26 | May | 2016 | the word explorer

Finalists were invited to sit on stage and cheer on the top ten spellers competing this evening.

Nihar Janga, from Texas, is the youngest winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Jairam Hathwar of New York was crowned co-champion of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Congratulations to Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga, co-champions of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee!!!

This is the third year in a row that co-champions have been declared. Jairam is a thirteen year old seventh grader from New York and is the brother of Sriram Hathwar, the 2014 co-champion. Nihar Janga is an eleven year old fifth grader from Texas. Nihar made history tonight, becoming the youngest ever to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Jairam’s championship word was feldenkrais and Nihar’s championship word was gesellschaft. Feldenkrais, a trademark, is a system of aided body movements intended to increase body awareness and ease tension. Gesellschaft is a rationally developed mechanistic type of social relationship characterized by impersonally contracted associations between persons.

Dr. Sietsema is the Associate Pronouncer and etymology guru for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I want his job one day!

There were reserved seats for spellers’ families in the front of the ballroom.

45 Finalists prepare to take the stage.

The Finals started this morning at 10:00 a.m. and were broadcasted on ESPN2. 45 spellers took the stage until only 10 were left. Round 4 was grueling and the bell was rung many times. Unfortunately, I was eliminated in Round 4 for incorrectly spelling bakshaish, an antique Persian rug with angular designs. Oecophorid, salele, tibourbou, zwitterion, bouleuterion, and jacopever were some of the other words included in Round 4.

Round 5 began with 21 spellers. Some especially difficult words in Round 5 were ocypode, Liechtenstein, noncompos, Nabokovian, glaucothoe, and pochoir. By the end of the round, only 17 spellers remained.

Not very many spellers were eliminated in Round 6, but caliginous, pesante, and monture were troublesome and eliminated 3 spellers. Round 7 started with 14 spellers. The most difficult words in this round were quinton, dulia, somma, and campagnol.

Tonight at 8:00 p.m., the top ten spellers will compete live on ESPN until a champion is declared. Good luck to all of the remaining finalists!