More than 60 Indian American spellers are competing this year.
WASHINGTON, DC: All eyes are on Indian American spellers as the 89th Scripps National Spelling Bee gets underway at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, this week.
The preliminary rounds will be held Wednesday and Thursday, and the finals will occur on Thursday, June 26, at 8 pm, which will be broadcast on ESPN. The premlinary rounds will be broadcast on ESPN3 and ESPN2. This year’s host is SportsCenter anchor Kevin Negandhi, the first Indian American to host the event.
In all, 285 spellers from the United States and a number of countries are competing for the title of 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion.
Besides the Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy, the winner will receive a $40,000 cash prize and a $2,500 US savings bond and a reference library from Merriam-Webster, among other prizes.
More than 60 spellers — or more than a fifth of the contestants — this year are Indian Americans. Spellers from the community have built a dynasty in recent year years by winning the past eight Spelling Bees.
Last year, there were two victors, Gokul Venkatachalam, of Missouri, and Vanya Shivashankar, of Kansas. Seven of the 10 finalists last year were Indian Americans.
Prior to 2014, which also featured co-champions, Sriram J. Hathwar, of New York, and Ansun Sujoe, of Texas, the Bee has produced co-champions only thrice: in 1950, 1957 and 1962.
The current Indian American winning streak started in 2008, with the victory of Sameer Mishra, of Lafayette, Indiana.
Since 1999, Indian American spellers have won the competition 12 times (including co-champions). Overall, there have been 15 Indian American victors since Balu Natarajan became the first speller from the community to win the competition in 1985 at the age of 13.
This year, the Indian American spellers may have an additional incentive. The winners may get to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to visit Washington from June 6 to June 8.
The screening for the Bee starts the in the fall of previous year, and it starts with contests at the school level. There are also several eligibility guidelines, both schools and students must follow. For instance, the student must not have previously won, their school must be enrolled, they must not have passed the eighth grade or higher, and they cannot be older than 16, just to name a few.
Watch the final moments of the 2015 Spelling Bee