Good News: Gurugram student wins first Collins National Online Spelling Bee

Class 8 student Arjun Narasimhan on October 1 won the first Collins National Online Spelling Bee competition as he beat three other finalists. Arjun, who is a student at The Sri Ram School, Gurugram, won the competition after he correctly spelled the word 'excusable'. Class 6 student Suyash Manchali from MESKKPS, Bengaluru was the first runner-up, while another Class 6 student Marika Kiran from Villa Theresa High School, Mumbai was the second runner-up. Shreyas Mathur, a Class 8 student at Kothari International School, Noida was placed fourth in the competition. 

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What went down in the finale?

The finale was moderated by Manjari Mitra, where she gave each finalist twelve words in twelve rounds that took place between them. The final round took place between Arjun and Suyash, where there were asked to spell the word 'excusable' and 'confectionery' respectively. While Arjun spelled his word correctly, Suyash missed the chance and was placed second because instead of spelling 'confectionery', he said 'confectionary'. 

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Meanwhile, a tie-breaker round was held between Marika and Shreyas for the third position. Shreyas was asked to spell 'accompaniment', which he did wrong, while Marika was asked to spell 'exorbitant', which she did correctly and became the second runner-up in the online competition. 

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The words for the competition were prepared by Dr. Elaine Higgleton, who is an International Publisher with Collins Learning and adjudicated the competition. renowned quizmaster Ajay Poonia co-adjudicated the competition and congratulated the finalists and the winner after the competition ended. Over 10,000 students from Classes 6 to 8 participated in the online spelling bee competition from across India, of which top scorers were selected for the semifinals. 

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