Sukanya Roy with the Spelling Bee trophy. (Sayantan Ghosh)

When Sukanya Roy, a Class X student at Mahadevi Birla World Academy, walked up to the judge at the American Center Spelling Bee 2013 with a dictionary in hand, the surprised audience let out a collective gasp and most knew it could well be the turning point of the competition.

Sukanya had just been eliminated from the eastern final and she wanted to point out to Rachel Sunden, the deputy director of American Center, that she hadn’t spelt “saccharin” wrongly, just differently. Sukanya had spelt the word with an “e” in the end, the way the British spell it.

“All right guys! We have a very very good speller among us. She is the only one who knows the difference between British and American spellings. I guess we will have to take her back in the tournament,” Rachel said after consulting the dictionary herself.

As Sukanya took her seat among the finalists, the 200-odd students and teachers at South City International School responded with thunderous applause. All the cheering didn’t go in vain as Sukanya went on to become the winner, defeating students from Calcutta, Agartala, Shillong, Siliguri, and Jamshedpur.

“I feel euphoric after winning the competition. I’ve worked really hard and am glad it has all paid off so well,” Sukanya said. Her winning word was “onomatopoeia”.

Ekalavya Chaudhuri, a Class XII student at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Salt Lake, and Vishal Ghosh, a Class XI student at St. Michael’s School, Siliguri, finished second and third respectively.

“It is great to see students taking so much interest in spellings. It is the American Center’s endeavour to underscore people-to-people ties and the shared commitment towards education that distinguishes the US-India relationship,” Rachel said.

“This is a big platform. The exposure means a lot,” said Barsa Debbarma, a Class XII student at Hindi HS School in Agartala and one of the finalists.

Agreed Rebhalina Lyngdoh of Class XII, Pine Mount School, Shillong, “I enjoyed watching the Calcutta regional round as much as I enjoyed participating in the finals. This has been a wholesome experience.”

John Bagul, the principal of South City International School, said, “We are happy to have been able to host the regional finals in our school. We hope to have many more such events in future.”