When was the last time you sat down to learn spellings of difficult words by heart? Piroune Balachandran, a 14-year-old from Delhi studying in Doon School, Dehradun, became the trophy holder of “Spelling Champs”, the show on ESPN that recently concluded as the competition reached the final round.
The show, an adaptation of the show “Spelling Bee” on U.S. television, was hosted by Rajat Kapoor the famous television personality. The panel of word commissioners included noted novelist Rana Dasgupta and English language experts from the British Council who gave invaluable inputs to the ever inquiring contestants.
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“It was interesting to be on television,” said a confident Pirouane. He says he reads a lot, and this habit helped him win the show. “Our student coordinator, John S. Xavier, selected six students out of whom I was selected by ESPN to be on the show,” he added.
Piroune walked away not only with the coveted trophy but also the grand prize of a dream trip to South Africa for the ICC Champions Trophy in October.
The other three semi-finalists were Ananya Das, Shubhangi Sinha and Rohan Bhatia.
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The final four contestants got a series of books from publisher Harper Collins.
In appreciation of their spirit of participation, all 52 contestants got a gift pack from Scholastics.