Concord student finishes 4th among 243 contestants in National Spelling Bee
A middle school student from Concord tied for fourth place in the finals of the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday.
Aishwarya Kallakuri, 14, competed against eight other finalists Thursday night for the coveted Scripps Cup and a $50,000 cash prize. As a fourth place finisher, she took home a prize of $10,000. Kallakuri is an eighth-grade student at Valor Preparatory Academy in Concord.
No speller from North Carolina has won the whole thing since 1970, when Libby Childress of Mount Airy won by correctly spelling “croissant.”
Kallakuri previously competed in the 2024 competition, tying for 23rd in the semifinals. This year, she clinched her spot among the nine finalists by spelling “tallygalone,” which is a type of Australian fish. She was eliminated in the 17th round with the word “Keighley,” the name of a market town in northern England.
Faizan Zaki, 13, of Plano, Texas, was named the champion Thursday after 21 rounds of competition, when he correctly spelled, “éclaircissement.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “clearing up something obscure.”
4 NC spellers make the semifinals
Eight students from North Carolina were among the 243 competitors from around the country in this year’s contest in National Harbor, Maryland. Of those, four made it to the quarterfinals and, later, semifinals.
Kallakuri made the semifinals along with three students from Wake County: Sach Akella of Cary, Holden Good of Raleigh and Kushi Gottimukkala of Raleigh.
Akella and Gottimukkala were eliminated in the seventh round, tying for 41st. Good was eliminated in the ninth round, tying for 20th place.
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 8:19 PM.
