Shivashankar puts a 'spell' on national bee

Laodicean--adjective--lukewarm or indifferent, especially in religion, as were the early Christians of Laodicea.

While "Laodicean" and its definition might not mean anything to the average person, it was just the word 13-year-old eighth grader Kavya Shivashankar needed tonight in the 16th round to win the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

With the victory, Shivashankar took home over $40,000 in cash in prizes, including $30,000 from Scripps, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond from Merriam-Webster and a $5,000 scholarship from the Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation.

Despite all the monetary prizes, the prize Shivashankar had been waiting for all along was the large engraved trophy from Scripps (pictured left). Before tonight's first-place finish, the eventual victor had finished 10th in 2006, eighth in 2007 and fourth in last year's competition.

"I can't believe it happened," Shivashankar said, according to a Yahoo News story. "It feels kind of unreal."

After missing the word "Maecenas," 12-year-old Tim Ruiter finished in second place while 13-year-old Aishwarya Pastapur's miss of "menhir" landed her in third.

Although he seemed to cruise through every round, Kyle Mou bowed out in fourth-place on the word "schizophine."

The biggest shock of the night came when "co-favorite" and last year's second-place finisher Sidharth Chand flubbed the word "apodyterium" early in round eight. Upon his mistake, he buried his head in his hands while the crowd bathed him in a mid-round standing ovation.

With the conclusion of this year's national bee, I'm once again amazed at the ability and dedication these young kids have displayed. While most viewers might tune in to poke fun at the smart, geeky and quirky contestants, this year's competition confirmed my reasoning for waking up at 8 a.m. in the middle of summer.

In my imagination, I can picture a future national spelling bee. The spry and intelligent kid will step up to the mic, only to hear the pronouncer say, "Your word is Shivashankar."

Sticking with the usual question, the competitor will ask, "Can I please hear the definition?"

The pronouncer will say, "The winner of the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee."