The 2017 South Asian Spelling Bee has traveled to Illinois and Washington, past weekend with stops in Chicago and Seattle.With a huge turnout, the Bee has attracted top talents as well as young and new spellers who competed for the coveted prizes and titles.
In the Chicago Regional, Nilla Rajan (12) of Chillicothe, Ohio was the regional champ, Snehal Choudhury (12) of Massillon, Ohio, was the first runner up, and Jashun Paluru (12) of West Lafayette, Indiana, was second runner up.
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In Seattle, Cameron Keith (11) from Longmont, Colorado was named regional champ, Zoe Keith (9) from Longmont, Colorado was first runner up, and Vithul Ravivarma (13) of Sammamish, Washington, was the second runner-up.
Organized by Touchdown Media Inc., the South Asian Spelling Bee is celebrating its 10th anniversary, with regional being held in 8 locations across the United States. Apart from Chicago and Seattle, regional centers include Washington, D.C. Metro, Charlotte, Boston, New Jersey, the Bay Area, and Dallas.
“For the past nine years, the Bee has consistently provided a firm platform for the community to come together and hone their craft. It’s become a family activity that contributes towards the overall development of the child. We are proud to enter our Tenth consecutive year and look forward to engaging some of these wonderful spellers,” said Rahul Walia, founder of the South Asian Spelling Bee and CEO of Touchdown Media Inc.
The top two spellers of each regional competition will advance to the finals to be held at New Jersey in the month of August. Champion’s grand prize of $3,000 will be awarded to the winner at the finals.
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“Kawan is proud to return as a sponsor and we have tremendous faith in contributing towards crucial family time for the community. We look forward to getting to know the spellers and their families through this wonderful journey,” said Tim Tan, Managing Director Kawan Food, the world’s most popular Roti paratha brand.
“Year over year, the South Asian Spelling Bee has made for great programing that gels with our ethos of compete family entertainment. We are all about family values and encourage platforms such as these that highlight the talent of our community,” said Jaideep Janakiram, Head of North America, Sony Entertainment Television-Asia.
By Premji
