FLORIDA: A teenager from Florida has won the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee in the United States.
According to the BBC, Dev Shah, a 14-year-old student from Largo, spelt “psammophile” correctly to win the 95th national bee and the 50,000 dollars prize.
Charlotte Walsh, also 14, from Arlington, Virginia, was the runner-up, having incorrectly spelled “daviely” as “daevilick”.
A psammophile is an organism that lives in sandy areas.
According to the organisers, eleven students made the finals after 11m people entered spelling competitions.
“It’s surreal… my legs are still shaking,” Dev said as he collected the trophy on stage, joined by his family. His mother said she was proud of him.
He had previously entered the competition in 2019 and 2021, finishing tied 51st and 76th, respectively.
On his way to the final, he correctly spelled words such as bathypitotmeter, schistorrhachis and rommack. He correctly answered a question, saying that a magician would most likely practice legerdemain.
Charlotte correctly spelled words such as akuammine, sorge and collembolous on her route to the final, which took place in National Harbor, Maryland. The national spelling bee began in 1925.
