Theekshitha Karthik wins Prime Minister's Spelling Bee (year 5/6) 2021 Award

Winners meet the PM in Canberra

This year’s best young spellers met with Prime Minister Scott Morrison today after winning the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee in June. Making the Indian Australia diaspora proud was Theekshitha Karthik of Haileybury College in Melbourne.

The Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee is a national spelling competition for school children from Years 3 to 8 that aims to promote and encourage students’ oral and written literacy and spelling skills.

The 2021 national winners are:

  • Arielle Wong from Donvale Christian College, VIC (Year 3/4 category)
  • Theekshitha Karthik from Haileybury College, VIC (Year 5/6 category)
  • Evan Luc-Tran from The McDonald College, NSW (Year 7/8 category)

 

Theekshitha Karthik wins Prime Minister's Spelling Bee (year 5/6) 2021 Award
Theekshitha Karthik with Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Canberra

All participants had 15 minutes to spell 30 words, with the winners determined by the accuracy and speed of submitting their answers online.

The finalists had to tackle words like connoisseur, and meteorological.

“I want to thank all students who had a go this year and challenged their spelling skills, and special congratulations to Arielle, Theekshitha and Evan on their achievements,” the Prime Minister said.

“No matter what you want to be when you grow up, spelling and reading are foundation skills that will stay with you for life, and are important to your wellbeing, future learning and success.”

Minister for Education and Youth Alan Tudge said almost 21,000 students from 490 schools across the country participated in this year’s Spelling Bee.

“Congratulations to every student who took part this year, and I encourage families, teachers and young people to talk to their local school about taking part again in 2022,” Minister Tudge said.

The Prime Minister’s National Spelling Bee will be hosted by News Corp’s Kids News on the kidsnews.com.au website.

The free competition will be held digitally, with no physical competition elements and will run in Term 3, 2022, and registrations are planned to open on Monday, 25 July 2022.

More information can be found at www.spelling-bee.com.au .

By Singh