Spelling bee 2018: Karthik Nemmani, 14, named Scripps Bee champion

Ryan W. Miller | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Karthik Nemmani, 14, wins Scripps National Spelling Bee 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani of McKinney, Texas won the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He correctly spelled "koinonia" after runner up Nasya Modi misspelled "Bewusstseinslage." He is the 14th consecutive Indian-American champion. (June 1)

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Karthik Nemmani, 14, of McKinney, Texas was named the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Thursday night here at Gaylord National Harbor Convention Center after correctly spelling "koinonia."

He defeated the Bee's largest-ever pool of competitors after 515 spellers took the national stage beginning Tuesday for three days of spellbinding competition.

"I had confidence, but I didn't really think it would happen," Karthik said. "I'm just really happy. This has just been a dream come true."

The first-time competitor at the National Bee wins more than $40,000 cash, the Scripps trophy, and trips to New York and Los Angeles for national television appearances, among other prizes.

But had it not been for a new invitational program, Karthik wouldn't have made it to the national stage.

Through RSVBee, spellers could qualify for the national competition if they did not win their state or regional bees but either won their school bee or had previously competed on the national stage.

The program created the record-breaking pool of competitors, which prompted the Bee to add an extra day of on-stage spelling to the tournament.

Naysa Modi, 12, of Frisco, Texas took second in Thursday's final. Returning for her fourth National Bee, she misspelled "Bewusstseinslage" in round 17. Karthik then correctly spelled "haecceitas" before facing his final word.

Related: He's read every word since 2003 until this year. Meet the voice of the Scripps Spelling Bee.

But this wasn't the first time Karthik and Naysa shared the top two spots at the same bee. He was runner-up to her in their county bee this year. When asked whether having her and other competitors he knew up on stage helped him, he replied, "Yeah, I guess. I guess it gave me a little more confidence."

Overall, 16 spellers duked it out throughout Thursday night's rounds as they tackled challenging words, but Karthik showcased his mastery of the language with correct spellings of "condottiere," "miarolitic" and "jagüey," among others.

The finals got off to a rocky start when Enya Hubers, 12, from Ontario, Canada misspelled "kanone." Only nine spellers remained after the first round in prime time.

As the rounds dragged on, the pool whittled down.

Erin Howard, 13, of Huntsville, Ala., who tied for seventh last year, misspelled "funest," adding an extra "e" at the end of the word. Other spellers missed words like "perduellion," and "fourrier."

After Sravanth Malla, 14, of Haverstraw, N.Y., misspelled "cento," the Bee was down to its final five competitors in round 12 of the competition. Those spellers remained perfect for a round before Navneeth Murali, 12, of Edison, N.J., incorrectly spelled "gelinotte."

Like Karthik, three other prime-time finalists qualified through RSVBee while the competition featured 238 RSVBee spellers overall.

"It's been great from the speller perspective. We see the program as a way to level the playing field," Bee spokesperson Valerie Miller told USA TODAY earlier this week.

Also new this year: Breaks for the voice of the Scripps Bee, Jacques Bailly — or "Dr. Bailly" to many of the spellers. The official pronouncer since 2003 and 1980 Bee champion, Bailly got his first chance to pass the microphone to colleague Brian Sietsema.

When Bailly got his first free moments, though, he stayed in the room where the spellers competed. "I wanted to watch," he said with a laugh.

And Bailly got well-deserved recognition during the finals when he quoted the song "Shake It Off" for the sample sentence for the word "pseudepigrapha," which Abhijay Kodali, 11, of Flower Mound, Texas, spelled correctly.

Abhijay Kodali #Speller484 was just regaled with a brief rendition of @taylorswift13's Shake It Off by Dr. Bailly for his sentence. #MicDrop #ThatJustHappened #SpellingBee — NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) June 1, 2018

On-stage competition for the National Bee began Tuesday after spellers took a written test, which played a large part in determining which spellers qualified for the finals. Each speller stood in front of the microphone and saw the bright lights at least once as the Bee trimmed its massive pool Tuesday and Wednesday.

Yet amid the bigger Bee, returning spellers continued their dominance, even though a first-time competitor won. The prime-time finals featured 11 students who had previously been to the national contest.

Erin, who was eliminated in round 10, told USA TODAY earlier this week that she felt pressure to improve from already stellar performance. "I'm trying not to make that my standard," she said Wednesday. "I just want to be happy however I place."

As for when Karthik knew he'd win with the word koinonia? "When I heard it."

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