That’s all for now. Congrats to Vanya and Gokul for a breathtaking exhibition of spellmanship. Thanks for following along with us.
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That handshake. (Say nothing of Vanya’s dad’s shirt.)
RT @ZillyBarzour: Gokul was not playing games, his bro ran up on stage & did the @QCook323 handshake too #Swag pic.twitter.com/P5CJRrWwep
— Jose Fonseca (@BestCutManInMBB) May 29, 2015
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Vanya Shivashankar are Gokul Venkatachalam are co-champions!
Gokul’s word is nunatak, a hill or mountain completely surrounded by glacial ice. Naturally, predictably, he nails it. Without asking for a thing: no definition, no language of origin, no nothing. And the confetti falls!
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That means if Gokul spells the next word correctly, they will be declared co-champions.
The two have exhausted 23 of the 25 words on the championship list. A rare scenario that leaves the judges no alternative but to offer Gokul the 24th word. If he nails it, both will be named co-champions. If he misses, then Vanya will have a chance to win the title outright on the 25th.
Strangely, this is exactly what happened last year ... for the first time since 1962. Now it could happen in consecutive National Spelling Bees.
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Gokul and Visha spell two final words – pyrrhuloxia and scherenschnitte, respectively – and the championship word list is all but exhausted.
Vanya. Bruxellois. Money in the bank.
Gokul up. Word: pipsissewa. Lather, rinse, repeat. Vanya next.
Vanya takes the mic. Her word is scacchite. Tricky, tricky. Definition: a mineral MnCl2 consisting of native manganese chloride found in volcanic regions. And – shocker – she’s flawless.
Gokul’s next word: paroemiology. Wastes no time, true to form. Clinical finish. These two are going toe to toe.
Vanya is dealt hippocrepiform. She’s taking her time with this one.
H-I-P-P-O-C-R-E-P-I-F-O-R-M
“Correct.”
What.
Gokul on the mic and the word is: nixtamal. Wastes no time. Nails it. Comically good. “I wish we had more words,” says the commentator. “I don’t know if this will be enough.”
Ten words left on the championship word list.
Vanya up. The word is zimocca. And she delivers. Can these kids be stopped? Are we headed to a tie?
Gokul up and he’s given a tough German word: sprachgefühl. Definiton: the character of a language. Oh man. He just nailed it. So cold.
(Meanwhile, Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri just misspelled Kansas in a tweet about a spelling bee.)
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Vanya is up and her word is myrmotherine, a word meaning feeding on ants. Oh dear. This could be a tough one. Split-screen shows Gokul looking cool as a cucumber. Out of seemingly nowhere, she nails it. Who gave Vanya the cheat code? Too good. Thirteen words remaining on the championship word list. Your ball, Gokul.
As we pause for a commercial break, let us not forget the championship-winning words of 1932 (knack), 1940 (therapy), 1941 (initials), 1964 (sycophant), 1975 (incisor), 1983 (Purim), 1984 (luge) and 1993 (kamikaze). A bit harder today, no?
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Gokul is given filicite, a fossil fern. Pffft. GTFOH. On to the next.
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Vanya gets urgrund: a primal cause or ultimate cosmic principle. Slight work. She nails it! These two are like spelling Terminators. They could go all night.
Gokul to the mic and cypseline is the word. Definition: of or relating to the swifts. Greek word. Love the way this kid goes about his work. So clinical, so self-assured. Not a problem for Gokil, who delivers the goods.
Did we mention he’s wearing Jordan XIs?
Gokul's wearing Jordan XIs #SpellingBee pic.twitter.com/2UoHhAd6aG
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) May 29, 2015
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Vanya is up. Walks to the mic slowly but with confidence. The word is tantième, a percentage or proportional share especially of profits or earnings. Another French word! And ... little trouble for Kansas killer. She slays it. Gokul up.
Gokul is up and he’s given scytale. Not easy. Definition: a method of cipher writing used especially by the Spartans in which a narrow strip of parchment was wound on a rod and the message written across the adjoining edges. For the first time tonight, Gokul looks shook. Or is he bluffing? Won’t even bother trying to guess. ‘Closed book’ doesn’t begin to describe his game face.
But at the same time ... I’m not sure he’s taken more than 45 seconds on a word tonight but he’s already exhausted a minute of the clock here. Could this be it? Could Gokul’s number be up?
He moves to speak:
S-C-Y-T-A-L-E
Hell no. Oh, hell no. Vanya, you’re up.
Gokul is like, "I got this" #spellingbee pic.twitter.com/eJSUzL03p7
— Saeed Ahmed (@writer_dad) May 29, 2015
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Vanya is dealt an obscure Fijian word for outrigger canoe: thamakau. She nails it.
