M-U-O-N nearly spelled defeat for 14-year-old Yuvakarthik Peddireddy in round 13 of the Mississippi Spelling Bee on Saturday morning.
After an intense back-and-forth over the pronunciation of “muon” between Peddireddy and spelling bee pronouncer Thomas Easterling, the bell dinged, indicating the speller’s answer was wrong and leaving Peddireddy on the brink of elimination.
But as runner-up 13-year-old Sagan Karthikeyan stumbled on “osoberry,” Peddireddy was granted a second chance. The two competitors faced off for three more rounds. Ultimately, it was “ptarmigan” that cost Karthikeyan the first-place trophy, while “quadriga” earned Peddireddy the title of champion.
“I’m just grateful and thankful for everybody,” Peddireddy said following the competition. “Now, I’m hoping to get the finals in nationals. That’s my goal.”
Seats were packed in Mississippi University for Women’s Poindexter Hall as teachers, families and community members filled the room to cheer on the 23 spellers through 16 rounds of the statewide competition.
Six contestants were eliminated in round one, but many others held on until much later. Among them was last year’s winner and veteran speller, Azariah de Wayne Green from Hernando Middle School, who was eliminated in round 12 after misspelling “recalescence.”
Peddireddy of Madison Middle School and Karthikeyan of Oxford Middle School will now advance to Scripps National Spelling Bee Week, which will be held May 26-30 in National Harbor, Maryland.
“I’m going to practice every day,” Peddireddy said. “We know what to do now. We’ve watched many nationals’ clips, and getting there is the difficult part.”
The two finalists were each awarded a $2,000 prize to help cover their travel expenses.
Although he didn’t take home first place, Karthikeyan’s smile was beaming following the competition.
“Once it got to the last two people, I knew I made it to finals,” Karthikeyan said. “I saw my parents. They were smiling. I saw myself. I was smiling, and so it was overall just an incredible time.”
Peddireddy and Karthikeyan have both competed in previous bees, with this being their last year of competition eligibility.
Along with their trip to nationals and monetary prize, the pair also received the Samuel Louis Sugarman Award: a 2025 mint proof set coin collection, a one-year membership to Online Encyclopedia Britannica premium, a one-year subscription to Merriam-Webster’s unabridged online dictionary, a gift of 800 Herculean words from Hexco Academic and a backpack filled with gifts from C Spire Foundation and coupons from Columbus merchants.
Mississippi Spelling Bee Director Lois Kappler expressed her excitement for the winners.
“We are exceptionally thrilled with our two champions because they are repeaters,” Kappler said. “They’ve been working at this, and they are ready for nationals. That’ll make us proud.”
Second-year competitor Reese Ann Gressett from Lauderdale County, who was eliminated in round one, was also honored with the bee’s first-ever Pollinator Award. This recognition, given for her empathy and mentorship of other spellers, came with a birthday cake piñata filled with candy and a $100 prize.
“Every year we try to make it bigger and better,” Kappler said. “It did grow significantly, more students, more schools involved … we are already celebrating for several reasons. It was well attended. It was positive. All the spellers had a great time.”
This year’s event also featured a Hall of Fame display of past winners, and a service dog named Bonnie who helped ease spellers’ anxiety.
“I do believe we can go on record,” Kappler said. “The parents enjoyed Bonnie as much as the students did.”
Viewers can tune in for the centennial celebration of Scripps National Spelling Bee in May at spellingbee.com. Real-time results will be available each round of the competition.
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