Arsun Sujo and Sriram Hathwar, the best spellers in America for 2014.

It’s the Super Bowl for the thesaurus set.  Every year, the nation’s best and brightest young spellers get together to see just who the top canine is when it comes to their ability to guess and properly spell the most difficult words in the English language (most of which are borrowed from other languages).  However, the 2014 edition of the Scripps National Spelling Bee was a bit unusual, thanks to the fact that they ran out of words by the end of the contest, leaving two young men standing supreme over the competition.  The Scripps National Spelling Bee ended in a rare tie, with Ansun Sujoe and Sriram Hathwar being declared co-champions.  They’ll each get a trophy and a share of the prize money for their efforts.  The last time the spelling bee ended in a tie was 1962.  There were also ties in 1950 and 1957.

“It feels pretty good because not only do I get the victory, but I get to share it with someone else, so it means a lot to me,” said Sujoe, a 13-year-old seventh-grader from Fort Worth, Texas.  “I was pretty happy when I made the finals, and now I’m even happier that I’m a co-champion.”

The co-champion, Sriram Hathwar, is a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Painted Post, New York.  He came in third last year and was the heavy favorite to win this year.  The contest contained 281 spellers from 8 different countries ranging in age from 8 to 15.  Given the declining emphasis on correct spelling in schools, it’s nice to see that some kids can still properly form and spell words, no matter how complex they might be.

Tags: national spelling bee, national spelling bee tie, national spelling bee ends in a tie, spelling bee tie, scripps national spelling bee, 2014 scripps national spelling bee, scripps national spelling bee tie, Ansun Sujoe, Sriram Hathwar

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