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5.29.2009

the new spelling bee champion

Once again, South Asian dominance. Last night, 13-year-old Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas outlasted ten other finalists with her mad spelling skillz to become the new national spelling bee champion: Aspiring neurosurgeon from Kansas is top speller.

The winning word: "Laodicean," which means lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics. Kavya took home more than $40,000 in cash and prizes, a giant trophy, and super spelling awesomeness bragging rights.

If you know anything about the Scripps National Spelling Bee, you know that South Asians have been spelling their asses off and taking the title for the better part of the past decade. This year was no different. Kavya became the seventh Indian American in 11 years to win.

I was really enjoying the spelling bee coverage this week over at Sepia Mutiny, who proudly declared that "Indian Americans own spelling." I guess the question was not whether an Indian American student would win. The real question was which one would win.