Karthik Nemmani Wins 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee over Record Field

After battling through a record-setting field, Karthik Nemmani was the last one standing at the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee. 

This year's competition featured 516 spellers from around the country, the most ever in the 91-year history of the event. Only 16 participants remained for Thursday night's final round in Washington, D.C.

In the end, it was Nemmani who took home the trophy and the $40,000 grand prize (and more). Naysa Modi came in second, taking home $30,000. Abhijay Kodali and Jashun Paluru each won $20,000 with a third-place finish.

As the Associated Press' Ben Nuckols noted, it didn't take long for the field continue to shrink. Six of the first 12 spellers of the night heard the dreaded bell. It would take some time, though, for the remaining contestants to slip up, but by the time Round 12 concluded, there were just five spellers remaining.

It become a head-to-head battle for the title in the 17th round. Modi (12 years old, fourth Bee) and Nemmani (14 years old, first Bee) were the only ones to face the championship word list. Oddly enough, both finalists were from the Dallas area. 

The one-on-one showdown did not last long, though. Modi misspelled the first word off the championship list, "bewusstseinslage." Nemmani ended things by correctly spelling both "haecceitas" and "koinonia."

Not a bad experience for the first time at the Bee.

Modi may have been hoping for another chance, but it was over the second her competitor heard the final word:

The Scripps National Spelling Bee pointed out an interesting fact about the eighth-grader early on in the night:

Well, Nemmani proved he didn't need teammates to win this tournament. He fared just fine on his own. 

There was a feel-good moment earlier in the day for Kodali, as Liberty Elementary assistant principal Lori Sowers shared a video of his classmates watching him compete:

Perhaps the 11-year-old's shining moment came in Round 10, when he left Nuckols impressed:

Kodali would go on to make it to the 16th round. The fifth-grader made it further than he expected while making his first appearance in the tournament, as the Scripps National Spelling Bee revealed:

When eighth-grader Sravanth Malla was knocked out on "cento," 1998 Scripps fourth-place finisher Amy Goldstein reminded everyone that it's not the long words that are the most challenging:

Malla, 14, was competing in his final Spelling Bee. After his mistake ended his run, the remaining finalists came over to comfort him:

Hoping for a clutch championship performance, sneakerhead Shruthika Padhy channeled her inner Michael Jordan: 

She came up short, however, being eliminated in the ninth round after misspelling the word "paillasson."

A record-setting field made for an even tougher road to the trophy. But that didn't keep Nemmani from outlasting the pack to walk away as champion, in his first attempt no less.