Since the late ’90s, young Indian Americans have dominated the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee, which offers a competitive spelling stage each spring to hundreds of bright young minds, all 14 and younger. Over the years, the bee has broken into mainstream consciousness, thanks to wild winner stories and a growing interest in its competitive nature. In 2002, Jeffrey Blitz’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Spellbound” meticulously chronicled all the drama of the 1999 competition, unknowingly setting the stage for its inspiring followup, Sam Rega’s “Spelling the Dream.”
Anyone who has watched “Spellbound” — and that seems to include all of the central players in Rega’s film — surely remembers that year’s ultimate winner, Nupur Lala, whose big win unknowingly kicked off years of Indian American dominance at the annual event. Lala, who pops up as one of the doc’s many compelling talking heads (all of whom are of Indian descent and offer...
Anyone who has watched “Spellbound” — and that seems to include all of the central players in Rega’s film — surely remembers that year’s ultimate winner, Nupur Lala, whose big win unknowingly kicked off years of Indian American dominance at the annual event. Lala, who pops up as one of the doc’s many compelling talking heads (all of whom are of Indian descent and offer...
- 6/3/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
For the first time in 52 years, two spellers were declared co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday. Sriram Hathwar of Painted Post, New York, and Ansun Sujoe of Fort Worth, Texas, shared the title after a riveting final-round duel in which they nearly exhausted the 25 designated championship words. After they spelled a dozen words correctly in a row, they both were named champions. Earlier, 14-year-old Sriram opened the door to an upset by 13-year-old Ansun after he misspelled "corpsbruder," a close comrade. But Ansun was unable to take the title because he got "antegropelos," which means waterproof leggings,...
- 5/30/2014
- by Associated Press
- PEOPLE.com
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