(CNN) Karthik Nemmani, a soft-spoken eighth-grader from McKinney, Texas, hadn't been to the National Spelling Bee before, but he had already been in a battle with 12-year-old Naysa Modi.
In their county spelling bee, Naysa won, but Thursday, Karthik came out on top -- successfully navigating through words like "aver," "paucispiral," "ankyloglossia," "haecceitas" and finally "koinonia" to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The Greek word "koinonia" -- most commonly pronounced "koy-nuh-NEE-uh" -- is defined as "intimate spiritual communion and participative sharing in a common religious commitment and spiritual community."
When asked whether having Naysa, who is from Frisco, and other friends at the national finals helped, the unassuming Karthik said: "Yeah, I guess."
He smiled, and added, "I guess it gave me a little more confidence."
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Karthik Nemmani attributed his success to his father and his spelling coach. (Reuters)
Finalists talk as Karthik Nemmani spells a word during the final round. (Reuters)
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Karthik Nemmani of McKinney, Texas, won the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, taking home a $40,000 cash prize after beating the same speller who defeated him at his countywide bee in February.Nemmani, 14, went head-to-head with fellow Texan Naysa Modi, 12, for only a few moments before winning the bee with the word "koinonia," which is a body of religious believers."I had confidence, but I didn't really think it would happen," Nemmani said moments after receiving his trophy at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in suburban Washington. "I'm just really happy. This has just been a dream come true."Modi quickly wiped away tears as she walked off the stage with her family. She lost the competition by misspelling the word bewusstseinslage, which is a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components.Nemmani's loss to Modi at the county level would normally have disqualified him for the national bee but he took advantage of a new program called RSVBee, which allows spellers to pay to compete in the national bee."In tough regions like Dallas and San Francisco, a lot of kids have a lot of potential, but they aren't able to ...qualify," said Nemmani, who spent at least four hours a day studying for the bee.His father, Krishna Nemmani, an immigrant from Hyderabad, India, said his son had worked hard "every day and night.""He just really wanted to get it," he said.The final leg of the bee started with 16 spellers and lasted more than two hours. Students aced obscure words like lophophytosis, pseudepigrapha and ooporphyrin, while others struck out on loratadine, perduellion and paillasson.More than a dozen former champions were in the audience, including 1985 winner Balu Natarajan, whose son, Atman Balakrishnan, 12, made it to the third round of competition on Wednesday. It marked the first time the child of a previous champion competed in the national finals. Karthik Nemmani attributed his success to his father and his spelling coach. He said he would spend the $40,000 on college, where he hopes to study something related to technology.
Karthik Nemmani, 14, of McKinney, Texas, won this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland late Thursday.
Nemmani spelled the word "koinonia" correctly to become the 91st champion of the spelling competition. The word is defined as "Christian fellowship or communion, with God or, more commonly, with fellow Christians."
"I had confidence, but I didn't really think it would happen," Karthik said, according to USA Today. "I'm just really happy. This has just been a dream come true."
The eighth-grade winner also spelled "haecceitas" correctly after seventh-grader Naysa Modi from Frisco, Texas, missed the word "Bewusstseinslage" and placed second in the final round.
Modi is a four-time participant who beat Nemmani earlier this year on the county level.
"She's a really, really good speller. She deserved the trophy as much as I did," Karthik said of Modi. "I got lucky."
Nemmani was only the second winner in the last 19 championships competing in his first spelling bee, the Dallas Morning News reported.
"He knows all the words," Varenya Nemmani, Nemmani's cousin, told the Spelling Bee's blog.
The champion of the 93-year-old competition will receive more than $42,000 in cash and prizes.
Abhijay Kodali of Flower Mound, Texas, won third place at the event, which was held in Oxon Hill, Md.
Forty-one spellers advanced to Thursday's finals out of a field of 516 — by far the largest in the history of the competition.
Scripps started a wild-card program this year with a new rule known as "RSVBee," which created a path to nationals for spellers who didn't win their regional or state bees. Some of the finalists, including Nemmani, got to the bee this way, the Morning News reported.
The past 13 champions and 18 of the last 22 have been Indian-American, and that trend could easily continue.
Most of the consensus favorites in this year's bee also have Indian heritage.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Karthik Nemmani, an eighth-grader from McKinney, Texas, won the Scripps SSP, -0.64% National Spelling Bee on Thursday, with a “wild card” entry into the national contest, as ESPN described it.
Nemmani prevailed with the Greek word “koinonia” — most commonly pronounced “koy-nuh-NEE-uh” — which means “intimate spiritual communion and participative sharing in a common religious commitment and spiritual community.”
The 14-year-old Nemmani topped 12-year-old finalist Naysa Modi of Frisco, Texas, another Dallas suburb; Nemmani had lost to her in their county bee, but both advanced.
Nemmani prevailed on the toughest stage, however, successfully navigating through words “aver,” “paucispiral,” “ankyloglossia,” “haecceitas.”
Modi, who worked out her answers by miming typing on a keyboard, finished second after incorrectly spelling “Bewusstseinslage” by leaving out the second S.
Thursday’s finals went 18 rounds.
Karthik wins $40,000 in cash, a trophy, encyclopedias and $2,500 savings bond.
