NEW YORK: Thirteen-year-old Sameer Mishra, a four-time veteran of the National Spelling Bee, won the competition, becoming the latest desi to win. He took home the $35,000 cash award and $5,000 in other prizes.
The 13-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind., who often had the audience laughing with his one-line commentaries, was all business when he aced "guerdon" - a word that appropriately means "something that one has earned or gained"- to win the 81st version of the bee.
"I don’t know about comedy lines, but my parents have been telling me since the beginning that I should always stay calm, cool and collected," said Sameer, who likes playing the violin and video games, and hopes one day to be a neurosurgeon. Sameer, appearing in the bee for the fourth time and a top 20 finisher the last two years, clenched both fists and put his hands to his face after spelling the winning word.
He won a tense duel over first-time participant Sidharth Chand, 12, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who finally stumbled on "prosopopoeia," a word describing a type of figure of speech. Sameer was a crowd favorite throughout the tournament. When told one of his words in the semifinals was a dessert, he deadpanned: "That sounds good right now."
He rolled his eyes and muttered "wonderful" when told that one of his words had five different language roots. He once asked "Are you sure there are no alternate pronunciations?" and later uttered "That’s a relief" after initially mishearing the word "numnah" (a type of sheepskin pad). And what did he have to say while hoisting the heavy trophy?
"I’m really, really weak." Out of 12 top finishers, five are South Asian: Sameer Mishra (the winner), Sidharth Chand (2nd place), Samia Nawaz (4th place tie), Kavya Shivashankar (4th place tie) and Jahnavi Iyer (8th place tie). ESPN and its corporate cousin, ABC, treat the bee like a big-time sports event, airing the early rounds on ESPN and then the finals live on prime-time on ABC.
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