Spelling bee champion Snigdha Nandipati wins title with "guetapens"Nandipati

Snigdha Nandipati, 14, of San Diego, Calif., spells a word during the finals of the National Spelling Bee Thursday, May 31, 2012 in Oxon Hill, Md. / AP Photo/Alex Brandon

(AP) OXON HILL, Md. - The story of this spelling bee champion begins in the car, on the daily commute to kindergarten with father at the wheel.

"He'd ask me words that he saw on the signs, on billboards, and he'd ask me to spell them," Snigdha Nandipati said. "I remember my favorite word to spell was `design' because it had the silent `g."'

It didn't take long for Krishnarao Nandipati to realize his daughter had a special talent. He began entering her in bees in the third grade. Soon she was winning them, and Thursday night the 14-year-old girl from San Diego captured the biggest prize of them all: the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

A coin collector and Sherlock Holmes fan, Snigdha aced the word "guetapens," a French-derived word that means an ambush or a trap, to outlast eight other finalists and claim the trophy along with more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.

"I knew it. I'd seen it before," Snigdha, a semifinalist last year, said of the winning word. "I just wanted to ask everything I could before I started spelling."

6-year-old Spelling Bee contestant irked by error

There was no jumping for joy, at least not right away. The announcer didn't proclaim Snigdha the champion, so she stood awkwardly near the microphone for a few seconds before confetti started to fly. One person who knew for certain she had won was her 10-year-old brother, Sujan, who ran full-speed onto the stage and enveloped his sister in a hug.

In that respect, it was a familiar bee sight — a Indian-American family celebrating and soaking up the ovation in the 85th edition of the annual contest held in the Washington area. Americans of Indian descent have won the bee five times in a row and in 10 of the last 14 years, a phenomenon that began in 1999 with champion Nupur Lala, who was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound."

Snigdha, like many winners before her, cited Lala as an inspiration. And, like several other recent Indian-American champions, she wants to be a doctor — either a psychiatrist or a neurosurgeon.

"She says this is harder than being a neurosurgeon — maybe," her mother, Madhavi, said.

Snigdha's grandparents traveled from Hyderabad in southeastern India for the competition, but it was the little brother who stole the show as he played with the confetti and then helped his sister hoist the huge trophy. Might he be a future champion?

"He's not that interested," the father said. "He's more into tennis."

Second place went to Stuti Mishra of West Melbourne, Fla., who misspelled "schwarmerei" — which means excessive, unbridled enthusiasm. While many spellers pretend to write words with their fingers, 14-year-old Stuti had an unusual routine — she mimed typing them on a keyboard.

The week began with 278 spellers, including the youngest in the history of the competition — 6-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va. The field was cut to 50 semifinalists after a computer test and two preliminary rounds, and Lori Anne was two misspelled words away from a semifinal berth. The tiny, blue-eyed prodigy said she'd be back next year.

Gifton Wright of Spanish Town, Jamaica, was hoping to be the first winner from outside the United States since 1998, but he couldn't correctly spell "ericeticolous." Twelve-year-old Arvind Mahankali of New York aspired to be the first non-teen to win since 2000, but he couldn't spell "schwannoma" and finished third for the second straight year.

"I got eliminated both times by German words," said Arvind, who has one year of eligibility remaining. "I know what I have to study."

[vayvayaastra]

It is not just the ability to spell, but preparation, perseverance and dealing with intense pressure which is something that everyone is tested on. It is precisely these qualities which these individuals will call upon in any of their future endeavors to increase their chance at success.

Indian Americans have also been consistently performed well in math olympiads, geography bee and recently there was a case of Shouryya (in Germany) who solved a 350 year old puzzle put forth by Newton. Sure, in the US, Indian Americans have not been noticed in sports and popular culture...but our forte is academics and that is why we continue to dominate.

"Birdy num num" you say? Keep making fun of us and our accent, but we'll keep going at it, excelling in the fields we choose :-)

[rgn07]

Indians infest this competition year in and year out. Its like they migrate to the US with only one objective: to join the Spelling Bee. Its like the American Idol of the geek world.

[fredisalive]

the more cuts and so called auterity measures aimed at the education system means as it always has that your most educated people will be of foreign descent. Go to Mayo clinic or any medical facility worth anything and you will not find "american born" top notch surgeons, its always those names you have always insulted as "muslim". So your tea party groups will win but the nation will loose! They are trying to turn us all into Kentucky and Mississippi!

[rider1956]

It seems that foreigners either love this language more than we do, or there is a mass conspiracy for 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation immigrants to take over this country. I have to use spell-check all the time.

Just ponder.

[tripleterrific]

what generation are you..?
that is unless you are a native Indian!

[danny1728]

This whole thing has become ridiculous. An American spelling bee with German, French, etc. words I remember the small study booklet they used to give us in the 6th-8th grades. No foreign words, but some fairly difficult and quiet unused in normal conversation. Many would have never been used by even the normal college graduate, but they were all English. I wonder if winning a spelling bee makes one a better doctor or attorney?

[tripleterrific]

copying you on the comment i posted for jonnyooh
Jonnyooh: before making baseless comments or self made theories, please take a logical step to go and look at what the previous winners are doing or achieved today....most of them are achievers and excel in the area they have elected...
spelling is like any other sport... which might not be a direct measure of one's physical fitness but somewhat a yardstick and is fun

[jonnyooh]

The expiration date of the spelling bee story was about three days ago. The ability to spell is not a factor in the IQ score, so unless it is contested by a few dozen pre-schoolers and a smart dog, the interest factor wears down in one quick hurry. At its extreme best, it is about as exciting as a birthday card from your insurance agent. Only the MSM has the intellectual density to regard it as newsworthy. In that respect, in a more reasonable universe, e.g., one in which someone like Mitch McConnell would be in a wheelchair by his eighth birthday, it would rate about midway between an ambulance chaser commercial and a hotdog eating contest. In my humble but highly educated opinion, the media, the American people and the rest of the world would be better off if the person or persons responsible for this late breaking round of BS would be placed in a position flipping burgers in a state mental hospital, making the culprits in question better off too. So the only party that wouldn't benefit from this win win win win proposition would be the hospital inmates themselves. Pleas save us from any future like-minded horse manure, like frog jumping contests and cockroach racing.

[tripleterrific]

Jonnyooh: before making baseless comments or self made theories, please take a logical step to go and look at what the previous winners are doing or achieved today....most of them are achievers and excel in the area they have elected...
spelling is like any other sport... which might not be a direct measure of one's physical fitness but somewhat a yardstick and is fun

[jonnyooh]

Go look it up yourself, trippleziombie, I don't have time to do your googling for you. Spelling is not a sport. Football is a sport, boxing is a sport. Spelling is a game, like checkers and scrabble. Give me some examples of spellers who have excelled in areas they have selected and stop bothering me with your self-made theories. And please try to stay over at Murdoch's Brainwashing Factory where you came from and stop coming over here pestering the grown-ups.

[slownewsday_6000]

I can imagine she had plenty of practice in learning to spell her name!

[rgn07]

I suppose so. Next time they should spell birdie num num.