NH State Spelling Bee -- a volley of words you may not know, but sometimes can puzzle out
Mar. 31—CALL IT A superword rodeo or a test of vocabulary muscle and grit.
The 2024 Union Leader New Hampshire State Spelling Bee at the Bank of New Hampshire Stage in Concord on Saturday brought 20 word wranglers from elementary and middle schools statewide to test their mettle under pressure.
"I've never been to a state spelling bee before," said Alex Borsini, a seventh grader from Raymond, who like many others crammed for the event by studying lists in a booklet called Words of Champions. "I fear every French word in that packet," he said.
The day's winner was Amritanshu Pradhan, a returning contender who was narrowly edged out in 2023 in the final round. This year he triumphed, claiming the prize: $1,000 Elks Club scholarship and a spelling bee stuffed animal.
In the final round, the Amherst Middle School eighth grader cleared a hurdle with "diaphanous," then he sealed first place with "vicissitudes."
What's his strategy? "Investing a lot of time and hard work," Amritanshu said. "That encouraged me to invest more time in studying for today."
It was a tense competition, with pressure mounting like seconds silently ticking by in a chess match. Twenty kids from Windham to Littleton sat on chairs under the stage lights, perhaps feeling a little like deer in the headlights when it was their turn to approach the microphone as the words increased in difficulty.
"I got here and felt super confident," said Thomas Belcourt, an eighth grader from Peterborough, who first competed in a school spelling bee two years ago. On Saturday, he prevailed among standout spellers when asked to spell "fashionista." But the word "Jurassic" led to extinction.
"I was sure it had two r's. I feel lucky for even getting to the state spelling bee," Thomas said.
"Up there, your brain goes wild. You think, 'How many letters?'" said Thomas. "Honestly I just tried to stay calm. I had to wait for the word to make sense then think about it for a second. Then slowly I'd start to name the letters."
For the first time, all seven contestants were eliminated in the fifth round, which meant all seven returned to the stage to compete in round six.
Words that tripped them up included "spirulina," "neophyte," "bulghur" (also acceptable: bulgur), "menagerie" and "requiem."
"How do I win this exactly?" said Caroline Space from World Academy in Nashua, when asked to spell "oeuvre."
When the seven were called back, the word menu got a little tougher: "furcula," which means wishbone; "realgar," a rare orange-red arsenic-based mineral that burns with a bluish flame; "bruja," which is Spanish for witch; "jarl," a medieval Scandinavian rank just below a king; "zeitgeist," meaning spirit or temper of the times or culture; and "hermeneutics," the branch of knowledge that includes interpretation of the Bible and literary texts.
There was little time between volleys, or respite between retorts. But when the dust settled, Amritanshu was on top, vicissitudes tilted in his favor.
Now he will go on to represent New Hampshire at the Scripps Spelling Bee Nationals, with his travel expenses paid by the Elks, which have sponsored the New Hampshire event every year since it began 71 years ago.
Many of the quirky and obscure terms in Saturday's meet came from science, culture and other countries. Amritanshu said his favorite was "boogie-woogie."
"Because it's fun," he said.
The champ wasn't the only one with a passion for orthography. The contestants shared a love of words and reading, including in their spare time.
"I'm really interested in word roots and languages and want to become fluent in another language," said Kenzie Rapaport, a seventh grader at Portsmouth Middle School. Kenzie's favorite word is "chiaroscurist," which has Italian roots and refers to a painter who focuses on light and shadow.
Sujit Sathyamurthi, an eighth grader at Fairgrounds Middle School in Nashua, said studying words "helps me learn how different conjugations come together. It's really interesting to see how many different things can make up spelling. I find patterns of words from Latin, French and German."
Caroline, of World Academy, said spelling has always come easy for her, though she "never liked words that have silent letters." The Bedford resident hones her skills by reading outside of school and by playing games such as Wordle, Connections and Spelling Bee — "any of the New York Times word games."
Caroline D'Aquila, the emcee, has been announcing this event for 22 years, after winning the New Hampshire state bee in 1996, and competing later on the TV show 'Jeopardy!'
"I think it takes a certain amount of poise and ability to stand under the lights, in a moment of high pressure, and be able to break down a word and pull different clues together," said D'Aquila, who is now a social worker, and came from Lebanon for the event.
With AI and autocorrect software, being able to spell something correctly and independently is increasingly admirable.
"Socially, everything has to be fast," she said. "It's kind of a lost art to slow down and spell everything."
