"Florida Teen Dev Shah Wins National Spelling Bee with 'Psammophile'"
Originally Published 2 years ago — by NBC News
Dev Shah, a 14-year-old from Largo, Florida, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee with the word "psammophile." Dev, who first competed in the national bee in 2019, is the 22nd champion in the past 24 years with South Asian heritage. He won more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. The bee, which began in 1925 and is open to students through the eighth grade, had 229 kids onstage as it began. The finalists demonstrated an impressive depth of knowledge as they worked their way through a sometimes diabolical word list chosen by Scripps' 21-person word panel.