Gokul Venkatachalam back up and the word is caudillismo. He’s spent so little time on the mic tonight and this championship-round word is no different. Nails it, sits down. Your move, Vanya.
Round 11 opens with Vanya Shivashankar. The word: bouquetière, which means garnished with vegetables. She requests language of origin and alternate pronunciations.
B-O-U-Q-U-E-T-I-E-R-E
Ice cold service.
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ELIMINATED: Cole Shafer-Ray (acritarch), two spellers left
Cole Shafer-Ray is up and his word is acritarch, any of a group of fossil one-celled marine planktonic organisms of uncertain and possibly various taxonomic affinities held to represent the earliest known eukaryotes. OK, then. Cole doesn’t seem so sure about it but probes the judge for clues. And then:
A-C-R-O-T-A-R-C-H
The ding. The heartbreak. And then there were 10. Only Vanya and Gokul remain.
Cole is too cool for kisses from mom. #SpellingBee pic.twitter.com/i8ofrUHmlf
— Chris Chavez (@Chris_J_Chavez) May 29, 2015
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Gokul Venkatachalam is up and his word is zygoneure, a connecting neuron. Seems difficult, right? Not so much for Gokul, who needs less than 45 seconds to nail it.
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Round 10 begins with Vanya Shivashankar, the 13-year-old eighth-grader who previously won Lifetime’s ‘Child Genius’ reality show and whose favorite athlete is Serena Williams. Her word is cibarial, an adjective which means relating to food.
C-I-B-A-R-I-A-L
Clinical.
ELIMINATED: Siddharth Krishnakumar (minhag), three spellers left
Siddharth Krishnakumar is up and his word is minhag, a word of Hebrew origin: a Jewish religious custom. Based on his reaction, this one could be tough. And he misspells it! We’re down to three at the end of Round 9!
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Cole Shafer-Ray is up and his word is tortillon, a French word. Cole doesn’t believe in wasting time. Very expedient. T-O-R ... then asks to start over, then asks for the definition. And nails it.
Gokul Venkatachalam, a St Louis native and last year’s third-place finisher, is up. Just learned his favorite song is The World is Yours by Nas. His word is Canossa, a place or occasion of submission, humiliation or penance. Nails it. Fearless speller.
ELIMINATED: Dev Jaiswal (iridocyclitis), four spellers left
And we’re back to Dev Jaiswal, whose word is iridocyclitis. No alternate pronunciations. Origin is Latin from Greek elements. Definition is inflammation of the iris and the ciliary body. The clock is ticking. Forty-five seconds left. Then 30. Then 20. Dev you are a fucking madman.
He falls short, spelling it incorrectly while running out of time, but can’t help break out the wide grin that’s made him the media darling and crowd favorite here: “Thank you so much everyone!”
Vaya con dios, brother.
Standing ovation for #132 Dev Jaiswal as he exits the competition. #spellingbee
— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2015
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Siyona Mishra is back up. Bayadere is the word. Nails it. Clinical.
ELIMINATED: Snehaa Ganesh Kumar (oflag), five spellers left
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar, 12, to the mic to open Round 9. Her word is oflag, a German prison camp for officers. A bit tricky as this is really an abbreviation in German. Oh dear. Doesn’t look like she knows it and ... she doesn’t. Ding. Too bad.
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ELIMINATED: Tejas Muthusamy (tartarean), six spellers left
Tejas Muthusamy up now to close Round 8. Tartarean is the word. Asks for the definition: of or relating to the infernal regions of ancient mythology. The clock is ticking. Tejas’ body language not good here, very uncertain. Shot of his mother in the crowd looking just as nervous.
T-A-R-T-A-R-I-A-N
The dreaded bell! Tejas is out! But he’ll no doubt be among the favorites next year.
Siddharth Krishnakumar is next. His word is réclame, a French word meaning public attention or acclaim not necessarily based on or proportionate to real value or achievement. Nails it. Clinical execution. Just too easy.
Next: Cole Shafer-Ray. The word: commissurotomy. Matter-of-factly delivers the goods. Too smart.
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Last year’s third-place finisher Gokul Venkatachalam – a huge basketball fan whose NBA Finals prediction is Cavs over Warriors in six – is up now. His word is población. Wastes no time. Nails it. No fuss, no fuss. This kid is a total pro.
Dev Jaiswal is up and his word is gnathostome, a vertebrate animal that possesses true jaws. He spells it correctly and beams an ear-to-ear grin. I’m telling you: whatever ‘it’ is, this kid’s got it.
ELIMINATED: Paul Keaton (poikilitic), seven spellers left
Kentucky’s Paul Keaton up now. His word is poikilitic. He spells it confidently – but incorrectly! – and the infernal bell is rung! Down to seven spellers.
