Arvind Mahankali is the Champion!!!!!!!!!

His word was knaidel (dumpling) - a Yiddish derived German word. "The German curse has turned into a German blessing," him and his brother said.

Congratulations to all spellers! This was a great Bee!

Second place goes to Pranav Sivakumar, third goes to Sriram Hathwar, fourth to Amber Born, Vanya Shivashankar and Vismaya Kharkar tied for fifth. Grace Remmer, Chetan Reddy, and Syamantak Payra tied for seventh. Christal Schermeister placed tenth, and Nikitha Chandran placed 11th.

We hope to see Vanya, Sriram, and Syamantak next year!

Now that the Bee is over, what will you do? Study, relax? Grace said she's going to practice her violin and viola more, and Arvind said he's going to study Physics!

What am I going to do? Summer Reading for AP Literature; Summer assignment for AP US History, planning to write a children's opera (the music, at least); choir recording; practice flute, piano and voice; compose and arrange music; coach my sister and young friends for the Bee (if I have time); study languages; go on several vacations; youth camp; definitely a lot more!

Here are the results:
http://public.spellingbee.com/public/results/2013/round_results

I'm signing off for the 2013 Bee now! See you next year (or in a few weeks).

Congratulations, Vismaya!

She placed fifth! Great job, Vismaya and Utah!

Arvind just received dehnstufe - a German word, and he gets it. He received Jugendstil and misspelled it in 2011, and schwannoma in 2012 and misspelled it, too.

Could co-champions happen tonight? Possibly. Three remain: Arvind, Pranav, and Sriram (who was first eight when he came in 2008).

Good luck to these three!

I Will Post After Each Round or After the the Bee

Championship Finals Have Begun

Watch the Championship Finals Tonight!

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/886773/2013-scripps-national-spelling-bee-finals

Good luck, spellers! Maybe my sister will come next year and the year after, I hope!

And Here are Your Championship Finalists!

http://public.spellingbee.com/public/results/2013/finishers/html

And for Utah: This is the first time in the Bee's History that a speller from Utah makes it to Championship Finals! Congratulations, Vismaya!

*In last year's championship finals

No. 39: Grace Remmer
No. 41: Christal Schermeister
No. 44 Nikitha Chandran
No. 64: Pranav Sivakumar
No. 91: Vanya Shivashankar
No. 115: Amber Born
No. 156: Sriram Hathwar
No. 163: Arvind Mahankali*
No. 238: Chetan Reddy
No. 242: Syamantak Payra
No. 256: Vismaya Kharkar

Congratulations to all spellers, and good luck to the spellers tonight!

I have to go and study for a test tomorrow now.

Vismaya Made it to Semifinals!

Vismaya Kharkar, the speller from Salt Lake, has done it again! She made it to semifinals! This is her last year, and she tied for tenth last year! Who knows? Maybe Utah will have their first champion, but there are also other spellers to look out for.

All these spellers are fourth and fifth timers at the Bee!

39 Grace Remmer

48 Rachael Cundey

93 Emily Keaton

115 Amber Born

156 Sriram J. Hathwar

163 Arvind Mahankali

238 Chetan Reddy

Then we also have other spellers: 

91 Vanya Shivashankar - the sister of the 2009 Champion, Kavya Shivashankar, who is at the Bee for her third time!

The computer-based test was today, and there were twelve spelling words and twelve vocabulary words (one point per word for both), again. Then the speller received two vocabulary words, again (3 points each).

Tomorrow: In Rounds 5 and 6, if the speller spells his/her word correctly he/she receives 3-points per round. If the word is misspelled, the speller is out. The spellers will have to meet a certain score to make it to the Championship Finals...

Good luck to all!