MUMBAI: Pratyasha Nath, a class IX student of Shri Shikshayatan School, Kolkata, was declared the national champion of the Classmate and Radio Mirchi’s spelling extravaganza Spell Bee Season 9. Aaman Ahmed, a class IX student of St Michael’s School, Siliguri, was the first runner-up.
This year, the competition engaged with more than three lakh students from 1,000 schools in 30 cities across India by testing their mettle in English spellings. The winners were announced by actor Soha Ali Khan in Mumbai on Tuesday. Paige Kimbley, executive director, Scripps National Spelling Bee, said, “It was quite interesting to see the enthusiasm in the young spellers and the quality of participation.”
In the initial phase, an on-ground exercise in schools received massive participation. The top 15 spellers from each school then competed in the online city finals. The top performers from the city finals then competed in the semi-finals. From there the top 16 students from across India went on to battle it out in the televised national finals.
Nripendranath Thakur, head of sales & marketing, education & stationery products business, ITC, said, “The competition builds on the scale we achieved last year with the aim of reaching out to an even larger number students across schools and cities in India, through a school contact program coupled with a novel mobile app and a dedicated website to engage students.” Classmate Spell Bee Season 9’s national champion wins a grand prize of Rs 2 lakh along with the opportunity to witness Scripps National Spelling Bee with a parent in Washington DC, USA. The four national finalists win a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each. Sumit Aggarwal, senior vice president and national head-activations, Entertainment Network (India), said, “It’s encouraging to see that the art of spelling correctly is growing passionately as a culture amongst these children and the property is the perfect platform to add fuel to this passion.”
The national finals will be simulcast on The Discovery Channel, Discovery Kidsand Discovery Tamil.