23rd November 2024

Indian American girl wins US Spelling Bee and the runner-up is an Indian too

by | Jun 3, 2022 | Indian-American

TCA Camp kids meeting Robin Singh

Reading Time: 2 minutes

An Indian-origin girl has won the US National Spelling Bee championship regaining the title for the community after two breaks in the streak of victories going back to 2008.

Harini Logan was declared the champion beating out 234 children from around the US and abroad who had won local contests, and she gets a prize package of $52,500.

The runner up was Vikram Raju, who gets $25,00, and Vihan Sibal came in third, winning $15,000.

Of the 14 finalists who survived three days of gruelling contests in Washington, 11 were of Indian origin.

Logan, who is 14, is a class 8 student at a Montessori school in Austin, Texas.

Children of Indian origin have dominated the contest, which tests not only the rote memorisation of spellings but also the knowledge of the origin of words and their structure and usage.

Since Balu Natarajan won it in 1985, 20 Indian-origin children have won it.

They monopolised it from 2008 to 2018, but in 2019 a non-Indian girl was among the eight co-winners. The other seven were of Indian origin.

There was no contest in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic and an African-American girl won when it resumed last year.
The final elimination round this year had the children select the correct meaning of words from a list of choices, rather than just spell words.

Logan was initially knocked out in this round but was reinstated when the judges ruled that her answer was also correct.
She and Raju duelled for several rounds in which both either mis-spelt the words or got them right.

To break the deadlock they went into a “spell-off” in which they had to rapidly spell correctly as many words as possible within 90 seconds.

Logan defeated Raju by spelling 21 words correctly to his 15.

The Spelling Bee, which has been held since 1925, is sponsored by the EWScripps media company.

Like this story? Or have something to share?

Write to us: contact@hindhimalayausa.com

Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter

0 Comments

You May Also Like

16 Indian American middle schoolers in STEM challenge finals

16 Indian American middle schoolers in STEM challenge finals

A total of 16 Indian American youngsters are among 30 finalists in the inaugural Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (Thermo Fisher JIC), the nation’s premier middle school science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competition. The 30...

India-US Space Cooperation Gets a New Fillip

India-US Space Cooperation Gets a New Fillip

From September 7-10, U.S. President Joe Biden was in New Delhi to attend the G-20 Summit hosted by India. Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met for a bilateral discussion as soon as the U.S. president landed, highlighting their “close and enduring...

“If China Wants To Be A Spoiler…”: US Ahead Of G20 Summit

“If China Wants To Be A Spoiler…”: US Ahead Of G20 Summit

It is for China to decide what role it plays at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, a top US official has said, asserting that if Beijing wants to come in and be a "spoiler", that option is available to it. US National Security Advisor Sullivan was responding to a question...

16 Indian American middle schoolers in STEM challenge finals

16 Indian American middle schoolers in STEM challenge finals

A total of 16 Indian American youngsters are among 30 finalists in the inaugural Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (Thermo Fisher JIC), the nation’s premier middle school science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competition. The 30...

India-US Space Cooperation Gets a New Fillip

India-US Space Cooperation Gets a New Fillip

From September 7-10, U.S. President Joe Biden was in New Delhi to attend the G-20 Summit hosted by India. Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met for a bilateral discussion as soon as the U.S. president landed, highlighting their “close and enduring...

“If China Wants To Be A Spoiler…”: US Ahead Of G20 Summit

“If China Wants To Be A Spoiler…”: US Ahead Of G20 Summit

It is for China to decide what role it plays at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, a top US official has said, asserting that if Beijing wants to come in and be a "spoiler", that option is available to it. US National Security Advisor Sullivan was responding to a question...