Competition kicks off at National Harbor, MD, on May 26.
WASHINGTON, DC: Will there be an Indian American “eight-peat†at the Scripps National Spelling Bee? That is the $30,000 question on everyone’s mind, as the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, is getting ready to host the 88th edition of the venerable completion later this month.
This year’s preliminary round, which begins on May 26, will feature 285 spellers from the United States and a number of other countries, including Japan, China, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and South Korea. More than 60 Indian American spellers are in the comptetion.
The final, which is nationally televised, is at 8 pm, on May 28.
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This year, 51 percent of the contestants are females, while 49 percent are male.
Indian Americans, who make up roughly 1 percent of the United States, have been dominating the Spelling Bee in recent years. Winners in the past seven competitions have all been Indian Americans, with the 2008 victory of Sameer Mishra, of Lafayette Indiana, starting the streak.
In fact, since 1999, spellers from the community have won the competition 12 times. Overall, there have been 15 Indian American victors since Balu Natarajan became the first speller from the community to win the competition in 1985 Bee at the age of 13.
Last year, there were two victors: Sriram J. Hathwar of Corning, New York, and Ansun Sujoe of Fort Worth, Texas. It was the first time in more than half a century, the Bee produced co-champions. Prior to last year, co-champions emerged only on three occasions, in 1950, 1957 and 1962.
Leading the strong Indian American contingent this year are the siblings of three past champions: Jairam Hathwar, younger brother of last year’s co-champion Sriram; Srinath Venkat Mahankali, brother of the 2013 champion Arvind Mahankali; and Vanya Shivashankar, sister of the 2009 winner Kavya Shivashankar.
Thirteen-year-old Vanya Shivashankar, who won the Lifetime’s show Child Genius — and earned $100,000 in prize money — is a veteran of Spelling Bees. She competed in 2010, 2012 (10th place), 2013 (5th place) and 2014 (13th place).
For Srinath Mahankali, 11, a sixth-grader at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School 74 in Bayside, New York, this is the first Bee. Fellow New Yorker Jairam Hathwar, 12, is also a sixth-grader — at Alternative School for Math and Science, Corning, New York.
To participate in the Spelling Bee, there is a long list of requirements that must be met. Among them, the speller must not be in high school, has to have won a final local Spelling Bee, must not have turned 15 before a certain date.
The Spelling Bee competition began in 1925, and it was hosted by The Courier Journal. The winner, Frank Neuhauser, who was 11 at the time, received 500 gold dollars in gold pieces and met then-US President Calvin Coolidge.
These days, the winner receives $30,000 cash prize, a $2,500 US savings bond, a trophy, and other small prizes. Â Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company, now known as E.W. Scripps Company, became the host in 1941.