The 2019 Spelling “Octochamps”
Monday, June 3rd, 2019June 3, 2019
Last week, on May 30, the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center near Washington, D.C., ended in an unprecedented eight-way tie. The shocking group championship came after a last-minute rule change that limited the grueling competition to a 20th and final round, meaning that all spellers still standing would be declared champions. The winning spellers, all between 12 and 14 years old, labeled themselves the “octochamps.” They were: Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Abhijay Kodali, Shruthika Padhy, Rohan Raja, Christopher Serrao, Sohum Sukhatankar, and Saketh Sundar.
The official Scripps pronouncer, Jacques Bailly, announced the bee rule change as eight spellers remained at the conclusion of the 17th round of the championship final, which usually ends in a one-on-one spelling duel. Bailly acknowledged that organizers were running out of challenging words, and that any speller remaining after three additional rounds would be declared a champion. The shocking announcement drew cheers from the crowd, and from the spellers themselves, who realized that spelling three more tough words correctly—no easy task—would secure a piece of the championship.
After breezing through the 18th and 19th rounds, the eight finalists correctly spelled their title-clinching words to wrap up the competition. Gandhasri nailed auslaut (the final sound in a word or syllable); Howard spelled erysipelas (a skin disease); Sundar got bougainvillea (a tropical shrub); Padhy spelled out aiguillette (a shoulder cord); Sukhatankar eased through pendeloque (a pear-shaped ornament); Kodali walked through palama (the webbing on the feet of aquatic birds); Serrao figured out cernuous (of a plant); and Raja completed the perfect 20th round with odylic (relating to odyl, a force or natural power).
Co-champions have been declared in six previous National Spelling Bees, but never before had more than two competitors shared the annual title. Each of the octochamps earned the full winner’s share of $50,000 rather that having to divide the prize among themselves.
The annual English language Scripps National Spelling Bee begins with 11 million students from across the United States and its overseas territories as well from the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, and South Korea. Regional competitions bring the spellers—who can compete through age 15 and eighth grade—to National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside the U.S. capital, for the championship “Bee Week.” Preliminary rounds reduce the field (which this year included 562 students) to 16 excellent spellers, who gather on stage for the bee’s championship final, which is broadcast nationally on ESPN.
The first National Spelling Bee, a much smaller event organized by the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal newspaper, took place in 1925. The E. W. Scripps Company, based in nearby Cincinnati, Ohio, has sponsored the spelling bee since 1941. The competition was not held for three years during World War II (1939-1945).