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Vanya Shivashankar, who spelled cytopoiesis correctly in Round 7, is up now. Her next word is backfisch. Tricky, tricky! It’s a German noun meaning an adolescent immature girl.
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar (who spelled bouillabaisse correctly in Round 7) up to open Round 8. Her next word is Hippocrene, a Latin word (via Greek) meaning poetic inspiration. After probing the judge for clues, she comes through with more than a full minute to spare.
Tejas Muthusamy is up, the last of the 10 finalists to spell their first word tonight. His word is billiken, a squat smiling comic figure used as a mascot. And he nails it. Now that everyone’s had one turn, another commercial break. Round 8 coming up.
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Siddharth Krishnakumar is next, a 13-year-old from Pearland, Texas. His word is Albumblatt, a short instrumental competition usually for piano. He delivers.
Cole Shafer-Ray, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Oklahoma, is next. His word is samadhi, a Sanskrit word meaning meditative concentration. And he nails it.
Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, is next. His word is cocozelle and he nails it. It’s his fourth bee final. Slight work.
Now it’s Dev Jaiswal and his word is bacchius. Asks for the root (Latin via Greek), alternate pronunciations (none) and for the word to be used in a sentence (a glib sample involving a Drake mixtape). Forty-five seconds left. Then 30. Then 20. You could cut the tension with a knife. Shit. SHIT!
Under 10 seconds.
B-A-C-C-H-I-U-S
Oh shit! Dev gets it in right as the clock runs out. A buzzer-beater! He goes nuts and remembers to say thank you before returning to his chair. Get your popcorn ready, ladies and gentlemen.
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After a commercial break, it’s 14-year-old Paul Keaton of Pikeville, Kentucky. His previous words have included nsambya, faineancy and – in today’s semifinals – canotier.
His word is crannog, an ariticial fortified island. And he nails it in less than 20 seconds.
Now it’s eighth-grader Vanya Shivashankar, whose word is cytopoiesis. Kid is all over this. Nails it.
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ELIMINATED: Siyona Mishra (hacek), eight spellers left
The competition is paused as ESPN conducts a televised interview with Dev Jaiswal, the breakout star of this event.
Next up is 11-year-old Siyona Mishra of Orlando Science Middle High School, whose words along the way have included procrypsis, emmetropia amd chiliad. She’s in her first bee final. Her word is hacek, a wedge-shaped diacritic placed over a letter to modify it. She asks for language of origin (Czech), alternate spellings (none), then asks for the official pronouncer to say it five times in a row. The clock is ticking, below 45 seconds now.
H-A-C-H-E-K
And the dreaded ding! Mishra is out – and then there were eight!
Updated
ELIMINATED: Sylvie Lamontagne (cerastes), nine spellers left
Next up is Sylvie Lamontagne of Lakewood, Colorado. Her word is cerastes, a common desert-dwelling viper of Egypt and Asia Minor distinguished by a horn-like scale resembling a spike above each eye.
The clock is ticking ... and we’re below 20 seconds. Starts with an ‘S’ ... then asks to start over. Begins again with an ‘S’ and ... the clock is running low ... and there’s the dreaded bell.
Lamontagne is out. And then there were nine.
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Let the games begin
The ESPN telecast is underway and we’re set to begin. First up is Snehaa Ganesh Kumar. Her word is bouillabaisse and she nails it. Apparently, that’s a classic spelling bee word.
How to play along at home
If you have access to ESPN’s online app, try the Play-Along telecast of tonight’s bee. Via ESPN PR:
Throughout the competition, ESPN3 and WatchESPN will feature a second multiple-choice “Play-Along” version that gives fans a one-in-three chance to pick the correct spelling. This year’s “Play-Along” version has been enhanced to create a more integrated and immersive experience with informational boxes highlighting the word’s etymology, definition, pronunciation and part of speech, as well as live tweets, the speller’s bio and more.
A rich history
Incredibly, this marks the 88th year of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The first was held in 1925 with just nine contestants, with Kentucky’s Frank Neuhauser taking home the title by spelling gladiolus correctly.
Ever wonder how you’d match up against the champions of the past. I mean, really, who hasn’t? Well, now’s your chance. Take our quiz to see if you can spell a sampling of the championship-winning words from previous competitions.
Not much longer now
Ten minutes until ESPN’s telecast begins.
