Young speller tries, tries again, wins bee

Thampy accepts the 73rd Annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee trophy from Kenneth Lowe, the sponsor's chief executive officer

June 2, 2000
Web posted at: 10:02 a.m. EDT (1402 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON -- George Abraham Thampy became the nation's top speller for the year Thursday when he correctly spelled the word "demarche."

Just last week, the spelling champ proved his prowess in global matters by placing second at the National Geography Bee.

The 12-year-old boy from Maryland Heights, Missouri, had twice previously tried to win the 73rd Annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, placing third and fourth on those occasions.

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Words from the bee are waiting to be found.

"It's not really the cash prizes and the trophies. It was really the words," said Thampy, explaining why he returned to the spelling bee for a third time.

He takes home $10,000, an encyclopedia set, and a $1,000 savings bond from the spelling bee. He won $15,000 at the geography contest.

To win the spelling title, Thampy correctly spelled 15 words, including propaedeutic, eudaemonic, trophobiosis and quodlibet.

When the spelling shoot-out began Wednesday, 248 nervous boys and girls lined up to vie for the championship. Some 597 words later, 138 children had been eliminated from the bee.

The contestants would eventually face 910 words before a winner would be found

Finalists were all home-schooled

By Thursday, it was down to three finalists: Thampy, Sean Conley and Alison Miller, who were all home-schooled.

"What makes home schooling better is that Mom and Dad allow me to be flexible," Thampy said. "I can do something else like Latin."

Miller, 14, stumbled first when she misspelled "venire," which means, to draw qualified people as jurors.

That left the two 12-year-old boys. Then Conley fell with a misspelling of "apotropaic"-- designed to avert evil.

Thampy was given the word "propaedeutic" -- which means, preparatory study or instruction. He handled that word and then took the championship by correctly spelling "demarche" -- a step or maneuver.

Before they begin competing on the second day of the bee, the young spellers heard words of encouragement from President Clinton, who is traveling in Europe.

"Regardless of who wins today, you should all be proud of your achievements," the president said in a recorded message played for the contestants.

The contestants, most sponsored by their local newspapers, all won regional bees to qualify. Scripps Howard, the newspaper group based in Cincinnati, coordinates the national finals and produces the word lists and study materials.

First-round words were taken from a 3,500-word study booklet designed by Scripps Howard and from the word lists most sponsors use at their local bees. But for the final rounds, words were taken from Webster's Third New International Dictionary and its addenda, which contain more than 460,000 words.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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May 29, 1997
12-year-old wins Geography Bee
May 28, 1997

Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee

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