National Spelling Bee: Competitors ease tension with hugs and high-fives
And then there were 13.
Whittled down from a field of 275 stellar spellers from around the world, 13 advance to Thursday night鈥檚 prime-time championship finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
In front of a live audience more than double the size of previous years, they鈥檒l wrestle down words you鈥檝e probably never heard and certainly won鈥檛 find in a typical abridged dictionary.
This is spelling鈥檚 annual moment in the sun 鈥� a time when tweeters gush about how smart these pint-size competitors are and debate whether a spelling contest should really be broadcast by a sports network.
Considering the grueling hours of studying the kids put in, the millions of viewers on ESPN, and the fact that, for the first time, people are forking over $40 for tickets to the finals, it鈥檚 fair to call it a sport, argues Amy Goldstein, a copy editor at ESPN who tied for fourth place in the 1998 national bee.
One of the biggest 鈥渁gony of defeat鈥� moments so far this year: Semifinalist Hanif Brown Jr. of Jamaica took just a bit too long before spelling 鈥渘ataka鈥� correctly 鈥� the only time Ms. Goldstein is aware of that a speller was eliminated for surpassing the time limit, currently 2-1/2 minutes.
One speller looking to taste the 鈥渢hrill of victory鈥� Thursday night is Joanna Ye, an eighth-grader from Carlisle, Pa., who tied for fifth place last year. The word that advanced her to Thursday night鈥檚 finals, which begin airing at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time: hypotrichosis, the absence of hair growth.
鈥淭he words I got were really easy for me,鈥� she said Thursday afternoon in a phone interview. 鈥淭here were a few words others got that I would not have wanted to get,鈥� she said, particularly 鈥渙cypode,鈥� which stumped fellow semifinalist David Phan.
She says she鈥檚 especially enjoying the competition this year. For the first time, the spellers get to watch the profiles of themselves along with the TV audience just before they come up to the microphone. The kids have been getting up for hugs and high-fives during commercials, she said, and even whispering comments to one another during competition to break the tension.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad I didn鈥檛 win last year, because I would not have been able to handle all the media attention,鈥� Joanna said. 鈥淲hatever happens, I鈥檒l still be proud and not have any regrets.鈥� As an eighth-grader, this is the last year she can compete, but she looks forward to volunteering at future bees once she鈥檚 in college.
One semifinalist who really entertained the crowd won鈥檛 be going on to the finals.
Maryland teen Surjo Bandyopadhyay (yes, we double-checked that spelling) had blurted out at one point Thursday morning, 鈥淢ay I please have all the information on this word?鈥� 鈥� rather than methodically going through the permitted questions about word origins, meanings, and use in a sentence. Then he spelled 鈥渓ysozyme鈥� correctly.
While some kids throw in jokes that have clearly been practiced and seem awkward, Surjo鈥檚 expressions and comments were genuine and natural, and that鈥檚 what was endearing, Goldstein says.
But in a round early this afternoon, he said N-A-C-H-S-L-A-G when the right spelling of the musical term was 鈥渘achschlag.鈥� Realizing he was wrong, he said, 鈥渇ailed!鈥� before leaving the stage with a big smile.
Among the finalists Thursday night are two girls vying to become the first Canadian champion: eighth-grader Laura Newcombe (who tied for fifth place last year) and seventh-grader Veronica Penny.
For all the hours they spend studying word origins, the finalists have a wide range of hobbies 鈥� playing the flute, reading Japanese manga, swimming, volunteering at a retirement home, and practicing tae kwon do, to name a few. For many of them, math is a favorite subject. Several have relatives who have also participated in the National Spelling Bee.
One of them will walk away Thursday night without hearing that dreaded elimination bell that rings for an incorrectly spelled word. He or she will earn a trophy, $30,000 in cash and thousands more in products and scholarships 鈥� and to top it off, an obscure championship word that will forever be theirs.
鈥� This report includes material from the Associated Press.