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This year’s field, by the numbers
The 285 spellers who made the trip to Washington break down as follows:
Gender
- Girls: 146 (51.25%)
- Boys: 139 (48.77%)
Age
- Nine-year-olds: 3 (1.1%)
- 10-year-olds: 11 (3.9%)
- 11-year-olds: 35 (12.3%)
- 12-year-olds: 70 (24.6%)
- 13-year-olds: 88 (31%)
- 14-year-olds: 75 (26%)
- 15-year-olds: 3 (1.1%)
Grade
- Third: 1 (0.3%)
- Fourth: 5 (1.8%)
- Fifth: 24 (8.4%)
- Sixth: 58 (20.3%)
- Seventh: 78 (27.4%)
- Eighth: 119 (41.8%)
School type
- Public: 191 (67%)
- Private: 50 (17.5%)
- Parochial: 18 (6.3%)
- Home: 13 (4.6%)
- Charter: 12 (4.2%)
- Virtual: 1 (0.4%)
What’s at stake
Tonight’s champion will receive: a $30,000 cash prize and the Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy (from Scripps); a $5,000 cash prize (from first-year sponsor Words With Friends; a $2,500 US savings bond and a complete reference library (from Merriam-Webster); $1,100 of reference works including the Britannica Global Edition, 1768 Encyclopædia Britannica Replica Set Deluxe Edition, and 3-year membership to Britannica Online Premium (from Encyclopædia Britannica).
The runner-up will receive $12,500, with cash prizes for third ($7,500), fourth ($3,000), fifth ($2,500) and sixth places ($2,000). The seventh- through 10th-place finishers will go home with a cool $1,500, which went a long way when I was in elementary school.
A look at tonight's finalists
Well, here we are. It’s all happening.
More than 11m students, ranging in age from nine to 15, participated in this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee at one level or another. Of those, 285 earned a trip to Washington by winning spelling bees organized by their local sponsors, typically newspapers, universities or non-profits for this week’s five-day competition, which consists of three distinct segments: Preliminaries, Semifinals and tonight’s Championship Finals.
Now only 10 remain. Here’s who they are.
Speller No16, Snehaa Ganesh Kumar (Results)
Sponsor: The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California
Age 12, 7th grade
School: Folsom Middle School
Hometown: Folsom, California
Speller No29, Sylvie Lamontagne (Results)
Sponsor: The Denver Post, Denver, Colorado
Age 12, 7th grade
School: Creighton Middle School
Hometown: Lakewood, Colorado
Speller No39, Siyona Mishra (Results)
Sponsor: Orlando Sentinel Communications, Orlando, Florida
Age 11, 6th grade
School: Orlando Science Middle High School
Hometown: Orlando, Florida
Speller No90, Vanya Shivashankar (Results)
Sponsor: The Olathe News, Olathe, Kansas
Age 13, 8th grade
School: California Trail Middle School
Hometown: Olathe, Kansas
Speller No92, Paul Keaton (Results)
Sponsor: Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, Lexington, Kentucky
Age 14, 8th grade
School: Christ Central School
Hometown: Pikeville, Kentucky
Speller No132, Dev Jaiswal (Results)
Sponsor: Mississippi Association of Educators, Jackson, Mississippi
Age 13, 8th grade
School: Winston Academy
Hometown: Louisville, Mississippi
Speller No140, Gokul Venkatachalam (Results)
Sponsor: St Louis Post-Dispatch, St Louis, Missouri
Age 14, 8th grade
School: Parkway West Middle School
Hometown: Chesterfield, Missouri
Speller No200, Cole Shafer-Ray (Results)
Sponsor: The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Age 14, 8th grade
School: Alcott Middle School
Hometown: Norman, Oklahoma
Speller No238, Siddharth Krishnakumar (Results)
Sponsor: Houston Public Media, Houston, Texas
Age 13, 7th grade
School: Pearland Junior High West
Hometown: Pearland, Texas
Speller No264, Tejas Muthusamy (Results)
Sponsor: Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia
Age 12, 6th grade
School: George H Moody Middle School
Hometown: Glen Allen, Virginia
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s the Associated Press’s look at Dev Jaiswal, the 13-year-old from Mississippi who has the No1 ranking coming out of this afternoon’s semifinals:
Dev Jaiswal’s journey to the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals shows just how competitive spelling has become.
Dev, a 13-year-old from Louisville, Mississippi, made it to the national bee in 2012. In the two years after that, he finished second and third in the Mississippi state bee.
This year, he didn’t just win his state. He’s reached the pinnacle. Dev carried the highest score into the semifinal rounds and spelled both of his words correctly to become one of ten finalists with a chance to win $37,000 in cash and prizes.
Dev said he changed up his study routine this year, and he also got a lot of advice from veteran spellers. Even though this was his first time in the semifinals, he’s well-known in the spelling community and has vocal crowd support.
“I’m so proud of Dev,” said Jacob Williamson, who finished seventh last year and is cheering on his fellow spellers from the audience.
To make the finals, Dev had to spell a word he didn’t know — “naranjilla,” an herb cultivated in northern South America for its edible bright orange fruits.
“It’s very exciting, especially when you get a word you’ve never heard of before,” he said. “It’s always scary when that happens.”
