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National Spelling Bee has a winner from NYC

buzzz worthy. . .

By Mona Austin


BRISTOW, VA - "Knaidel." The word for Yiddish dumpling, is a word many people have never heard, but one that has earned Arvind Mahankali, a 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, New York, some time in the national spotlight.   He won the  the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night.

 Mahankali competed against 280  contenders for nerd swag as the  top speller in the English language, $30,000 in cash and prizes and a huge golden urn shaped trophy.

You could say the Scripps Be is the "American Idol" (AI)  of words.  Like this year's AI winner Candace Glover, this was the eighth-graders third attempt and he took home the title. 
No stranger to the agony of defeat, Mahankali,  finished third over the last two years.  This year he came back with a vengeance  and was one of three spellers to advance to the semifinals with a perfect score.
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Arvind is the  fifth Indian American  in a row and 10 of 14 to win the competition, a run that started in 1999 when Nupur Lala captured the title and was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound."
Two spellers had a chance to make history as the first pair of siblings to win the bee. Eleven-year-old Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kan., is trying to emulate her sister, Kavya, who won in 2009, and 13-year-old Ashwin Veeramani of North Royalton, Ohio, is the brother of 2010 winner Anamika Veeramani according to the AP .Last year's winning word was "guetpans." Snigdha Nandipati spelt it correctly and became a spelling champ
This year a computerized vocabulary test was introduced to the competition.

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