South Asian Spelling Bee: Indian American Teen Wins National TitleTop Stories

August 19, 2019 11:16
South Asian Spelling Bee: Indian American Teen Wins National Title

(Image source from: Facebook/southasianspellingbee)

An Indian American teenager from Edison, New Jersey won the 2019 South Asian Spelling Bee after correctly spelling the word “flipe”. Besides the national title, Navneeth Murali also won the grand prize of $3,000.

Navneet Murali outdid Hephzibah Sujoe, 13, of Fort Worth, Texas; Pranav Nandakumar, 13, of Austin, Texas; and Vayun Krishna, 12, of Sunnyvale, California, who all tied for the runner-up position.

South Asian Spelling Bee Finals(Image Source: Facebook/southasianspellingbee)

Navneeth Murali correctly spelled Tubatulabal. However, he spelled flype as flipe, yet declared a winner.

South Asian Spelling Bee

(Video Source: ITV Gold)

“It fills my heart to see such talented young spellers from across the country who make us proud as a community,” South Asian Spelling Bee founder Rahul Walia said in a statement.

“The initiative is unique in its reach and engagement and with the help of the SAS-Bee program, we were able to give even more spellers the opportunity to win it all and raise the bar even higher. My heartiest congratulations to the winner,” Walia added.

South Asian Spelling Bee Photos(Image Source: Facebook/southasianspellingbee)

Apart from New Jersey, the bee, which was open to children up to 14 years of age, was held in the five regional centers, including Washington, D.C. Metro Area, Dallas, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Charlotte.

Over 600 spellers from these centers took part in the contest from which 15 finalists took the stage at the finals.

“We are extremely happy with Naveneeth’s win at the bee as it goes to show that today’s South Asian kids are all well-rounded and highly dedicated to their craft,” Tim Tan, managing director of Kawan Food, the event sponsor.

The initiative was organized by multicultural advertising firm Touchdown Media Inc. The event will be broadcasted by Sony Entertainment Television across the globe in more than 120 countries.

“It’s amazing to see the pool of talent from our community and am happy for Navneeth Murali’s win and excited to get to know him and some of the other spellers better in the “Meet the Speller” series airing shortly on Sony,” said Jaideep Janakiram, Head of North America at Sony Entertainment Television-Asia.

By Sowmya Sangam

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