(Image source from: Latestly)

Karthik Nemmani, an Indian-American was proclaimed as a champion of Scripps National Spelling Bee 2018, victorious on the word 'Koinonia' and surviving arguably the most intense competition in the contests 93-year history.

The 14-year-old on Thursday night emerged as the top speller from a record-shattering 515 contestants at the national bee comparing with 291 earlier this year, as organizers dilated the eligibility with a new wild-card programme.

In a breathtaking show of spelling skill broadcast live on ESPN, Nemmani had to outlast a field of 16 finalists who vanquished words.

At his first national bee compete, Nemmani displayed the poise of veteran, apparent to sail through his words like: Condottiere, miarolitic, cendre, ankyloglossia, grognard, passus, shamir and jaguey.

When it was a neck and neck among two contestants, Nemmani and 12-year-old Naysa Modi, Nemmani persisted his poise as Modi misspelled 'Bewusstseinslage'.

Moments after his victory Nemmani said, "I'm just really happy. This has just been a dream come true."

Nemmani as well kept up a bee's 11 consecutive years trend by becoming the 14th champion or co-champion of South Asian descent.

The competition with 16 spellers took place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Centre in Maryland for the final battle.

The 16 finalists, nine girls and seven boys were ranging in the age from 11-14.

In the initial round, about half of the finalists misspelled their words including Tara Singh, 13, who was competing at her fifth and final national bee.

The victor of the bee receives $40,000, a trophy from Scripps Bee and a cash prize of $2,500 and a downright reference library from Merriam-Webster including as a part of media tour, trips to New York and Hollywood and a pizza party for their school.

By Sowmya Sangam