LA Winners: (From L to R) Rahul Walia, Founder of the South Asian Spelling Bee with First Runner Up Samruddhi Hande of San Diego, CA; Regional Champ Shruti Amin of Murrieta, CA and Second Runner Up Mashad Arora of Brownsville, TX
NEW YORK: The 2011 MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee began its 10 city tour this past weekend with the first two events in Los Angeles and Bay Area.
With a huge turnout this year as well, the bee attracted some top talent as well as young and new spellers that competed for the coveted prizes and titles.
“This event is being recognized as the essential platform to get your first experience and also meet and interact with veteran spellers,” said Rahul Walia, Founder – South Asian Spelling Bee.
In LA, Shruti Amin from Murrieta, CA was the regional champ and Samruddhi Hande from San Diego, CA was the first runner up while Mashad Arora from Brownsville, TX came in at third place.
Laurel Daring, assistant vice president of Diverse Markets, MetLife, said, “We congratulate all of the children who participated in the Los Angeles and Bay Area events. As the title sponsor of the Spelling Bee for the third consecutive year, we are pleased with the growing number of families who take part in the competition. It was a great opportunity for children to showcase their talent and for parents to start planning for the rising costs of education.”
In Bay Area, Akshayraj Aitha from Dublin, CA was the regional champ and Swapnil Garg from Sunnyvale, CA was first runner up while Surya Auroprem, from San Jose, CA was second runner up.
The winners received cash prizes of $500, $300 and $200 respectively.
Children up to 14 years of age are eligible to participate and the contest saw spellers of even 6 years of age compete and make it past a few rounds. There are 8 more cities on the anvil and for more information and to register your child, please visit www.southasianspellingbee.com.
The top two winners plus one parent each from every city will be given an all expenses paid trip to New Jersey on August 12 for the finals.
India Post News Service
