Indian-Origin Dev Shah Wins Prestigious US Spelling Bee, Takes Home $50,000 Cash Prize

Indian-origin Dev Shah has won the prestigious 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee contest on Thursday night, taking away a $50,000 cash prize by correctly spelling the word “psammophile”.

“It’s surreal. … My legs are still shaking,” 14-year-old Dev Shah said at the competition in Maryland, according to CNN.

11 finalists had gathered in a convention center ballroom outside Washington to demonstrate their mastery of Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged dictionary. The preliminary rounds began Tuesday, while the quarterfinals and semifinals took place Wednesday.

After much anticipation about a possible spell-off, a smiling Shah won by correctly spelling “psammophile,” a plant or animal that thrives in sandy areas.

“Psammo meaning sand, Greek?” he asked. “Phile, meaning love, Greek?” Shah instantly identified the roots of his word, but asked for all the information just to be safe, while smiling slightly in a way that suggested he was pretty sure he had it, the New York Times newspaper reported.

Charlotte Walsh, a 14-year-old from Arlington, Virginia, was the runner-up, and she gave Dev a congratulatory hug. Dev, who previously appeared in the bee in 2019 and 2021, was close with many of his fellow finalists.

This was Shah’s third attempt. His previous two attempts were in 2019 and 2021. Fifteen months ago, it could be hardly believed that Dev would be back. He had a miserable experience at the regional bee last year, finishing fourth after spelling for five hours in damp, chilly weather at an outdoor soccer stadium in Orlando, a report in Associated Press said.

However, he practiced hard and it took him four months to get back on track.

“It took me I would say at least four months to get back on track,” he said. “I just didn’t know if I wanted to keep continuing.”

Dev Shah’s father, Deval, a software engineer, immigrated to the US from India 29 years ago to get his master’s degree in electrical engineering. He has since added an MBA from the University of Florida. Dev’s older brother, Neil, is a rising junior at Yale.

The bee began in 1925 and is open to students through the eighth grade. Spellers qualify by winning regional bees around the country. There were 229 kids onstage at the beginning of this year’s competition.

Most of this year’s finalists were Indian American, continuing a trend that has lasted for two decades. Twenty-one of the past 23 champions have had South Asian heritage.

(With inputs from agencies)