Koinonia is the word in ‘allindian’ final!
WASHINGTON : In the end, it was between two Texans whose parents came to the United States from India.
Karthik Nemmani, 14, beat Naysa Modi, 12, to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee 2018, continuing the winning spree of Indian Americans who have won every championship for the past decade.
He spelt “koinonia”, a Greek-origin word defined as “intimate spiritual communion and participative sharing in a common religious commitment and spiritual community”, to win what has been described as the most challenging Spelling Bee with an unprecedented 516 contestants.
“I had confidence, but I didn’t think it would really happen,” said the new champion, an eighth-grader, adding he knew the word as soon as he heard it. But before lifting the trophy or hugging his family members, he walked up to shake hands with Modi, who had beaten him in the regional contest and had been a tough competitor. Nemmani would not have made it to the finals if not for the introduction of a new rule known as RSVBEE, which opened up the competition to those who did not win the regional or state championships but had come second, or won their school bee, or participated in a national bee before. Nemmani, who seemed unflustered for most part of the night in what was his first shot at the championship, sailed through by spelling words that most people have never heard or will ever hear: “condottiere” (a leader of a band of mercenaries common in Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries), “cendre” (azurite blue), and “ankyloglossia” (limited normal movement of the tongue).
He will take home a trophy, $40,000 in prizes, a $25,000 cash prize, a reference library from Merriamwebster, and trips to New York and Hollywood. Modi will get $30,000. In all, 20 of the 96 Bee winners to date have been Indian American children, an incredible 20%; 18 of them have been winners in the last 19 years alone. And there were more than 130 Indian Americans among the 516 competing for the crown this year.