Spelling Bee contest: Indian-origin 14-year old Dev Shah won the prestigious 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night. He took away a $50,000 cash prize by correctly spelling the 11-letter word “psammophile”.
Dev had previously participated in the competition in 2019 and 2021. The win makes him the 22nd champion of the Spelling Bee with a South Asian heritage in the last 24 years.
“It’s surreal. My legs are still shaking,” the 14-year-old Florida boy said at the competition held in Maryland. Charlotte Walsh, 14, from Virginia finished second.
Psammophile: Organism that thrives in sandy areas
Dev’s winning word was ‘Psammophile’. Merriam-Webster defines it as an organism that thrives in sandy areas.
“Psammo meaning sand, Greek? Phile, meaning love, Greek?” he asked as he identified the roots of the word, but queried about the details just to be safe, according to the New York Times.
His parents were visibly emotional as they took the stage.
11 million contestants
Around 11 million contestants from across the world participated in the contest and Dev was one of the 11 finalists. The preliminary rounds began Tuesday, and the quarterfinals and semifinals were held on Wednesday.
Spelling Bee was started in 1925 and is open to students till the eighth grade. For years, Indian-Americans have been dominating the contest. The Spelling Bee was cancelled in 2020 but returned in 2021 with a few changes.
Last year Harini Logan, an eighth-grader from Texas, won it by beating another Indian-American Vikram Raju.
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