Underdog Karthik Nemmani Wins Scripps National Spelling Bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee has a new champion after a dramatic final round which featured a rematch of a county spelling bee outside Dallas, Texas, where both finalists are from. 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani won after his opponent, 12-year-old Naysa Modi, misspelled "Bewussteinslage" in the championship round. Nemmani needed to spell only two words correctly to seal the win. Modi had bested Nemmani in the county competition, but Nemmani still made the National Spelling Bee as a wild-card. The winning word was 'koinonia,' which means Christian fellowship or communion.