81st Scripps National Spelling Bee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee took place on May 30, 2008.
Contents |
[edit] Competition
Two hundred eighty-eight champion spellers competed in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., the most ever to date.
Most of the spellers were from the United States, with a small showing from other locations such as Ghana, Jamaica, and South Korea. Twenty-two were Canadian.
[edit] Champion
The winner was Sameer Mishra, a 13-year-old eighth grader at West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School, in Indiana. He was sponsored by Journal and Courier of the same town. His winning word was guerdon. He won $35,000 in cash and more than $5,000 in prizes.[1]
In rounds 3 through 15, Mishra spelled "demitasse", "quadrat", "diener", "hyssop", "macédoine", "basenji", "numnah", "chorion", "nacarat", "sinicize", "hyphaeresis", "taleggio" and "esclandre" correctly, in that order.
In a comical moment during the spelling bee, he mistook the word "numnah" for "numb nut" and sarcastically asked if there's any "alternate pronounciations."
Note: Mishra incorrectly spelled "sudation" in Round 2. (He spelled it as "sudatian.")[2] However, a speller's combined score from Rounds 1 and 2 determines whether he or she advances in the competition; thus, a speller can incorrectly spell a word in Round 2 without being eliminated. Single-elimination only begins in Round 3.
[edit] TV coverage
The Quarterfinals aired live on ESPN360.com on May 29 from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m. ET.
The Semifinals aired live on ESPN on May 30 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET.
The Championship Finals aired live on ABC May 30 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. ET.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
| Preceded by 80th Scripps National Spelling Bee |
81st Scripps National Spelling Bee May 29 - May 30, 2008 |
Succeeded by 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee |
 |
This article relating to education in the U.S. is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
