14-year-old Dev Shah wins Scripps Nationwide Spelling Bee with last phrase ‘psammophile’

By Steve Almasy | CNN

Dev Shah, a 14-year-old from Largo, Florida, gained the 2023 Scripps Nationwide Spelling Bee on Thursday evening, appropriately spelling psammophile to take the $50,000 first prize.

“It’s surreal. … My legs are nonetheless shaking,” he stated on the competitors in Nationwide Harbor, Maryland.

Eleven college students made the finals after 11 million people entered spelling competitions all through the world.

The preliminary rounds have been held Tuesday, whereas the quarterfinals and semifinals occurred Wednesday.

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In Thursday’s finals, Dev appropriately spelled schistorrhachis, aegagrus, rommack and tolsester. Within the phrase which means spherical, Dev picked the fitting definition of chiromancy, figuring out it as somebody who tells fortunes utilizing strains on the palm of the hand

Dev competed towards 14-year-old Charlotte Walsh from Merrifield, Virginia, as the ultimate two standing. She earned $25,000 for reaching second place after appropriately spelling akuammine, collembolous and Jhangar.

The 231 elementary and center faculty college students within the nationwide spelling bee this yr have been as younger as 9 and as previous as 14. There have been contestants from each US state, and 11 college students from the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, the US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico, in keeping with the E.W. Scripps Firm, the group that operates the bee.

Greater than 180 have been Nationwide Spelling Bee first-timers, and 49 have been returning contestants.

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Dev beforehand had tied for 51st place in 2019 and completed tied for 76th in 2021.