Roscoe's Avani Joshi ties for 7th place in National Spelling Bee

With her family, Avani Joshi of Roscoe traveled to Orlando, Florida as one of 11 finalists at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but unfortunately was eliminated in the first round. She tied for 7th place in the nation. The Bee's official Facebook page says, "Avani is wildly talented and as Judge Mary Brooks mentioned, this won't be the last we see of her."  Before she left the stage, Avani told the judges, "We really needed the Spelling Bee this year and I'm really thankful for this opportunity. Thank you."

As the fifth speller in line, Avani was asked to spell "gewgaw" ("a showy trifle"). She spelled it "googaw." WREX reports it had no known language of origin to give Avani a hint. The pronunciation could have given her a hint, except the word has seven official alternate pronunciations. Using the official Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary, the Spelling Bee's official pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly gave Avani four pronunciations  to choose from, (gyüˌgȯ also ˈgüˌgȯ sometimes ˈjüˌjȯ or ˈjüˌgȯ), which probably didn't help. The pronunciation from Google, "gyoo·gaa," would have made it easier, but Google is not the official dictionary. According to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, which is not the official dictionary either, it's pronounced "g(y)ü-(ˌ)gȯ." So how do you spell it - like "gyoo-gah" or like "goo-gah"? What's with the parentheses?

According to the Merriam-Webster's Guide to Pronunciation, "Parentheses are used in pronunciations to indicate that whatever is symbolized between them is present in some utterances but not in others;... It may be difficult to determine whether the sound shown in parentheses is or is not present in a given utterance; even the usage of a single speaker may vary considerably." 

In other words, it was a tough break for Avani Joshi.

First place went to Zaila Avant-garde, age 14, from New Orleans who practiced for the Spelling Bee seven hours a day and holds three Guinness World Records for dribbling multiple basketballs. Like Avani, she tied for 370th place in 2019. Zaila is the first African-American champion in the National Spelling Bee's 90-year history. From 2008 to 2018, all fourteen champions were Indian-American, as is Avani.

Besides being a champion speller, Avani is also an Illinois Science Olympiad medalist and qualified for the Illinois State Geographic Bee. She plays the piano and the violin, practices traditional Indian dance, enjoys technology and coding, and is learning three languages - Spanish, Sanskrit, and Hindi.

More coverage:

Roscoe student advances to the finals in National Spelling Bee

Behind the scenes: Avani Joshi's road to the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals

Roscoe speller competes in National Spelling Bee semifinals Sunday night

Roscoe student Avani Joshi moves on to the National Spelling Bee semifinals

This was Avani's second and final appearance in the National Spelling Bee, which is only for students who have not "passed beyond the eighth grade." Avani begins Hononegah High School as a 9th grader this fall. Spellers from Illinois have won the national competition twice, in 1931 and 1985. 

Last week her father Ashutosh Joshi told Roscoe News, "We feel good for her accomplishments. This is result of her dedication and hard work. We will go there to support her in finals. Hopefully she does well in finals but no pressure from us 😀"

Earlier in the week, to warm up for the finals at Walt Disney World Resort (and to promote ESPN's majority owner), the spellers were asked to spell Disney-themed words. Avani's word, as caught on video, was "Grand Floridian."

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Because of COVID, Thursday was the first time these top spellers appeared together on the same stage. The quarterfinals and semifinals were held virtually, mostly from their homes. The final competition was held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, broadcast live on ESPN.

Viewers of the finals could play along at https://playalong.spellingbee.com/ during the broadcast, or check the play-by-play results for each round. 

In 2019, eight young people tied for co-champions after 20 rounds. Not this year. Of the first eight spellers, three were eliminated in the first half hour. After the first round of the finals, only five out of eleven were left. According to the new rules established to prevent ties, if more than one speller was still standing in the last five minutes, the one who could correctly spell the most words from a list in a 90-second "spell-off " would be declared champion.  

Judges had to review a recording of Roy Seligman spelling 'ambystoma' before they decided he had spelled it with an "I" not a "Y." The 12-year-old from Nassau, Bahamas tied for 51st place in 2019.

Since this is an educational program for young people under 15, the rules include topics such as Pronouncer’s sense of helpfulness ("The pronouncer may offer word information — without the speller having requested the information — if the pronouncer senses that the information is helpful...") and Misunderstandings ("If the judges sense in their sole discretion that the speller has misunderstood the word, the judges will direct the speller and pronouncer to interact until they are satisfied that reasonable attempts have been made to assist the speller in understanding the word...")

Click on the photo below to view an image gallery from the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals.

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