixtamal before official bee pronouncer Jacques Bailly broke the news to him that Shivashankar had correctly spelled scherenschnitte, the German-derived word for artistic paper cutting. Asked later what was on his mind when he heard the word nunatak, his winning word, he said: “Me and Vanya are going to be champions.”
