WASHINGTON, DC, June 2, 2006: Thirteen-year-old Katharine Close won the 79th Scripts National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling “ursprache.” Her previous correctly spelled word was “kundalini,” accurately defined as “the yogic force at the base of the spine, which when raised to the head, triggers enlightenment.” Katharine, from New Jersey, spelt a raft of complex and not-so-complex words and took home over $42,000 in prizes, finally winning with the word, Ursprache. She is the first girl to win the competition since 1999. Rajiv Tarigopula, the highest finisher among the Indian competitors got words like gallinaceous, zebu and phalarope right, and seemed one of the most intense of the competitors.
The 13 finalists, including four South Asians, faced the judges, their parents and over 9 million viewers as the ABC television network began showing the final rounds of the 79th Scripps National Bee held in Washington, DC at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time. This is the first time that the contest has been shown live on a major television channel. Despite an Indian not winning the crown this year, the enthusiasm for the Bee in the Indian communities won’t be diminished, feels James Maguire, author of American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds. The contestants are not always nerds, he says, adding that many of them are well-rounded young people.
The Indian presence has become even more visible in the last seven years as five of the winners are of Indian origin: Nupur Lala, in 1999; George Abraham Thampy, 2000; Pratyush Buddiga, 2002; Sai R Gunturi, 2003 and Anurag Kashyap, 2005.
The 13 in the final list had spelt words such as boraginaceous, anacoluthon and wapiti, gigerium, empyreumatic, and mirliton.
There were a number of Indian words including izzat (respect), makara and kundalini. Interestingly most of these words went to non-Indians and Rajiv did not get any of them.