Arvind Mahankali, a 13-year-old New Yorker, won the national Scripps Spelling Bee on Thursday after correctly spelling “knaidel.”
In the penultimate round of competition, Mahankali spelled “tokonoma” and became the last player left in competition. In order to seal his victory, he had to spell one last word correctly.
Mahankali has placed third in the spelling bee the last two years, both times with a German word being his undoing. This time, however, the Bayside Hills native wasn’t stumped by the German word meaning a mass of leavened dough.
When he correctly spelled “knaidel,” judge Mary Brooks announced that he was the champion of the 2013 Scripps Spelling Bee. Mahankali is the first boy to take the title since 2008.
The field of young spellers looking to be named this year’s champion was numbered at 281. Only 42 remained by Thursday’s semifinals, and just 11 finalists took the stage at 8 p.m. to battle for the victory. All three days of the tense competition were aired on ESPN.
As the victor, Mahankali was awarded $30,000 in cash, a $2,500 savings bond, $2,000 worth of reference books and of course, his trophy engraved with the night’s most important word, “Champion.”
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