Apeejay student wins city round of Spell Bee

Updated on: Thursday, December 17, 2009

Kolkata: Experience counts. Particularly when it comes to handling the pressure of emerging winner of a high-profile competition from among hundreds of eager contestants.

On Wednesday, Shovan Panigrahi - a Class IX student of Apeejay School, Salt Lake - put to good effect all the insights he had gathered from participation in spelling contests earlier by holding his nerves at the critical moments to emerge the winner of the city round of the HDFC Standard Life Spell Bee, powered by The Times of India.

“While I had taken part in three spelling meets earlier, I had not won any of them. But I am glad all that experience and preparation came good today, especially while handling the tricky questions during the decisive ‘Rapid Fire’ round - as there could be no bigger satisfaction than winning a spelling competition of such repute,” the 14-year-old Panigrahi said.

“What adds to the happiness is that I have managed to hit the jackpot this year, since this is also the last time I am eligible for the spell bee where only students of classes VI to IX can participate. I hope to do my city proud at the national final early next year,” the avid fan of football genius Ronaldo and ace cricketer Yuvraj Singh added.

Panigrahi, who received a cash prize of Rs 20,000 from HDFC Standard Life, had to withstand competition from more than 250 students drawn from 62 schools for the top spot. In the final stages of the city round, he had to contend with the spelling prowess of nine others. As per the format designed for the HDFC Standard Life Spell Bee powered by The Times of India, winners of various city rounds - including Panigrahi - would have to converge in Mumbai in January, 2010, to take part in the national final.

Panigrahi, who aspires to become a doctor, said he intends to intensify his preparation for the grand finale at Mumbai. “I need to spend more time on the Internet downloading the really tough words and mastering their spellings, besides continuing with my own readings of various books to learn new words,” the keen reader of classic literature added.

Apeejay student wins city round of Spell Bee

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