(Jun 9, 2023) Carrying forward the legacy set by 26 Indian origin teens before him, Dev Shah, an eighth-grader from Florida, is the 2023 winner of the prestigious Scripps Spelling Bee. After three years of dedicated study and navigating numerous setbacks, Shah outperformed 230 participants to lift the coveted cup. The win also comes with a cash prize of $50,000 and a commemorative medal.
Shah had to prove his mettle through 14 challenging rounds. He made it, though, spelling his way through tricky words like ‘probouleutic’, ‘schistorrhachis’, and ‘zwitterion’ to emerge the winner. The teenager appeared dazed as he lifted the cup, remarking, “It’s surreal. My legs are still shaking.”
Dev Shah, 2023 Scripps Spelling Bee Champion
The word that secured victory
It was the word ‘psammophile’ that determined Dev’s win. Although the smile on his face showed his confidence, he asked for all the details first – definition (it’s an organism that thrives in sandy areas), part of speech, orthography and usage in a sentence, before venturing the spelling. Later in an interview with NDTV, he remarked, “I expected to spell it correctly because I had studied it before.” In another interview he mentioned, “I was confident, I knew it”.
On the day of the championship, before his fate was determined, the teenager had to endure one final commercial break. “That was the most nerve-wracking experience, and Charlotte (the runner up) and I just talked about what’s going to happen next,” he said. When the final question was posed it took him just 45 seconds to seal his win.
Though Indian-origin teens have ruled the roost in Scripps Spelling Bee championship in the United States, Dev brought the first victory to his state, Florida since 1999. A resident of Largo, near St Petersburg, he wanted to win the championship anyhow as it was his fourth attempt and the last chance.
Not an overnight success
Dev’s win has been a culmination of years of commitment. He participated in 2019 and came in at the 51st rank, then fell to 76 in 2021. Even in 2022, he did not progress beyond the regional competition in his home state and the cup went to another Indian-origin teen, Harini Logan.
In an interview just after the win, the Global Indian said, “As my parents rushed on stage to embrace me, it reinforced my belief that I should never give up.” Being in eighth grade, this was his final year to compete. Seeing other kids winning over the years inspired him and kept him motivated to keep trying despite the previous results in which he was slipping down in ranking year after year.
Talking about his predecessors, the 14-year-old said, “If they could do it, I could do it too, I had been telling myself.” During the past year he devoted 10 hours of study every day to perform his best in the final year of his attempt.
Inspirations of life
The teenager, who is a fan of tennis champ Roger Federer, and the movie ‘La La Land’, looks at his grandmother as his biggest inspiration. “I am very close to my grandmother. She’s been an inspiration to me and I am very grateful to her for coming here. She’s been a great part of every moment from beginning to end,” he said talking about his spelling bee journey.
His parents were the first to notice Dev’s remarkable memory. When he was only three years old, Dev became fascinated with a geography programme on their iPad. They saw he had a streak of curiosity and channelled his urge to learn and explore into a fascination for spelling and words. His father became his first coach.
Dev Shah with his family, minutes after the win on the spell bee stage
Dev secured his win in the 2023 championship under the guidance of his coach, Scott Remer, while his parents who gave him confidence to keep going despite slipping below in ranks in his previous three attempts.
Life ahead
This year the youngster has left behind two big stressors – middle school and the spelling bee. Hogging the limelight for the time-being he is looking forward to start doing the ‘normal stuff’ with friends like before. Upon his return to Florida from Maryland where the competition was held the youngster seemed happy to see not just family and friends but also his previous and current school’s teachers waiting eagerly to welcome him.
“I am glad to be back,” said the champion who wishes to be a neuro-surgeon as well as an engineer with little clue whether he would be able to pursue both. He is all set to start as a freshman at Largo High School, soon.
When reporters asked him tips to remember spellings, he had a playful reply. “Now we have spellcheck so you don’t have to worry about your spelling,” he smiled, while the crowd gathered to welcome him at the airport giggled. They were carrying a banner with ‘psammophile,’ written on it – the word that Dev spelled correctly for the win.
Dev Shah received a warm welcome in his home state, Florida
No mean feat
This year it was the 95th year of the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition. It began with about 11 million students in grades 8 and younger who competed in local and regional spelling bee competitions to qualify.
The final championship welcomed 231 spellers from the United States and its territories – Canada, Ghana, and The Bahamas. After competing in quarterfinals and the semi-final rounds held on May 30 and May 31, the competition narrowed down to 11 finalists who competed on the night of June 1, 2023 in a live event.
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