National Spelling Bee Has Two Champions For Second Consecutive Year

For the second consecutive year, the National Spelling Bee has two champions, according to NPR. This year, like last year, the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee went on so long that there weren’t enough words left on the competition’s list for the spelling bee to continue.

Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, from Chesterfield, Missouri, was given his final word “nunatak.” He spelled it correctly without asking for a definition. It’s an Inuit term for an exposed, rocky geographic element amid an ice field or glacier. Gokul finished in third place last year. He missed the word “Kierkegaardian,” relating to the Danish philosopher. This was Gokul’s fourth time competing.

Vanya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas, correctly spelled “scherenschnitte,” which is a German term for cut-paper art. Vanya became the first sibling of a former champion to take home the trophy. Her sister, Kavya Shivashankar, won in 2009 on the word “Laodicean,” meaning lukewarm.

Vanya dedicated her win to her grandmother, who died in 2013. This was Vanya’s fifth year competing.

She said, “All she really wanted was for her grandkids to do so well, and I hope I make her happy with this.”

CNN reported that before last year, there had not been a tie in 50 years. Organizers say the last time there were co-champions was in 1962. This year was the fifth time the bee crowned co-champions. Ties also ended the bees in 1950 and 1957.

“In addition to an engraved trophy, Vanya and Gokul will each receive $35,000, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond, a complete reference library, and other prizes.”

According to USA Today, the two winners had contrasting styles as they competed throughout the rounds.

Vanya was upbeat and polite. She asked questions about roots, pronunciations, and definitions. She enunciated each letter with confidence. Gokul took a different approach, with his hands usually at his hips and shoulders hunched. He didn’t ask many questions and often rattled off his answers quickly. He didn’t even ask for the definition of his winning word.

It wasn’t until Gokul spelled “nunatak” that they were crowned co-winners. Had he misspelled it, Vanya would have had a chance to spell one more word on the list to claim the prize alone.

More than 11 million spellers, ranging in age from 9 to 15, participated in regional bees to total the 283 who began this year’s national bee on Tuesday. They took a written spelling and vocabulary test that narrowed it down to 49 for the start of Thursday’s semifinals. Twenty-one semifinalists correctly spelled their way through Thursday’s two oral rounds, but only 10 made it to the finals based on Tuesday’s test and another written test taken after Wednesday’s oral rounds.

“After 11 rounds, then there were only two.”

Don’t the competitors do an amazing job every year? Don’t you think all of them are winners to some extent?

[Image via Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images]